CHAPTER6
- DAX -
A welcome, salt-seasoned breeze greets me as I gaze out the window of the small room I rent. It’s just my second weekend in this house, and I’ve already become addicted to being able to fill my lungs with the ocean air each morning.
Streetlights are scarce on this island, so it’s still dark enough that I can see the stars.
I love this time of the morning—those final moments when the sun is still waiting beneath the horizon.
I shut the window in case it rains later and pull on my shorts so I can go for a run. Millie’s staircase creaks as I walk down it, but I don’t worry.
Even after just a couple nights spent under this roof last weekend, I’ve already figured out that Millie will be up and out the door before I even head out for my morning run.
Predictably, I spot her in the kitchen, hair pulled up in a messy bun, wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans—which pretty much comprises her work wardrobe, I’m discovering. She looks way too cute to me at this hour in the morning—an hour when the only thing I should be finding attractive is a cup of coffee.
I’ve always liked low maintenance women, which is probably why any relationships I had in DC crashed and burned.
Nothingabout DC is low maintenance.
“Morning,” I force from my lips because words are never easy for me before coffee.
“Hi.” Looking way too intense for five a.m., she barely glances up from the laptop she’s got on the kitchen table.
“What time do you wake up, anyway?”
She shrugs. “Whenever. I never set an alarm. Natural early riser, I guess.”
“That’s tragic. And coming from a Ranger, that’s really saying something.”
“It’s okay. I like mornings.” Her eyes snap right back to her laptop.
She looks different this weekend. A little more tired and even—apprehensive.
“Me too. I like them in bed, sound asleep,” I joke to see if I can coax any hint of a smile from her. But I fail.
“Morning is the calm before the storm.” She squints for a moment at something on her laptop, hits a few keys, and then shuts it.
I can’t help wondering what she was doing on there at this hour. “And I’ve seen just how much of a storm it can be in that diner. Is it always so busy?”
“Well, it’s definitely busier in the summer than at other times of the year. That’s why I do all our social media posts in the morning.”
“Ah. Is that what you were just doing?”
“No.” She frowns. “No. I was reading the news.”
I cringe. “That’s never a good way to start the day. You should come for a run on the beach with me.”
That, apparently, deserves an amusing snort from her. “Thanks, but no.”
I pull from the cabinet the canister of instant coffee that I bought at the store last weekend.
Her brow furrows. “I just brewed a pot. You can have some.”
I shake my head, filling a mug with water and putting it in the microwave. “I’m fine with instant. If I get spoiled, then what good am I when I’m deployed?”
She seems to force out a half-laugh, but the expression on her face is anything but amused.
I guess it shouldn’t surprise me. She said she doesn’t date military guys. So a mention of deploying probably won’t get a positive reaction.