Page 8 of Healing Home

Lincoln soaked under the hot water for as long as he could, before his empty gut reminded him that there were other things he needed to do. Stepping out of the shower he toweled off and padded out into the bedroom to dress. He pulled on boxers and a t-shirt, then a pair of nylon gym shorts. Comfortable.

Five minutes later he stepped out into the hallway and his mouth watered. Damn, she was killing him with that scent.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, BB handed him a steaming bowl of roast and vegetables, with two biscuits tucked into the sides.

“Go ahead and sit down. What would you like to drink?”

“Beer,” he said firmly as he moved toward the table.

Grinning, she reached into the fridge, the line of her body stretching invitingly in the blue dress. Link bumped into the chair because he wasn’t watching where he was supposed to go. He set the steaming bowl down, then settled into the chair. Seconds later, BB set the bottle of beer in front of him, and an iced bottle of water for herself. She walked to the kitchen to retrieve her own bowl of food, then returned to sit across from him at the table.

BB’s eyes were a startling shade of pale green. They made him think of the green peridot stone in one of his mother’s favorite rings. His father had given it to her when they’d gotten engaged. She’d worn it for years before he’d passed, and it was one of the few things he had of hers. She’d taken it off when Dad had been killed and hadn’t seemed to want it near her. It was in a safe deposit box at his bank. When he realized he was staring at BB, he turned his attention to the food in front of him. “This looks amazing.”

“It should be perfect. It’s been cooking since this morning.”

Link speared a bite of the meat and put it into his mouth. It was scalding hot, but he breathed through his mouth as he waited for it to cool, then he chewed. Absolutely incredible. After months of MREs and cafeteria food, this was such a step up from what he was used to.

Lincoln forced the biscuit into the juices, then lifted it to his mouth. He closed his eyes as he chewed. When he opened them for the next bite, BB was grinning at him, her brows lifted in question. Lincoln shook his head.

“Best thing I’ve eaten in months. Literally. It’s even better than the beer,” he told her, nodding at the unopened bottle.

Working his way through the entire bowl of food, he got up long enough to refill, then settled back at the table. The beer wasn’t opened until he finished the second bowl of food.

Leaning back in the chair, he folded his hands over his belly. “I’m so full I could bust.”

BB scraped the last bite from her own bowl and ate it, then sank back into a similar position. “I haven’t made that for a while. It was pretty tasty.”

Lincoln looked at her curiously. “Is this your regular job? Welcoming guys home that you don’t know?”

BB laughed lightly. “Of course not. My sister Carolina owns the company that your team hired and she was in a bit of a pinch. I only help occasionally. I’m self-employed.”

Lincoln shook his head. “This is such a bizarre situation.”

“It is,” she agreed. “And not something I’ve ever done before, I promise you.”

He tilted his head. “What have you done, exactly? What services does your sister’s company do?”

BB didn’t look offended by the question. She sat back in her chair and folded her forearms beneath the curve of her breasts. It was a struggle for Link to keep his eyes on her face.

“Helping Hands does pretty much anything, but we work exclusively for military families. The company is approached by the family when the government services just aren’t getting it done.” She glanced around his living room. “So, like, moving across the country. Yes, the government will get your stuff there eventually, but there may be a gap of as much as a month. The family might hire us to go in and stock an apartment with rental furniture to cover the gap.” She made a motion to his own dining room table and kitchen, her eyes shining. “Recently we had a soldier come in for the birth of his baby. He was only allowed a few days leave before he had to go back out into the field. The family of the soldier hired our company to go in and give the mother support with the new baby. She was in Germany at the time and none of them could make it over.”

Link nodded slowly. ”You’re extra hands.”

“Yes,” she said, waggling a hand. “But we have specialized help. Nurses and assistants, childcare workers, animal handlers, interior designers. Most of us have a somewhat flexible job that allows us free time to devote to helping out soldiers or veterans.”

He looked at her closely. “You said you were self-employed. What exactly do you do?”

She grinned at him. “I’m a cartoonist.”

His dark brows lifted in surprise. “Really? That’s interesting. Anything I know?”

She blinked and gave him an odd smile. “I do the Sonya Sniddlebee comics.”

BB waited for the startled look most people got on their faces when they realized what she did, bit it didn’t come. He just looked at her, blank faced.

BB’s ego twinged and she laughed at herself internally. After doing signings and TV interviews, sometimes it was nice to come across someone who had no idea who she was. She shrugged lightly. “It pays the bills.”

“That’s awesome,” he told her. “It’s really nice if you can find something you love in life and get paid for it.”

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