Page 11 of Keeping Collette

“Hound was on his ass, covered in mud, and the rest of us were laughing so hard we had tears rolling down our cheeks. The whole thing happened so fast, like something you’d see in a sketch comedy skit.” Deal laughed, remembering the look of disbelief on his friend’s face.

Collette was laughing too, the corners of her eyes were crinkling, and he caught the sheen of tears in her eyes—tears of laughter, not sorrow. “That can’t be true? Aren’t you guys supposed to be stealthy and aware of everything around you?”

Deal took a sip of his water. “We’re all of that, usually. We were making our way to our transport. The mission had been a bust so we didn’t necessarily have to be quiet, even though we had been until Hound had gone ass up.”

Collette’s nose screwed up in a cute way. “Are you saying he had to sit in his muddy clothes on the flight out?”

Deal scooped up the last bit of his apple pie. “Uh-huh. Fortunately, the ride wasn’t that long, because whatever he’d fallen in smelled awful. We’ve never scrambled out of a helicopter faster than we did that day. I felt bad for whoever had to clean that mess up. Hound tossed his uniform as well.”

Reminiscing about one of the rare lighter moments of one of his missions when he’d been a SEAL while having dinner with Collette hadn’t been on his bingo card when he’d woken that morning, but he was glad that it now was.

His first impression of her had been a baseless one, and he should’ve known better than to judge someone on face value without getting to know them better. He was enjoying himself, and the way the tension had slowly leaked out of Collette as they ate, suggested she was too. She needed this. A moment where she could forget all about the troubles with her sister, and what the eventual outcome might be.

Deal determinedly pushed the those morbid thoughts way down in his mind. He hadn’t looked at the reports Cass had sent him, but when he got home, he’d log into his work email and read through them.

Right this second, though, his focus was on Collette and ensuring she had a nice night out.

How long had it been since someone had done something nice for her?

“How long since you’ve been on a date?” He vocalized his thought without meaning to. The words thrown at her carelessly. “Wait. Don’t answer that. It’s none of my business.”

Just when he thought he was doing a good job of not putting his foot in his mouth, like he’d done a few times already that day, he’d gone and done it again.

Had he totally screwed the evening?

“Why do you want to know?” she asked, instead of laying into him like he thought she would.

Deal sat back and took a second to gather his thoughts. He wasn’t going to make up some bullshit reason for asking. Or even tell her it didn’t matter and change the subject. She deserved honesty, and that’s what he was going to give her. “I know we haven’t known each other long.”

“Not even twenty-four hours,” she sassed back.

“Yeah, not even a day, but you’ve been carrying this burden of your sister’s disappearance for a while now. From what you’ve also said about your parents and the comment about driving, I wondered how long it had been since someone had done something nice for you.”

Throughout his explanation, her head canted to the side a little, as though she was fully taking in what he was saying—without judgment.

“Too long,” she said quietly.

He didn’t press her for anything more. There was a lot of weight in those two words. A lot of things unspoken but said at the same time.

“I’m glad I invited you to dinner, then.”

Her mouth firmed into a thin line and her fingers scrunched the cloth napkin until the whites of her knuckles showed.

Fuck! I’ve fucked up again.

“I’m not a charity case,” she ground out, keeping her voice low when he got the impression she wanted to yell at him.

“Collette, please. I’m sorry—again. I didn’t mean that I asked you out in pity. I asked you out because I wanted to spend a little more time with you. And yes, I also thought that maybe you needed something nice to happen, given all the shit that’s surrounding you at the moment.”

Her hold on the napkin relaxed, and so did her mouth. He wasn’t totally out of the woods, but at least it didn’t look like she was going to poke a knife in his eye.

“I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have jumped to that conclusion, it’s just…” She shrugged, as if he would know what she was eluding too. He had an idea, but after how wrong he’d gotten so many situations concerning her since they’d met, he didn’t trust himself to believe what he was thinking was true.

“Just what?” he asked after a few heartbeats of silence.

Collette glanced around, as though checking to see that they weren’t being watched or listened to by the other diners. Deal didn’t give a shit if anyone was watching them, but if Collette was feeling that way, then he wouldn’t tell her to ignore them.

As if she’d made up her mind, she leaned forward, and he did the same.