Page 13 of Ace

“On numerous occasions.”

“That just…that’s unfair.”

“I’m sure you have similar memories of me, so you can cut the hot, irresistible routine.”

“Hot?” His eyebrow rose. “Irresistible?” His smile grew before he could stop it. “I’m liking the sound of this.”

“Oh, you’re the worst.” She looked away and then back, smiling. “Come on. Let’s eat.” She scooted the metal grate out from over the coals and then handed him a fork. “Bon appétit.”

“Just like this?”

“Yep. Just scoop that food onto this plate.” She pulled one out for him and her. “And dig in. It was caught today.”

“Wow. I’m starving, and it smells amazing. Remember when we tried to do this?”

She shook her head. “Do this? Like cook fish over coals?”

“Yeah, remember? At the house in the Shenandoah.”

“From the stream at the bottom of the gulley.” She nodded. “Yep. And we never caught a thing.”

“We’ve come a long way, baby.”

She picked apart her fish and then gently lifted the head and bones.

“What! That’s incredible.” He handed her his plate with his most charming smile.

She dug through his fish a bit and took off the head and bones. “So, Dex.” She handed back his plate. “Why are you here?”

“I told you. I was up there doing a flight training mission with the Pacific Oceanic Alliance and scaring off some Mantukese presence when I heard you were down here.” He shrugged. It was a lot to admit. But he was sitting in her bamboo hut with a gash in his head. Admitting things seemed like the right thing to do, given the circumstances.

“So you jumped? Just like that?”

“Yeah, my copilot finished our flyby, and my team has the situation under control in Tandora…”

“They sounded less than pleased.”

“Well, it wasn’t ideal, I admit, but after I was here last time…” His throat tightened. He’d never really talked through his Panau experience.

“Wait, you were here before?”

“Sort of. I was part of a mission here. And we pulled our teams out too soon. I knew it. But I was following orders. And…” He looked away. The hollow looks on the children’s faces when he went up in his helicopter still haunted him. “I just didn’t like leaving.”

He felt her eyes on him, but he kept his gaze trained on his food. And then he said. “This is the most delicious breakfast I’ve had in a long time.”

She laughed and the musical carefree sound of it lightened his heart. “I’m a terrible cook, and you know it.”

He lifted his fork. “This proves otherwise.” He swallowed some more of his water. “Though you could learn a thing or two about cooking eggs.”

She leaned back against the opposite wall. “Not this again. Some of us like our eggs dry. That soggy mess of an egg you eat is disgusting.”

“But there you see, a true egg chef knows there is a middle-of-the-road egg that is not soggy, nor is it dry. It’s full of air and tastes…” He brought three fingers to his mouth. “It tastes like heaven.”

She looked skeptical, but there was a fun twinkle in her eye. And he decided he loved this time with her before they had to really face what would happen next.

“So you jumped down here to help me, but now we’re both trapped?”

“Maybe. No. You heard the team. They’re gonna get us out.”

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