Page 56 of Keeping a Warrior

At the thought of Major Beck and his proposal, Devon couldn’t help wanting to do a happy dance right there on the tarmac. She glanced around. Well, fuck it. If she wanted to dance, she’d dance.

“Whoo!” she crowed, doing a little shimmy, flushing when Shane passed by right then and threw her an amused glance.

“What’re we celebrating?”

“New beginnings, baby!” she shouted, pumping her fist in the air. “C’mon, dance with me.”

Devon was delighted when he started singing the Hokey Pokey. “Ah, perfect.”

The two of them launched into it, and soon most of the platoon was gathered with them in a circle, putting their left foot in, putting their left foot out in the classic preschool dance.

Of course someone went there.

“Put your ass in. Put your ass out!”

The booty shaking that ensued made Devon’s sides hurt, she was laughing so hard. When it was over, high fives all around, and then everyone wandered away to finish last-minute tasks before it was time to board.

Devon sauntered over to Rhys, who was leaning against a nearby support post, his lips quirked in a half smile.

As she passed him, she gave him a light punch on the arm.

“Now that’s what it’s all about,” she declared, his laughter following her all the way to the plane.

“You gotta stop looking like you want to kill everyone.”

Matt ran his hand over the week’s growth of beard on his face and grimaced. “Damn, this itches. And maybe I do want to kill everyone.” He shot Devon a menacing glower first, then Shane, who was sitting with Rhys on the other side of the plane, the two of them deep in conversation.

“Okay.” Devon rolled her eyes. “I might be scared if you weren’t such a big baby.”

It didn’t seem possible the scowl could deepen anymore, but it did. With his longish hair and beginnings of a beard, Matt looked ferocious. Dangerous.

But he was still a big baby.

“I thought you wanted Shane back, and all you’re doing is pushing him farther away.”

“It’s not the right time,” Matt muttered. He tugged again on the unkempt beard. “I didn’t think this through.”

Devon swatted his arm impatiently. “So when is the right time?” she snapped. “We’re going to Afghanistan!”

The word sent a chill of dread mixed with excitement down her spine. Although combat operations there had officially ended, spec ops teams still worked in the shadows, mostly in the remote, lawless outposts that had sprung up along the border with Pakistan.

“Exactly. We’re going to Afghanistan. If I start something now, the guys’ll wonder if we’re going to put each other ahead of everyone else. No one will trust us, Devon, and I can’t do that to Shane, not when he’s worked so hard to get here.” Matt closed his eyes. “It’s better this way for now, and when we get back, I’ll fix it.”

What if you don’t come back? What if he doesn’t come back?

“Don’t wait,” she said quietly. “Don’t go to war with things unfinished, Matt. Trust yourselves to be professional. Trust the guys to have your backs.”

Matt didn’t say anything more, but Devon could see that some of the tension bracketing his mouth had eased. Maybe, if nothing else, she’d given him something to think about.

The rest of the flight to Coronado was uneventful, and after landing at the Naval Air Station, the married guys were picked up by their families while the single ones caught yet another van back to the amphib base.

Before Rhys walked to his truck in the parking lot, he said to Devon, “Gonna go check on my apartment, and meet the guy who’s going to sublet it from me while we’re gone. See ya later?”

“Yep.” She tapped the outline of the phone in her pocket. “Text me if you need me.”

He shot her a weary smile. “You know it. See you tomorrow for PT.”

For the rest of the day, Devon organized her gear and did laundry, then went for a run on the beach at dusk. At the end of it, she sat in the cool sand and watched the sun go down, the rhythmic crashing of the waves hypnotic and soothing.