Page 28 of Loving Lex

“Hot sounds better, but I’ll take warm.”

She giggled softly. After a moment, she asked, “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

She propped her chin up on my chest to look me in the face. “You looked serious over there on your phone.”

“I was texting with an old friend from the military,” I started slowly.

She dropped her eyes to my body and traced one of my shrapnel scars. “Is the military where you got these?”

“Yes.” I cleared my throat and told her about that day. How it was a normal day. How Finn and I had been fucking around, playing poker and talking about his home in some small Louisiana town and the girl he’d left behind, when we’d been called to assist another unit in what we deemed at that moment to be nothing more than a minor skirmish with the locals. Nothing. We’d planned to be back to base in time for chow.

“But it turned into a firefight and we were ordered to pull out. We scrambled to the chopper. I don’t remember much else, but I’m told an RPG hit us and I was thrown out, got these,” I said, pointing at my scars. “And a closed head injury. I never got all of my memory back, and I get debilitating migraines every once in a while, but overall, I’m lucky I survived.”

I glanced over into eyes that were so full of everything, I was taken aback. She ran her hand down my chest, silently waiting for me to continue.

“My best friend, Finn, was hurt pretty bad, too. We both landed in the rehab hospital together for a long while.”

“Is that who was texting you just now?”

“Oh, uh, no.” I cleared my throat. “That was another friend. Lucky.”

“Lucky?” She smiled up at me.

“Well, his real name is Lucas. But he goes by Lucky. I met him in boot camp, and we’ve stayed close.” I nodded toward my phone. “He’s helping me with—with something.”

Her pretty brow creased. “Something?”

“Yes.” I studied her hard as I divulged my truth. “Remember what I told you about my brother?” At her nod, I continued. “Well, he worked at Cameo. He was killed under suspicious circumstances, and that’s why I’m here in Vegas. I need to know what really happened.”

CHAPTER SIX

Shay

Ilistened inshock as Lex told me more about his stepbrother, Stone, and his mysterious death.

His body was warm and his voice low, but I heard and felt the uncertainty and emotion that filled him. Even as much as we’d shared in the last few hours and days, I could tell it wasn’t easy for him to open up on this one. It was brutally personal and still very raw, and that hit my heart in ways I didn’t know how to decipher. He was laying himself out there for me.

He’d told me he felt something. Asked me if I felt it, too. I’ll admit a part of me wanted to lie and tell him I felt nothing. Run like I always did. But I couldn’t. I was a lot of things, but a liar wasn’t one of them. These mixed-up, tangled feelings I had for Lex might be scary as hell, but I was right there in the ring of fire with him, and I wouldn’t let him think he was burning alone.

I’d thought I could keep it on the surface and just enjoy the mind-blowing sex. Which it was, without question. With our chemistry, I probably should’ve known it would’ve been nothing less.

But, now?

Somehow, naked in his arms as he caressed lazy fingers along my back and told me about his brother, I felt infinitely more connected to him. That had me twisted into a million whirlwinds inside, yet nothing had ever felt so settled.

What the hell was that about?

I propped my chin on his chest and met his eyes. “So, your dad married his mom?”

He nodded. “Yeah, when I was ten and he was eight.”

I smiled, trying to picture ten-year-old Lex. “I’ll bet you were fast friends.”

“Pretty much. We loved all the same stuff. Riding bikes, fishing, video games... then guns and girls.”

I lifted a brow. “In that order?”

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