Page 10 of Twins for the Secret Prince
“Great job with your squad,” he said, giving her a smile that turned her insides to melted butter. “They looked excellent out there today. A real credit to you.”
Eva stared at him as the red mist slipped down to cover her eyes. She wanted to shout at him that she didn’t need or deserve to be patronized, especially not when it was his very first day on the base. But instead, she counted to ten and then attempted a smile.
“Thank you. Excellent work with your squad out there today, too.”
Billings smiled again, showing an incredible set of teeth. “Thank you. Off for a run?”
“It’s not just drill training you’re good at. You’ve got great powers of deduction too.”
To his credit, Billings didn’t let his smile falter. “When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a detective.”
Eva cocked her head at him, not sure if he was teasing her or not. “Well, if this is anything to go by, you’d have been great at it.”
“I was actually going to ask if I could join you.”
“Oh.” Startled, Eva realized shedidwant to run with him, but would that be fraternizing with the enemy? “It’s well known on the base that I always run alone,” she said, feeling stupid as the words came out of her mouth.
“If you can make an exception just this once, I’d love the company. I can ask you questions about this place. But I understand if you’d rather not.”
Eva couldn’t tear her eyes away from his. They were mesmerizing — like chunks of the sky on the warmest summer’s day chiseled out and shaped into eyes.
What are you talking about?screamed the voice in her head.Don’t be ridiculous!
“I’m not waiting around, but if you catch up with me, I can’t stop you from running beside me,” Eva said.
“That’s an offer I can’t refuse,” he said, laughing.
Eva did some quick stretching before running off as fast as she could. She hoped to make it to the far corner of the perimeter and keep running at such a pace that he had no hope of catching up to her. Or, if he did, that he’d soon be so out of breath that he wouldn’t be able to ply her with a hundred questions.
Ten minutes in and she was in the zone, her muscles taking over to propel her along so that she could focus her mind on other things. Chiefly, she ran several ideas about how she could stand out to the senior officers. Excelling as a trainer and drill commander were the most obvious ways, but seeing Sergeant Billings in action had chipped away at her belief that she was — and always would be — the best.
Major Aston was eager for officers under his command to engage with the community in ways that were both necessary and authentic, to use his words. When the weather posed challenges to the day-to-day lives of the local civilian population, it was easy to find opportunities to help. Whether it was setting up and managing shelters after storms or evacuations or actions likehelping dig people out of homes when the snow made virtual hermits out of them, Eva threw herself into every chance to help.
But the typically fair summer weather made things less simple. Eva didn’t want to hope for severe rainstorms or tornados, but such inclement weather would assist her in being able to get out into the community and take action for the better.
Deciding that she needed a more failsafe plan, Eva had the sudden thought to call one of her close contacts in the community, who ran a food bank for those who’d fallen on hard times. If she could set up a regular pattern of involving her new recruits, it would give them valuable experience as well as strengthen the base’s links to the community, not to mention helping out people in need.
She was so focused on working through how to put her plan into action that she didn’t hear Billings approaching until he was right beside her.
“I had to borrow some roller skates just to catch you,” he said, falling into step with her.
“Yes, because roller skates work so well on grass.”
He laughed. “Okay, you caught me in an untruth. I was trying to make the point that you run really fast.”
“If I’m too quick for you, feel free to fall back a few paces.”
“Let’s see if I can keep the pace,” he said, not sounding at all out of breath. They ran in silence for a couple of minutes and then he asked, “Were you raised in Alaska?”
“I was, yes.”
“Do you know I’d never been here before yesterday? I had no idea what I was missing.”
“It’s only the most beautiful state in the whole US of A.”
“I think you might be right,” Billings replied. “And the smell — whatisthat smell? It’s intoxicating. Like cinnamon and freshly baked cookies.”
“I guess you’ve never smelled fresh air before. Let me guess, you’re from New York?”
