Page 67 of Rescuing Brinley

It was because of who he was as a human being. Because he saw her. The real Brinley, under the skin she was born into. He was a hard worker, kind, protective, didn’t mind Cypress’s teasing and kind of brusque manner, and he loved his mom and wasn’t afraid to admit it out loud and often.

He was as masculine a man as she’d ever met, and yet he didn’t act macho or like he was better than anyone else. Even though he was a Delta Force Operative, one of the best of the best, he was humble and went out of his way to teach others everything he knew.

But he could also be ruthless. Brinley had seen that firsthand down in Fiji. And he still couldn’t load a dishwasher in a way that would allow every dish to get adequate soap and water. Had a tendency to be incredibly stubborn at times.

Brinley forced herself to stop thinking about Dash, and to try to forget about Tamika and her annoying texts and calls, and to get back to work.

Until her phone rang once more.

She sighed in frustration. But when she looked at the screen, her mood lightened when she saw it was Dash. Pleasure swam through her veins. He usually didn’t call her in the middle of the day because he was busy with work.

“Hey.”

“Brin.”

She frowned. He’d only said her name, but she already knew something was wrong. She could hear it in his voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“My mom…she…she’s gone.”

Brinley froze. What? No! He couldn’t mean what she thought he meant. He’d just talked to her last night. He told her about the call when she’d arrived at his apartment. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure. Her neighbor found her on the floor of her bathroom this morning. I…I have to go to Phoenix.”

“Of course you do. Have you bought a plane ticket yet?”

“No. I just found out.”

He’d just found out his mom died and the first thing he’d done was call her. Hurt made her chest ache, but love for him was just as overwhelming. “Where are you?” she asked, feeling so sad for Dash.

“At work.”

“You can get leave, right?”

“Yeah, Zamora is putting in the request now. Echo’s going to take me home so I can pack.”

She knew Zamora was his lieutenant colonel, and she was extremely grateful for Echo because there was no way Dash should be driving right now. “I’ll meet you there. We’ll figure everything out together.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I do. I want to. I need to. Please let me help you.”

She heard him take a deep breath. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without her. She was…”

“I know,” Brinley soothed. Her mind spun with everything that needed to be done. Plane tickets, hotel reservations, funeral arrangements, dealing with Pauly’s bills and her belongings. It was a lot, and nothing Dash should do on his own. Not when he was grieving. “I’m on my way, Dash.”

“Thank you. I…I need you, Brin.”

He was breaking her heart. “I’m coming. Hang in there.”

She took a precious few minutes to pack a suitcase, having a feeling she wouldn’t be coming back to her place for a while.

The next ten minutes were the longest of Brinley’s life. Thank goodness traffic was light. She definitely drove too fast as she made her way to his apartment. She barely remembered turning her car off before she was rushing up the stairs, lugging her suitcase along with her.

Brinley had sent Cypress a voice message while driving, to let her know what was happening and that she’d be gone for a while. That she’d be going to Phoenix with Dash. She wasn’t going to let him go by himself, no matter what he said.

She knocked on his apartment door and the next thing she knew, she was in his embrace.