Page 30 of Smith

“I take it you don’t like my kitchen.”

“No, your kitchen’s great sans the ugly ceiling light. But you could use new flooring in your living. The dark wood closes in the space.”

She wasn’t wrong but when I bought this place I did it knowing it was temporary so I had no plans of updating anything, including the ugly ceiling light.

“That’s a not-me problem. The next person who owns this house can worry about replacing flooring.”

“This isn’t your forever home?”

Forever home.

I’d never had a real home, never mind a forever one. The closest thing I’d had to real was a shitty apartment for two years.

“Did I say something wrong?” Aria whispered.

Fuck.

“When I came back to the US I didn’t know where I was going to land so I was living in Airbnb’s. It wasn’t until Zane offered me a job I decided to stay in Maryland. I was tired of wasting money and moving around so I bought the first place that was tolerable.”

“Were you stationed overseas?”

“Something like that,” I mumbled and turned back to the stove.

“Sorry, are we back to third date questions?” she quipped.

If I was counting, which I wasn’t, we were on date two.

Which was two more than I’d had in over twenty years.

“No, baby, you’ve hit personal versus private life territory,” I returned.

My joke obviously fell flat when she dejectedly muttered, “Right.”

It was then, because I hated hearing her disappointment, I made another stupid decision.

I shared.

“After I left the Navy, I went to the CIA. Worked there for a while before I left and went to work for NGO and spent ten years undercover.”

“Ten years is a long time, Smith.”

Ten years felt like a lifetime. An eternity living and breathing nothing but putrid air with men and women who committed the most atrocious crimes against humanity.

“Yep.”

“Bet that transition was hard.”

She had no fucking idea. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever fully transition back to regular civilian life. Hell, after the things I’d seen and done, the places I’d lived, I didn’t think it was possible to wash off the stench and live normal.

Not that I knew what normal was.

“I worry when my dad retires what he’ll do,” she mercifully changed the subject. “That’s part of why I’m so determined to get and keep my business strong. I want to have something for my dad when he leaves the Navy. He’ll go nuts sitting around with nothing to do. But if he has properties to manage and things to fix it’ll give him something to fill his day.”

I felt that down to my soul. That was one of the reasons I took Zane’s job offer—that and I got to stay close to my brothers. Without them and Zane I’d be fucking lost. Most days knowing I’d made a commitment to Zane was the only thing that kept me going.

“Is he planning on retiring soon?”

“He’s got three years left on this contract.”

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