“Oh, right. Silly me.” She looked from Bri to Ryan and back again, clearly fighting back the questions she must have been dying to ask. “What will you have?”

They ordered and watched her slink away, as if she thought if she moved slowly enough, they would call her back and confess what they’d been up to for the last few days. Ryan shook his head. “This town.”

“It’s just a little harmless curiosity.”

He was saved from responding by Old Joe walking through the door. The only thing Joe liked better than drinking on his boat was telling stories, and Ryan had all of three seconds to hope his presence would go unnoticed before the old man zeroed in on them. “Is that Billy Flannery’s youngest I see?”

He sighed. “You know it is, Joe. You’re not half as blind as you pretend to be.”

Joe chortled and shuffled over to slide into the bench next to Bri. “Good Lord. Miss Bri? Tell me you aren’t consorting with this here fella.”

She smiled. “Hello, Joe.”

“What’s a nice girl like you doing spending time with a hooligan like Flannery here?”

A hooligan. He was nearly thirty, for God’s sake. He’d stopped being a hooligan when he graduated from high school. And that wasn’t even getting into the fact that everyone still referred to him as “Billy Flannery’s youngest” despite the fact that his father had died nearly seven years ago.

For her part, Bri didn’t seem all that bothered by it. “Ryan is buying me breakfast.”

“Back in my day, when a man buys a woman breakfast, it means something serious.” He shot a surprisingly serious look at her. “You should know this boy right here burned down the high school on the very day he graduated.”

Here they went. It was always the same old story. He didn’t even know why he was surprised, but this was taking it to a whole new level to interrupt his date with Bri to tell the same old tired story.

Bri’s eyes danced. “I have heard that. On several occasions.”

“Well, of course you have. Everyone and their dog in this gossipy little town thinks they know something.” Apparently the irony of that statement was lost on Old Joe. “But I’ll tell you something else.”

Jesus Christ. Would it never end? What was next? The stink bomb incident? Or maybe the time he and Drew jumped their car over the school garden and were suspended for a week?

“There was a reason that fire started,” Joe continued. “He was there in the first place because those little Jennings shits thought it would be funny to color the fur of a cat they found with melted crayons. Our Ryan found out, and he wasn’t going to sit back and let some bullies hurt a defenseless animal. He got that kitten out of the fire, see if he didn’t.”

Bri laughed and patted Joe’s arm. “Sounds like a hero.”

Ryan could only stare. He’d never told anyone that story, except Drew. How the hell did Joe know? Did everyone know?

“That boy is, that’s for damn sure. With a pop like that worthless drunk piece of shit—excuse my French, Miss Bri—he could have grown up wrong. Him and his brother both. But they didn’t follow in Billy’s footsteps, God rest his ill-tempered soul. They grew up right. Do you know he has a whole set of awards for missions he’s done over there in the desert? He’s saved more lives than we’ll probably ever know. Wellingford is proud to call him our own.”

Old Joe had always been the worst of the bunch, constantly ribbing him about burning shit down every time he was within hearing distance. To have the same man sitting here, telling Bri how proud the whole damn town was of what he’d done overseas…

They knew about the cat. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

Bri reached across the table and took his hand, anchoring him while the world spun, settling into a new shape he never would have anticipated. “You should be proud. He’s a good man.”

“The best.” Joe laughed and stood, slapping Ryan’s shoulder as he did. “But it looks like that fox Dorothy is bringing your food, so I’ll leave you to it. It’s good seeing you, Flannery. You don’t come home often enough.”

Ryan looked at Bri. Maybe that was about to change.

After Dorothy dropped off their plates and disappeared back into the kitchen, Bri lifted her fork. “So you saved a cat, huh? It sounds like your hero complex has been around just as long as your history of setting things on fire.” She laughed and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I know it’s a sore spot, but those jokes never get old.”

He braced himself for the instant anger that usually came when someone made reference to burning shit down. Instead, he said, “I don’t mind.” And, to his surprise, he didn’t. “After we finish breakfast, I have something specific in mind that I’d like to set on fire.”

“Let me guess—it has something to do with my panties?”

They finished their meal in relative silence, though it was a comfortable one. After Ryan paid the tab, he took her hand and led the way back to the Suburban. “Your place?”

“Please. I want a shower and some new clothes.” She shot him a look from under her bangs. “And there’s the added bonus of getting you naked and at my mercy.”

“You’re insatiable.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I like it.”

They could barely keep their hands off each other as he drove to her house, and the only thing that kept him from starting something then and there was the memory of hitting the damn stoplight and taking out the mailbox. The last thing either of them needed was a repeat of that nightmare.

They had just made it out of the car when a woman poked her head out of the house next door. “Hey there!”

Bri waved. “Hey, Marcy. How are you this morning?”

“Doing much better. I noticed that you weren’t picking up your papers, so I grabbed them. Didn’t want the silly things turning soggy—then they’d be no good to anyone.” She hustled out her door and walked to the little fence separating their front yards. “Hi, Ryan. I heard you’re back for another week, and I was wondering if you’d come down to the grade school and talk to my second graders about being a soldier?”

She wanted him to speak to her class? Ryan rocked back on his heels, reaching for words and not finding any. He caught Bri’s gaze and the excitement there hit him in the chest. He cleared his throat and looked back at Marcy. “I think I could make that happen.”

The woman beamed at him. “Thank you so much. I know my kids will love to hear from a local soldier.”

