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She didn’t respond.
He broke the silence with a snort. “Why do you like him? Because his job isn’t in the line of fire?”
“What?” He and Trent had made fun of Roger for talking about his work, but she didn’t know where he was going with this. “You think I only date him because of his job?”
“No, because his job isn’t one where he has bullets flying at him.” He still had the stone-cold killer look on his face.
She sighed, running a hand through her hair. Her head ached. Why had she bothered to come over tonight? “Roger’s a decent guy, Hunter. We’ve been talking about getting married, and you know how I feel about that. I never thought I’d marry again.”
That took all the wind out of his sails. “You’ve been talking marriage?”
She nodded. “You know I haven’t wanted to marry after everything with my first husband, but … he’s sweet, he’s kind, he wants a family. He’s … here.”
For a long moment, Hunter kept his eyes on hers, like he was trying to dip into her soul and read some truth she was hiding. But then his body sagged. “He travels all the time.”
“True, but … he could be here. There’s a job at the hospital he could fill if we get married.”
Hunter looked confused. “Oh.”
Thank heavens his tone had simmered down. But this wasn’t over. “I shouldn’t have kissed you like that last night.”
“No … you shouldn’t have.”
Cheryse knew this pain and anger had been born from losing his brother, but she was starting to understand that some of it was about her and Roger. It was … a mess. That’s what it all was. She opted to apologize. “I’m sorry.”
He waved a hand of dismissal. “Did you tell Roger about our make-out session last night?”
It sounded like an accusation, like she’d committed an affair or something. But she did feel guilty about it, and she hated that. “No, I haven’t told him yet.”
“Why?” He looked down his nose at her, all superior.
She shook her finger at him. “Don’t do your little Taliban negotiation tricks with me. I made a mistake. I kissed you when we were both vulnerable and raw and …”
“That was more than a kiss. Probably about fifteen minutes' worth of kissing,” he said, making air quotes around the last part. “Don’t act like it was just some pity kiss because my brother got himself blown up.”
This was a minefield she could never learn to navigate. Hunter’s pain and sadness hit her hard. “I don’t want to fight with you,” she said, and tears stung her eyes. “I know you’re struggling, but I’m losing my freaking mind too, and I hate that you’re so mad at me.” She covered her face again.
“Cheryse.” Hunter’s arms went around her. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”
It only made her cry doubly hard, because none of this was fair to Hunter. She was the one who had kissed him like that last night.
Magically, Hunter transformed into the boy she’d known. Her body melted against his as his hands calmed her. “It’s okay, Reese. Okay? It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have made out with you.”
She wagged her finger at him through her tears. “Don’t do that, Hunter. Don’t take the blame for this. I’m taking accountability for my actions. You don’t have to do that. I can handle it. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
“We’ll figure it out, Reese,” he said, like he hadn’t heard her. “We’ll figure it out.”
Chapter 7
Over the next two weeks, Hunter went back to basics. He always fell back on the fundamentals when crisis struck. It was Navy SEAL 101. Get up every day at seven, half walk, half run, get a protein shake, shower.
He wasn’t sure when he would be cleared for service, and he honestly didn’t want to go back right now. He needed time. For now, he was content with living at Ava and Trey’s, working for Marshall, and hanging out with Cheryse. He’d seen Kensi a lot too. She often stopped in at the bike shop and followed him around, talking about her latest book. He knew she was distracting him, and he liked it.
But Cheryse was the one he craved being with. Luckily, Roger had gone off traveling again.
Hunter found himself doing what he’d always done regarding Cheryse’s home and salon; he made a list of things that were broken, and he fixed them. He also found himself talking to Cheryse and laughing with her. Every day when the salon closed, he walked her home. Sometimes they grabbed dinner at the pier, or she would ask him to stay and they would eat something simple, like sandwiches or scrambled eggs.
They didn’t talk about Roger. When he called, Hunter made himself scarce until Cheryse came looking for him. In his mind, he’d started making notes about how she didn’t talk to Roger and how Roger didn’t act like a boyfriend to her. But he’d kept all that to himself, too.
