I chuckled. “The food will be different, for sure. I doubt Americans would appreciate baked beans and grilled tomatoes for breakfast.”
Bash grinned. “I’ll eat anything for breakfast, trust me, but you’re probably right. It’ll be mushy scrambled eggs made from powder, bacon strips, overcooked sausages, toast, some dry muffins that you’ll need to wash down with copious amounts of coffee and pancakes that will be equally dry, and if you’re lucky, a bagel with cream cheese.”
“You make it sound so appetizing.”
“In all fairness, it beats the hell out of MREs—the tinned crap we often had to eat while deployed.”
“Ah, yes. You’re a Marine. Not for the faint of heart.”
He nodded, looking pleased with that compliment. “It’s not, but it’s who I am. Who we are as a family. My grandfather, my father, my uncle and me, we’re all Marines. My brother was one too.”
Was.He could mean his brother had served and was now doing something else, but the sadness in his eyes told me a different story. Had his brother passed away? I made a mental note but didn’t comment on it. “You have a vastly different perspective than I do.”
He cocked his head, studying me. “You’re not allowed to serve in the military as a royal?”
My cheeks heated. “I wanted to, but they declared me medically unfit for duty. I grew so quickly as a teenager that I developed serious issues in both knees. I can’t play endurance sports anymore, unfortunately, since I loved running and playing football. Or, soccer, as you would call it.”
“That sucks. What branch would you have served with?”
“The Air Force would’ve been my preference, I think.”
“Do you think you would’ve done well?”
I searched his face to check if he meant anything by that, if it was some underhanded way of casting doubt on my character, but he seemed sincere. “Initially, I probably would’ve hated it. But I think the discipline and routine might’ve been good for me. Did it help you?”
He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “I grew up in a military family, so the discipline and routine were always there, as was the expectation I would follow in my father’s footsteps.”
“You never considered doing anything else?”
“Honestly? No. It was my path, the one life had chosen for me, and I was fine with it.”
This was a much more serious discussion than I had planned this early in the day, though I was grateful for what Bash had shared with me. We’d be spending so much time together that it did seem smart to get to know each other better.
Bash checked his watch. “We’d better head to the dining hall. We have an orientation meeting at nine.”
“We do?” Perhaps that had been in that welcome booklet as well.
He pressed his lips together. “Yes.”
I took a deep breath. Time to enter the real world. “Then let’s head out, shall we?”
“You do have your student ID on you? You’ll need it to pay.”
I patted my pockets, discovered that they were empty, then rushed back to my room to grab it. “I do now.”
A few minutes later, we were walking across campus toward what Bash informed me was the main dining hall. He was wearing a tight, black T-shirt with a black body warmer that neatly covered his gun. I’d known he’d be armed, of course, but it had still been a moment of shock to see it.
But mostly, I was fascinated by the way he moved. He had his easy, confident stride, and he automatically positioned himself slightly ahead and to my left, his eyes constantly scanning our surroundings. It was subtle enough that anyone watching would think he was naturally alert, but I recognized the signs of professional protection.
It was also, if I was being completely honest with myself, deadly attractive. There was something deeply appealing about the quiet competence with which he navigated the campus, the way he seemed to already know which paths were busiest, which buildings housed what departments, where the potential trouble spots might be.
“How do you know so much about the layout already?” I asked as we approached a large brick building with floor-to-ceiling windows and the sound of conversation drifting from within.
“I spent some time here yesterday after I got my student ID,” he said. “Always good to get the lay of the land.”
Of course he had. Where I had wasted time unpacking my ungodly amount of luggage, Bash had already dedicated himself to learning everything he needed to know to keep me safe.
The concept of the dining hall was very similar to the one at Oxford, though the atmosphere was different. They both had a buffet style, but Oxford was an old university with equally ancient buildings, and this dining hall was much more modern, everything decorated in stark white and silver. And yes, the food was very different as well.
