“Well, I requested clothes, shoes, and girly stuff.” He smiled down at her as if embarrassed that she knew it was him. “I’m sure my mom, Esther, or one of the Delta women is to blame for getting the details right.”
“I love your family,” she told him, wishing she could better express her gratitude, but anything else would compromise her in the worn out state she was in.
“They all love you.”
He still held her close, and she felt as if maybe he was saying he loved her, too. How else would something so special and personal happen? No. His thoughtfulness was simply Aiden being a with-it Delta and his comment was a platonic, ‘yes my family is great, we all love you like a member of the community from home’ kind of comment. Right?
Sometimes she craved home and often she missed her family. With Aiden holding her close, and all these unnecessary but thoughtful comforts surrounding her, she felt a sense of home even thousands of miles from their Colorado valley.
Aiden’s gaze dipped to her lips and the room was suddenly very hot. He was going to kiss her. Was he really? Time stalled and desire filled her. One kiss wouldn’t be out of line. She could call it a kiss of gratitude.
As his eyes lifted to hers, she saw a vulnerability and need she never thought this tough SEAL would reveal. She let out a longing sigh.
He blinked and suddenly something shifted. He eased away from her, and she should’ve felt awkward, but the longing for him was too strong to feel anything but the desire to throw herself against him and kiss him if he wasn’t going to initiate.
Oh, my. She needed some distance and now, or shewouldinitiate that kiss and make things awkward for the rest of their stay. Or, if a kiss with Aiden was anywhere close to as incredible as it felt being held close to him, she’d lose her heart, show him how lacking she’d been in romance the past few years, kiss until they were ready to leave, and get her own heart broken. He obviously dated a lot of women and moved on easily. He also obviously wasn’t the type to settle down, and neither was she. She wasn’t special to him and if she remembered right, Aiden was the type who flirted and teased with every girl.
“Thank you.” She pulled back. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He nodded, turned, and hurried from the room, shutting the door softly behind him.
Melene stood there for a minute, reeling with the loss of what might have been. Then she headed for the shower. She’d learned not to let herself get overly emotional. Even though she adored the families she helped, especially the children, crying or moaning about how much they lacked or how hard their lives were would only burn her out and make her unable to keep serving. It was the same with Aiden. Stewing about kissing and holding him would only make her long for what she could never have, and that was a waste of time and emotional resources.
A shower was a fabulous idea. Being clean and then sleeping a long time would help her get her head on straight. Lots of prayer would be needed too.
She hoped rooting out this desire for Aiden was even possible at this point. There had been many times over the past ten years she’d let her heart get too entangled in the people she served, and it had about destroyed her. She hoped she wasn’t in too deep with her handsome Navy SEAL rescuer already. It had only been a few days since he’d appeared like an angelic Aquaman. It seemed the desire, appreciation, and enjoyment of Aiden’s personality, kindness, and entire being were already deeply embedded in her heart.
Please, someone in heaven help me be strong so I can continue to ease burdens.
It was a prayer she prayed often, and she felt it was answered often. Right now, this prayer took a different direction. She hopedshewas strong enough to let heaven help. When Aiden was close, she had little desire for her own strength and far too much desire for his to surround her. Yikes. That was something she couldn’t let herself think about, or she might rush into his bedroom and beg him to hug her again.
ChapterSix
Aiden had awoken periodically throughout the night, checking the sensors and cameras and doing a perimeter and house sweep, except for Melene’s room, only listening to make sure her breathing was even.
His phone was beeping an alert.
He grabbed it off the nightstand, shooting up in bed. The phone said eight-thirteen local time, and the sun was trying to peek through the window shutters. He never slept that late, but he instinctively felt safe in this tropical and remote location. Or maybe it was Melene who made him feel grounded and safe and like he was home.
He pushed that away and clicked on the alert. He saw a woman dressed in a white uniform carrying a large tray to their front door. She set the tray on the porch table, rapped softly on the door, and then turned and strode off.
He scrambled out of bed, threw a T-shirt on, grabbed his gun and knife, and hurried out of his bedroom and into the entryway. Checking each of the cameras on his phone, he didn’t see any other movement around the property. The only red flag was he hadn’t thought to put a room service order in last night. Too tired and too twisted up thinking of Melene until he’d fallen into an exhausted slumber.
He texted Papa quickly.
Room service?
I ordered it for you. Figured you’d both be starving.
Thank you.
He disabled the alarms, retrieved the food, shut and locked the door, and armed it again. The food smelled delicious, but he needed to exercise first, and he could wait for Melene to wake up to eat.
He’d had brief workouts on the ships when Melene had fallen into an exhausted slumber from her seasickness, but mostly he’d had far too much inactivity the past few days. His body felt achy and uncomfortable from the lack of movement, and his mind definitely needed the boost only a good workout could provide.
He carried the tray in and set it on the kitchen counter, slipping the fruit, yogurt, juices and milk in the fridge and then lifting the plates of bacon, French toast, and omelets into the oven and hitting the keep warm button.
He looked through his phone for any emails or text updates on their situation. Papa had sent a report early this morning and had said room service had been ordered. He smiled. Should’ve read through his texts before shooting the question off earlier. General Phillip seemed busy overseeing troop training and movement and probably strategizing with King Frederick how to overthrow Poland and Germany at the same time. They were both psychos who would be smacked down quick when they tried to mess with countries with strong militaries and strong allies.