Bri glanced at him and met her halfway to take the newspapers. “Thanks, Marcy.”

“It was no problem at all. See you at Story Time on Wednesday, Bri. And Ryan, let me know what day works best for you.” With one last wave, she retreated back to her door, where a toddler stood with his face pressed against the glass.

Ryan followed Bri inside, his mind still reeling from the invite. Hell, Marcy treated him like a normal person—a person she thought would be a good influence on her schoolkids. It was like he’d fallen down a rabbit hole and was told left was actually right.

She stopped just inside the door and stepped into his arms. “Are you okay?”

“She just asked me to come by and talk at the grade school without joking about me not burning it down.”

“Why are you so surprised?” She cupped his face, her palms soft against his cheeks. “I’ll tell you a secret. It was your reputation as a hero—not a firebug—that got me to agree to that first date.”

Before, Wellingford had seemed claustrophobic and cloying. Everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by people who’d never let him grow up. Now? Now, he was starting to see some of what Bri loved so much about it. They knew him, but no one was forcing him into the role he’d long since grown out of. Not anymore. Maybe he’d only seen what he wanted to see—the gibes without the caring backing it.

It was all too easy to imagine settling here. Raising a family here. This was a town where people barely locked their doors. Where neighbors took care of one another. Where he could create a true home.

His thoughts stuttered to a halt as Bri walked past the living room filled with mismatching floral couches, pulling her shirt over her head. She paused in the doorway on the other side of the room and grinned. “What are you waiting for? These panties aren’t going to light themselves.”

Chapter Seventeen

Bri woke to the sound of whispered voices. She blinked into the darkness, noting the tension in Ryan’s body. He pressed a finger to her mouth, cautioning her to silence, but she had no intention of saying something and drawing a serial killer’s attention to them.

It may be time for her to stop reading all those suspense novels.

There was a thump and a muffled curse. “Shut up.”

“You shut up. How am I supposed to see anything when it’s pitch fucking black?”

“You’re the one who couldn’t wait until a decent hour to come barreling in here.”

Bri touched Ryan’s hand. “It’s Drew and Avery.”

“I know,” he muttered. “But I’m still debating between pretending I don’t know, and whooping their asses.”

Though she wasn’t entirely opposed to that idea, those two wouldn’t be out here at… She frowned at the clock. Yeah, they definitely wouldn’t be out here at five in the morning for anything other than an emergency. Which meant yelling at them was going to have to wait. She cleared her throat. “We can hear you guys.”

Avery cursed again. “That’s definitely negative stealth points.” They threw open the door and flipped on the lights. She gave a crow of victory. “Oh my God, Drew! I told you this would work. Didn’t I tell you this would work?”

“I’m pretty sure this was my damn idea to start with.”

Bri rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust to the light blinding her. She jumped when Ryan threw a blanket around her shoulders. “Out.”

“Oh please. We’ve seen more skin than that swimming with Bri.”

Ryan’s hands spasmed on her shoulders at Avery’s words. “Get the fuck out, both of you. Now.”

“Jesus. Fine.” Drew grabbed Avery’s elbow and dragged her out of the room. “Hurry up and get dressed. We have bad news.”

Bad news. That didn’t sound promising. Bri barely waited for the door to shut before she threw off the blanket and hurriedly pulled on the first clothes she got her hands on. By the time she’d buttoned her jeans, Ryan was dressed as well. She looked at him, unable to stifle a little sigh of happiness at how well his shirt fit. Would she ever get used to those shoulders? She hoped not.

“You better stop ogling me like that, or I’m going to say to hell with those two and lock us in here for another hour. Or three.”

She winced at the thought of Drew and Avery sitting out in her living room while they made love. “That’s not the best idea.”

He kissed her. “Let’s go see what the troublemakers want.”

She didn’t want to. She wanted to slam the bedroom door and lock themselves in here for the last six days Ryan was here until the Twosome went away and took whatever news they had with them. But that wasn’t reality.

Sure enough, Drew and Avery sat next to each other on her couch, their expressions sober. Ryan took her hand, but it didn’t make her feel any better about it. “I got a call from Major Sanders.”

She felt Ryan’s tension even before he spoke. “What happened?”

“He wasn’t in a confiding mood. He said to get your ass back to base, ASAP. Something about emergency protocol.”

Ryan went eerily still. “Fuck.”

“Yeah, that was kind of my response. He’s not happy that he had to call me because your phone was turned off.”

Ryan let go of her hand to shove his through his hair. “I can’t imagine why my phone would be turned off.”

“I’d like to point out the fact that we were right all along.” Drew held up his hands when his brother growled. “I packed your shit and booked your flight. We have to hurry or you’re going to miss it.”

Bri swayed, trying to process the information. She didn’t have a week. She didn’t even have a day. He was leaving right now. She tried to quell the storm of emotions inside her, threatening to break out. How could Ryan make her promises when his first priority would always be the Air Force? It didn’t matter what he wanted to pursue with her—they would call and he would go. Maybe he’d feel bad about it, but he would leave.

Just like everyone else did.

She wrapped her arms around herself and took another step away from him. He caught the move, because his eyebrows dropped and his mouth fell into an unforgiving line. She’d seen that expression before, back when they’d still been at each other’s throats. “Go wait in the car,” he said to Drew and Avery. “I’ll be out in a minute.”