Page 78 of Love Finds Home

“Only one way to find out.” She kisses my chest, snuggling in closer.

“Saturday morning story time?” I chuckle.

“Sure. Let’s go with that.”

“I grew up outside of Fort Benning. It was close to the Georgia-Alabama state line.”

“That would explain the accent when you’re pissed off.” I feel her smile against my chest.

“Whenever we’d go into town, I’d see all of these larger-than-life men. We went on post one time for a field trip, and I was hooked. Big, huge muscles, and tall, and ink up and down their arms. I wanted to be them when I grew up. I asked my dad one day who they were, and he told me they were Rangers. I decided then I’d do whatever I had to do, but I was going to be one of them one day.”

“So that’s what you did.”

“Yup. But not without being told I’d never be good enough. That if I joined the Army, I was deserting my family, and they needed me to stay and take care of them. Dad barely eked out a living doing odd jobs. Mom worked part time as a cashier. I still don’t know how they afforded the house I grew up in, but we got by. We never had much, but I didn’t know any better. I told them I’d be able to help them even more if I joined the Army. They called me an idiot, told me I was stupid.”

“And your brother?”

“Was the favored child. He was the baby. Got whatever he wanted.”

“Including other men’s wives,” Elle snorts, and for the first time ever, I grin at the joke.

“He was a little spoiled. But he was my brother.”

“You loved him.” Such a simple statement.

“I did.”

“Okay, continue, please.”

I kiss the top of her head. “I didn’t listen to them. I passed all my classes in high school at the top of the class. I was salutatorian my graduating year. I had scholarship offers, but I turned them all down and met with the recruiter. He gave me my ship date, and I asked Vanessa to marry me before I left. We’d been high school sweethearts and she said yes.”

“Who cares about her. Tell me about your Ranger days.”

“Took a while, and Vanessa and me moved around for a couple of years while I finished schools and classes and all the extra trainings I could. She’d go back home when I was deployed or away for special tech schools. And eventually, I was assigned a spot in the 75th, and we moved back home together. But I was a Ranger. We deployed. A lot. For extended time periods. We ran special missions in scary places. We lost men. We dealt with the damages to our brothers both physically and mentally.”

“And the evil bitch of an ex got bored.”

“I love that you refuse to say her name.”

“Eh, why care about the name of someone who doesn’t matter.”

“When I came home that last time…” I swallow. “Some of my men were hurt while I was in the hospital. I was their leader, and I wasn’t there to help them.”

“Daniel?”

I tense at his name, opening and then closing my mouth before nodding.

“Wasn’t hard to see you had some kind of history, and he’s got a limp.”

“Don’t tell him that.”

“It’s barely noticeable, but I was watching your reactions to him and paid attention.”

“You don’t get credit for being as observant as you are, do you?”

“No, and I like it that way. Always good to have something in your back pocket. What happened with Daniel?”

“You aren’t going to let up until I tell you, are you?”

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