“I know. I’m sorry. I was so…intrigued. You wrote you didn’t miss it. But I would think you’d have to.”
“Well, it’d been with me my whole life.”
She gave him a small smile he returned. Then he told her exactly the way he saw things.
“Battle is nothing new. Men have fought brutal battles to protect what is theirs, what they love, since the beginning of time. Whenever I shipped out, I had one clear mission: keep the men and women around me safe. That was the only mission.” His throat tightened as he considered how he’d failed two men in particular. “I’d sacrifice a part of my body to protect others. God knows Benji and Chris gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect me.”
She reached across the table and stroked his hand. The shock of being consoled over this matter in particular sent a drove of pins and needles up his forearm. Sure his family knew the details and had given him plenty of attention, but from a woman…a woman on a date. This was new. Unexpectedly welcome.
“They gave the way you would have, Eli. They protected you. You can’t deny them the same right to protect their friend.”
“They shouldn’t have.” His lip curled, that hollowed-out feeling returning to his chest whenever he thought of that day. “Christopher had children. Benji had a wife.”
“That’s heartbreaking.”
“I know what it’s like to grow up without a mom. Christopher’s kids won’t ever see their father again—and Benji won’t get the chance to have children.” As much as he missed and longed for his mother, Eli had been blessed to have her around for most of his childhood. Reese had more time with her, Tag had less, but at least they could cling to years of memories.
“For what it’s worth”—Isa gave his hand a light squeeze—“I’m glad your friends sacrificed for you to be here. If you’d have all been lost, I’d never have met you.”
He soaked in her words like rays of sunshine on a chilly day. She held his eyes with hers, her gaze unyielding. Unwavering. As usual, he was caught in a web of her strength and her beauty.
“You don’t dwell, I’ve noticed,” she said.
“No reason to.” He slipped his hand out from under hers and she sat back in her seat. He was as relieved as he was disappointed to lose the attention.
“Yes, but I think it’s because you’re simply not a dweller. It’s like you said, men have been sacrificing parts of themselves as long as humans have been on the earth. You know that, you accept that. The same way you lost your leg and accepted it. The same way, ultimately, you accepted my help.”
“Were you inevitable, Sable?” She was the one who’d danced around the topic of fate—so maybe that was why the word flashed onto the screen of his mind. He wasn’t sure if he and Isa were fated to meet, but she definitely fit him in a way no other woman had. With Crystal, there had always been a push and pull to get along—so fierce he would practically sweat from the effort. With Isa, there was that same dynamic, but the push and pull felt natural. Like no matter what, she was never truly at odds with him.
“I admit”—she lifted her tiny espresso cup and peered at him over the rim, a vision with her dark hair up and dangling earrings twinkling in the candlelight—“you drew me in. I mean, I didn’t have a choice. You unsheathed your claws and stomped off every assistant I sent you. It was either show up myself or let you ruin my hard-won reputation.”
A surge of attraction hit him so hard he didn’t know what to do with it. The restaurant’s sights and sounds dissolved around her like an ethereal cloud until she was the only one in clear focus. Isa was a force he wouldn’t avoid. Even in a bright pink dress offsetting her warm skin tone, she reminded him of a cold wind snapping off the lake, burning his face as he walked into it.
“Beauty is a rare thing in war,” he said, his own lust-infused voice sounding foreign.
Her cocksure smile slipped as she rested the mug on the tablecloth.
“When I came home, I didn’t find beauty here. Months of rehabilitation, keeping my head down and working on the Refurbs project became my focus. Then you…” He shook his head in wonder as the epiphany hit him. “You come along, Sable, and absolutely choke a room with it.”
Her whiskey-colored eyes darkened, shadowed by thick black lashes. Her voice wasn’t more than a stunned whisper when she said, “Thank you.”
“I’m not talking about the way you look.” Though, God, Isa was a vision in every way. “I mean your spirit. You’re fierce. Strong.”
She quieted and he wondered if she was working through what he’d said. No doubt this woman had been told she was beautiful—gorgeous—a million times. Her body alone had to have drawn men like moths doomed to incinerate in the flame. But there was more to her. Layer upon layer of trust and power, independence, and a healthy dose of snark.
He was intrigued by every layer.
“Come home with me.” It was out of his mouth before he’d meant to say it.
“Um…” Her smile was nervous.
Shit. Why had he blurted that?
“Sorry.” He lifted his own espresso for something to do with his hands. “I haven’t done this in a while—a long while. Not since—”
“Eli.”
He expected to meet a pair of sympathetic eyes and hear a well-versed excuse. Instead, Isa’s eyes sparkled in the candlelight and a rich, velvet laugh echoed from her throat.