Page 49 of Forever Flirting

“I promise I will – and I want to know all the details about you as well. What you had for breakfast, training, flights, your friends; share with me what you can, because I know some of it is secret and you can’t.”

“Exactly. I’ll do the same, and when I come back? I don’t want to just have coffee as friends. Let’s see if we are ready to go on a date together.”

She leaned back from him and met his eyes.

“I would really like that,” she breathed.

“I’m glad.”

“You should probably take me back to my car,” she said quietly, feeling almost alarmed at how much she wanted to kiss him – and understanding his feelings and the thoughts behind his denial. It made her feel good to know that he wasn’t wanting some fling, but rather wanted so much more.

He nodded and started up the car, buckling up, and she did the same. They made small talk as he drove her back to the parking lot where she’d left her vehicle – and walked her to her car.

Part of her wanted to reach up, grab Alex’s head and kiss him passionately… yet another knew he was pushing back to give her space. He moved to turn away, hoarsely saying a brief, ‘See you soon’that was almost unintelligible and choked – and Everly realized she was going to miss her chance.

Grabbing his hand, she turned him around, laying her palms on either side of his face before stepping forward and gently rubbing her nose against his, feeling his breath, needing to drink him in just one more time before he left… only to hear him laugh thickly in disbelief.

“Shh…” she smiled tearfully, meeting his confused and glistening eyes. “Eskimo kisses aren’t real kisses, but just a sign of affection between friends.”

“I’m going to miss you,” he uttered emotionally.

“I’m going to miss you too,” she said softly. “And we might be dating now, so let’s go from there – okay? We’ll talk and get to know each other better.”

Alex’s tearful eyes held hers as a smile touched his beautiful lips.

“Alright,” he whispered in agreement, looking so happy at her simple words, needing to pick him up and give him some sort of hope to hang on to.

“Alright,” she repeated. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll email you as soon as I get back to Afghanistan. I promise.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

CHAPTER13

MAESTRO

Ghazni, Afghanistan

“Ricochet,”Alex called out, jogging after the man, slightly bracing himself for the attack that was probably going to come, but needing to clear the air. “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

Alex glanced up past the other man’s shoulders and saw a few of the guys in the distance watching, waiting, knowing that the two of them had rubbed each other the wrong way not too long ago – for this exact reason that had been unknown at the time.

“I need your help with something… and to talk about something that happened,” he began, and saw Ricochet draw up, frowning.

“I’m not going to like this – am I?”

“Well…”

“Spit it out, Maestro.”

“Okay, hear me out,” Alex hesitated and put his hands up, hopefully in an attempt to appease the other man. He didn’t want to fight with Everly’s protective brother – and knew this could potentially go south. He just didn’t want it to be like plummeting over a waterfall, ending up dead.

Ricochet crossed his arms, waiting.

“Several years ago, I met this girl and…”

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