Page 49 of Fierce Protector

He added milk to the bowl, along with salt and pepper. His escape to the mountains—from reality—wasn’t something he ever planned to discuss with a single living soul.

While alone all those months, he’d had plenty of communing with the dead. And Colton, Hunter and Wolfe didn’t need to be told that he felt responsible for his best friend’s death. Or that survivor’s guilt crushed him every goddamn day.

Why that blast had taken his friend instead of him was a question he asked himself hourly those early days after the strike.

She was waiting for a response from him.

Since he’d asked Demi to be open to dating him, he needed to do the same and answer her questions.

“My family vacationed in the mountains of California when I was a kid. I guess when I chose the location, it was because it was a good memory. I needed to cling to anything good to survive after it first happened.”

She fell silent for a moment. Then her voice came out, soft and gentle. “After you lost your friends.”

He nodded. Staring at the eggs sizzling in the pan, he picked up the spatula and stirred them.

“I’m sure it hasn’t been easy on you, Ledger. I admire your strength to keep going. To move forward.”

His throat constricted. “Processing the gruesome aftermath of losing most of our SEAL team damn near killed me.”

She made a noise in her throat.

“I was never a person to go to extremes, but I could have easily picked up a bottle and used it to drown my pain. Instead, I hiked until my legs almost fell off. I sat up all night and lit gigantic bonfires in a vigil for the dead and raged at the injustice of it all.” He choked on the memory of those dark days.

She got off the chair and crossed the kitchen, her bare feet silent. When she slipped her arms around him from behind and simply held him, he fell for her.

He fell hard.

Neither of them spoke—words didn’t seem necessary. The fact that she understood his pain was more than he could ever ask for from somebody who didn’t have any skin in that fight.

He covered her hand where it flattened on his chest with his free hand. “Thank you for that.”

“Of course.” She squeezed him one more time before moving away.

He slid the finished eggs onto a plate and added a toasted bagel. When they were both seated with their meals, he eyed her.

She took a bite of her food. “What do I need to wear on our first date?”

They’d emerged from their sexual haze to discuss when they’d officially begin dating. His opinion was there was no point in wasting time. After all, they only had seven more months, according to that ultrasound.

“You can wear casual clothes.”

“Where are we going?”

He threw her a smile. “You surprised me with a baby. Let me surprise you with a date.”

Her tinkling laugh washed through him with a gentle strum to his senses. “I have things I’d love to do with you. You were in the military. You must have a good sense of adventure.”

His mind shot to the bucket list he’d seen in her drawer. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’ve always wanted to skydive.” She popped another bite of eggs in her mouth as if it was an everyday occurrence for pregnant women to want to skydive.

He shook his head. “Absolutely not. I’ve jumped out of an airplane before. It’s highly overrated. You’re missing nothing. Even if you weren’t pregnant, why would you jump out of a perfectly good plane?”

She scooped up more eggs. Her appetite seemed to be fine this morning, and he was glad to see it.

“I’d also love to zipline.”

Another entry on her bucket list.

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