Fractured Freedom(51)

My body wasn’t. I felt the heat immediately, my nipples tightened, and I gasped. His light eyes met mine, but he didn’t call attention to the spark between us.

That was for the best.

The buffet wasn’t very busy, but families buzzed around with kids, and a couple of pilots ate in the corner, probably only here for a day or two before they had to jet out again. I went to grab some fruit, and two little girls dressed in red-striped pajamas pointed at my scrubs. When I caught them looking, I did a little twirl and they glanced up to find me smiling.

We all giggled, and one tilted her head to the side and said, “I want to be a doctor when I grow up.”

“I like your red pajamas.” I nodded to them both, not correcting them and telling them I was a nurse.

“We’re twins!” They grabbed each other’s hands.

Their mother arrived and put her hands on their shoulders, smiling at me. “Sorry.”

“No worries.” I waved her off. “We’re just admiring one another’s clothing, and I have to tell them, I have a twin too.”

Their eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yep.”

“Is she pretty like you?” asked the one who hadn’t talked yet. She reminded me of myself, standing back while Izzy shined.

“Well, we’re both pretty in our own ways. Just like you both are amazing in your own ways.”

They giggled, and the mom shooed them away. The love in the way they looked at one another must have drained all the happiness out of my stare.

“You want kids,” Dante said from behind me, and I jumped, my plate of food slipping from my hands.

The reflexes on the man would have rivaled a superhero’s because he caught my plate before it hit the ground without dropping a single morsel of food.

“Jesus, you scared me,” I murmured as he pushed the plate back into my hands. “Thank you.”

“No worries.” Then his hand was on the small of my back again, leading me to our table. This time, he hovered closer, so close I could feel his warmth. Like we were together. Like we knew each other intimately. And my heart couldn’t help but race toward the idea.

He pulled the seat out for me, then rounded the table.

I bit my lip and tried not to focus on how accommodating he was. Yet, considering how my body was reacting to a single touch from him, I wondered if I needed to set clear boundaries or keep avoiding him.

He smiled, all cool, calm, and collected, as he sat down across from me and continued his questioning like we were old friends. “Your mom would love you bringing home a bunch of babies with a nice man.”

“Why are we talking about this?” I grumbled and grabbed my fork to eat.

“Because you looked at those little girls like you wanted them about as bad as you wanted your own car in high school.”

I groaned, knowing where this was going. “I deserved a car, okay? My brothers were hellions, and they ruined that car before it ever got to me and Izzy.”

We got the hand-me-down station wagon that barely ran, and Izzy always took it everywhere. I was stuck catching rides with whoever I could.

Dante waved me off. “At least it gave us time to catch up when I was home on leave.” He caught my stare, and I shifted uncomfortably. I’d treasured those car rides but wasn’t sure he had too.

I took a bite of the pineapple I’d grabbed and sought neutral ground. “They were nice.”

“They were more than nice, Lilah. I was cooped up with men for three to four months at a time overseas, and then when I was home, I got you in my car for twenty minutes here and there, smelling like strawberries and coconuts and sweet as hell.”

I wrinkled up my nose. “I didn’t smell.”

“You do. Best smell ever. Well, except for when I’ve got your legs spread—”

“Nope.” I cut him off and waved the fork in front of him. “Are you kidding right now?”

He chuckled and leaned back. “For someone who wants to have fun around the island, you’re being pretty uptight.”

“Can we just not?” I asked.

He shrugged and then frowned before he cleared his throat. “Joking aside, I’m sorry about the other night.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Me too. I just want to do what I came here to do and that’s it. So I’m sorry if it jeopardizes the safety of your mission or if I’m skewing your view of me or—”

“It’s fine, Lilah. I get it. You want to have fun.”

“It’s not just about fun,” I tried to explain as I pushed a piece of pineapple around on my plate. “I was so engrossed with getting straight A’s in high school. Then in college, when things … when I couldn’t, I didn’t know who I was. If I didn’t have perfect grades, I had nothing.”

He hummed and seemed to search my face, like he was cataloging my expression or something. Then he said, “Go on.”

“Well, there’s not much else to tell. I didn’t fit in without my brothers and sister around. I struggled to get good grades and …” I cleared my throat. “I was really depressed.” I met his gaze, waiting for the recoil or the pity or the shock. He stared back at me, accepting all my words without any judgment.

Then he said, “Would you like me to teach you self-defense?”