“Excuse me, Cash,” she said politely then headed through the crowd with his dad.
He watched her walk, her straight shoulders, her round ass snug and sexy in the jeans she wore. They were low on her hips, and as she raised her hand to run her fingers through her hair, he caught sight of what appeared to be a tattoo and some great abs. The blouse she wore didn’t quite reach her waist and revealed some tan skin. The woman was definitely sexy in a very classy way. He couldn’t imagine her being a Marine, working in triage, patching up soldiers all bloody and a mess.
The thought interested him, and then he felt the light shove to his shoulder.
“You want to come back to earth and join us, or are you too busy fantasizing about Lance Corporal Williams?” Garrett teased, and Ezekiel chuckled too.
Cash shook his head and turned toward the bar to find a full, cold bottle of Bud. He tipped it toward them.
“Thanks, buddy.”
“You looked like you could use something cold,” Ezekiel teased. Then he leaned forward. “I have never seen a Marine who looked like her. Hot damn.”
“That’s because she’s a nurse and worked in the ER. Not really in the field,” Cash replied as if she hadn’t impressed him much.
“That’s not true,” Garrett said.
“What do you mean?” Cash asked.
Garrett leaned closer. “I was airlifted to a triage unit outside of Iraq. It was Cassidy who worked with Dr. Reynolds to save my leg. She came to see me a few times when I was in recovery, and not because she had to. The other guys, even some who’d lost their friends, said that she’d been caught in a couple of intense situations. She worked the field. She went along on extrication missions in the Hueys to land, gather, and pull out any injured soldiers to begin immediate treatment on board. She’s the real thing.”
Cash took a sip of his beer and glanced in Cassidy’s direction and wondered if she really was.
Chapter 3
Stryker stared out the window in his bedroom. It took him several minutes to walk to the bathroom, then an hour to shower and then walk back into his bedroom. He was perspiring again from exerting himself.
This was his daily fucking routine. His life now that he’d gotten fucked up in battle. His joints hurt. His legs, his hips, and just about everything from the waist down. Never mind the damn headaches he got. He hated his life. He was a miserable fucking loser.
The knock on his bedroom door had him barking in annoyance.
“What?”
“I’m heading across the way to your dad’s place,” Memphis told him.
“So what?”
“You should come on over.”
“Why?”
“He has a friend who is going to be renting out the cottage.”
“I don’t care. Leave me alone.”
He heard the footsteps recede and knew that Memphis headed out. Stryker felt guilty for being such a prick to his team. They were all he had. If he were alone, he would have taken his life and ended the misery all ready.
As he stared out the window, catching Memphis walking across the way, he noticed his father come around from his house by the porch. Stryker had to do a double take. Was that a woman?
His old man never brought any women around. He left town for that kind of thing. Memphis had said…an old friend? He squinted, but he couldn’t get a good look from here. She appeared young, younger than him. She wore a skirt that flared at her knees and a pale tank top. Cash appeared by the cottage, smiling. Seems his brother had met the woman already. What was going on there?
He reached for the drawer, feeling the achiness in his arm. Pulling it open, he grabbed a hold of the binoculars, brought them up to his eyes, and played with the focus. His chest tightened. His window was open, and he felt the breeze caress against his skin just as that same breeze caused the woman’s hair to flow behind her and her skirt to lift. She grabbed a hold of the hem but not before Stryker got a good look at her long, toned thighs. She was very attractive. He brought the binoculars slowly up her body and caught her eyes. She was a little too far away to see if they were brown or green.
But he caught Memphis reach out to shake her hand, and then his father escorted her toward the front of the cottage.
Who was she, and why did his father have her looking at the cottage? If he was fucking her, why not just move her right into his bed in the house? Something wasn’t right. Stryker’s curiosity got the better of him as he waited patiently for all of them to exit the cottage so he could get a better look at the brunette.
* * * *