Page 6 of Better Late Than Never

There wasn’t much we could do in terms of getting his chain of command involved. He hadn’t technically done anything wrong, and anyway, he was a civilian contractor, so he’d have to step a lot farther out of line than that to even get a talking to. All we could do was pass his name around to anyone we knew and, whenever we saw new guys pop up on the apps, extend that information to them.

And now I knew for a fact that Tobias had right-swiped on Marks. That didn’t mean Marks had reciprocated, but he might. Hell, most guys would.

So what the fuck was I supposed to do?

I could reach out to Crawford and have him private message Marks. That felt like outing Marks, though. Even though he had a public profile, he didn’t have his full name or face on it. Would he appreciate me letting someone else on base know he was queer?

“Shit,” I whispered into the silent office. I couldn’t just…notgive Marks a heads up about Tobias. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who was easily manipulated, but he was new to being with men. An unscrupulous guy telling him,“No, no, this istotallywhat gay men do”could easily persuade him to do things he normally wouldn’t.

Shame I couldn’t get to Marks first and help him figure out his boundariesbeforesomeone like Tobias got his hands on him.

Which… it occurred to me how ironic it was that if Marks and I hooked up, we could both be severely disciplined just because of our ranks. Meanwhile Tobias could operate like a predator who knew exactly where all the lines were, and no one could touch him.

Fuck it. One way or another, I needed to talk to Marks. I’d probably die of embarrassment, and he probably would too, but at least he’d know about who Tobias really was. What he did with that information was up to him.

My chance came about an hour later when I was on my way back from doing an ultrasound in the emergency department. I was halfway from the ER to the elevators when Lieutenant Commander Marks came around the corner, brow furrowed as he read something on a chart.

I stopped so suddenly my boot squeaked on the floor. “Uh, Lieutenant Commander—do you have a minute, sir?”

He halted, his head snapping up, and he blinked. “Um…” He glanced down at the chart in his hand. “I’ve got a patient.” Furrowing his brow, he asked, “Is it urgent?”

“No. No, sir, it’s—” I cleared my throat. “It can wait.”

He eyed me uncertainly. “Uh…”

“I just need to—” Why was it so damn hard to access the thoughts I’d neatly arranged for this conversation? Probably because I hadn’t expected it to be happening right fucking now. And because while the overhead fluorescents weren’t flattering for anyone, they picked out his high cheekbones and the sparkle of silver throughout his short, dark hair. And I?—

“HM1?” he prodded, sounding curious and maybe a little nervous himself.

Fuck. What was I—oh, right.

I shook myself. “It’s not urgent, sir. Just—I’ll be in Radiology for the rest of the day unless I get called back to…” I gestured over my shoulder at the ER. “If you have a minute…”

He still seemed off balance and even a little suspicious, but then he glanced at his watch. “Like I said, I’ve got a patient. I’ll, uh, I’ll come by Radiology afterward.”

I nodded sharply. “Thank you, sir.”

Then we continued in opposite directions, and I just hoped we could do this without both of us dying of embarrassment.

CHAPTER3

CONNOR

It was a genuine miracle I’d remembered how to speak during that conversation with HM1 Barlow. His initial words had barely registered at all because my mind went blank the second we made eye contact.

He was one of the first people I’d noticed when I’d checked into this duty station, and given how attractive I found military uniforms, that said a lot. There were some seriously hot men and women stationed here, but HM1 Barlow—oh hell. Camouflage utilities were sexy on most people, but they had no business looking as good as they did on him. And those blue eyes shouldnothave screwed with my balance or my ability to speak.

Especially not when he actually needed to speak with me and I needed to have my military bearing. Maybe some dignity too. Those were both in severe short supply whenever I saw him.

Thank God, I’d managed to catch up and not make an ass of myself.

But now he wanted to talk with me? Alone?

I mean, people in this hospital had to talk to each other. That wasn’t unusual. I’d probably had conversations with everyone in this building already and I hadn’t even been here that long. Nature of the beast.

It was the part where he wanted to speak privately that unnerved me, and for the next hour, every spare second I had was spent trying to suss out what was on his mind.

Was this some confidential situation with a patient? Except that wouldn’t have been an“at your earliest convenience”type of thing. And he wouldn’t have been flustered like that.

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