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Nate smirked. “I have a feeling that you plan on being that person. When did you decide that she needs a protector?”

I’d probably decided that she needed someone to care about her the moment I’d heard about her history from her lips. When she’d uttered the confirmation that everything that was suspected in her bio was true and much worse than what was suspected.

But I wasn’t going to tell Nate about that. It was too damn private and Jenna’s story to share if and when she wanted to share it.

I didn’t like to think about Jenna ever being vulnerable again.

“Anyone who disappears and nobody notices for more than a week that she’s gone needs a damn protector,” I grumbled. “She’s way too isolated.”

“Is that the biggest reason why she’s staying?” Nate questioned.

“No,” I admitted. “I don’t want her to leave, but I’m not going to analyze those feelings to death. I like her, and I don’t want to let her go right now. I just want to spend time with her. I guess I’m getting addicted to her presence. She fusses a little too much about an injury that’s going to be completely healed soon, but there’s something fucking sweet about that, too. She’s probably much too good for an asshole like me, but that’s not going to stop me from enjoying every moment I spend with her.”

“You’ll never be an asshole,” Nate said grimly. “We’re all crusty military guys who have seen way too much of the shittier side of life, but we’ve always fought for what’s right. You might be a little beaten up and hardened, but I don’t think it’s possible for you to be a bad guy. Enjoy your time with Jenna. Sometimes we think too damn hard when we should just be enjoying life. Do you have any plans yet?”

He was right.

Life was short, and nobody knew that better than we did.

We’d watched too many good men die way too early in the line of duty.

“No plans,” I replied. “I think I’m actually going to play it by ear. We both need to get some work done, but I’m going to make sure that I show Jenna some of Northern Michigan before it gets too cold. She works constantly at home. She needs some balance in her life.”

Nate grinned. “You don’t have a lot of time to take a trip before it gets cold. A road trip might be in order as soon as you have the use of your arm back.”

I opened and closed my hand a few times.

The numbness was quickly disappearing. It wouldn’t be long before all the feeling returned.

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” I said as I grinned back at him.

I was done with asking myself questions I couldn’t answer.

I wanted to be with Jenna, and that was exactly what I was going to do.

I wasn’t sure I could completely ignore the fact that my time with her was going to have an expiration date, but I was going to do my best to push that out of my mind for as long as possible.

Chapter 11

Jenna

“What are you doing?” Brock asked curiously from the sliding glass door to the patio.

It was late, and our company had left an hour ago.

I’d been drawn outside because it was such a clear, beautiful night, and the stars were brilliant.

“Stargazing,” I said from my place in a lounger that I’d laid flat on the grass so I could look up at the night sky. “The September Epsilon Perseids is coming to an end. I couldn’t resist taking a look tonight. It’s a minor meteor shower and it’s not at its peak, but I’ve already seen two.”

“And you didn’t tell me about this event?” he said in a faux affronted voice as he dragged the other lounger out to the lawn to rest beside mine.

I laughed at his fake, put-out tone. “Most people aren’t all that interested in lying on the lawn and gazing up at the stars this late at night. They’d rather be sleeping.”

“I’m used to weird hours,” he informed me as he laid his lounger and then his body down to look upward. “I know just enough about the stars to do some celestial navigation.”

“You have some amazing views here,” I said with a happy sigh. “There’s so little light pollution. Sometimes I forget what it’s like to have a dark sky.”

We had dark sky areas in Southern California, but they were a long drive from Los Angeles so I didn’t go to any of them as often as I’d like.