He took my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. “Sometimes. I think travel lost some of its appeal after the army.”
“I can’t imagine you end up in the most glamorous of places.”
“That’s for sure. But I got used to the heat, so while the guys on deck complain about working in the sun, I’m just glad I’m not carrying a fifty-kilogram pack through twenty miles of desert in full uniform.”
Landon didn’t talk much about himself, and I’d never heard him talk about his army days.
“You were in Afghanistan?”
He nodded. “Lots of places in the Middle East.”
“Do you miss it?”
He stayed silent for a few seconds as if really thinking through my question. “I went into the army wanting one thing and came out appreciating many.”
“What did you go in expecting?”
“I wanted to serve. To make the world better. To protect people who couldn’t protect themselves.”
“But surely you did all of that?”
He nodded. “At the heart of it, yes. But on a day-to-day basis, it’s not just the big things that impact who you are. Things like the self-discipline you learn and the problem-solving and the self-reliance. It’s those things that had more of an impact on me than I expected.”
“Do you miss those aspects?” I asked.
“No. Those skills are with me every day. They became a part of me.”
“And I guess you were working security, which had similar requirements.”
He just shrugged, clearly not ready to embellish on his experiences.
“Look at that view.” I pointed out the window. “You can really see the Rock of Monaco from here.”
“The what?” he asked.
“That sticky-out bit of land. It’s called the Rock of Monaco.”
He chuckled. “The sticky-out bit? You training to be a tour guide?”
“You knew what I meant. That’s all that matters.”
“So where are we headed? I thought women liked to lunch and shop.”
I groaned. “When’s the last time you hung out with a woman?” Maybe Landon’s commitment to one-night stands meant he was just as inexperienced at hanging out with a lover as I was. “I guess there are things the army doesn’t teach you—girls like to do more than lunch and shop.”
“I guess I’m still figuring you out.”
“All women or just me?”
“You’re the only one who counts at the moment.”
My pulse tripped in my neck. “Landon, a sworn commitment-phobe can’t go around saying things like that.”
“I don’t share a lot. But what I do say, I mean.”
He cupped my face in his hands and placed a kiss on my lips. I sighed at his touch and he pulled back, clearly happy to make me wait.
If we weren’t going to make out then I wanted to know more about him. “You said you had a brother; are you close?”