“Thank you for a really memorable fourth of July,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget this one.”
“I won’t either.” It had been too memorable in too many ways to forget anything about it. Not least of which was the moment we were in right then.
Lincoln’s eyes darted from mine to my lips, his pupils dilating as he leaned forward. His thumbs stroked my cheekbones, his gaze lingering on my mouth before he dragged it back up to mine.
Time slowed. It was as if we were about to have our first kiss. That same anticipation and exhilaration rushed through my veins, but it was more than just that.
He lowered his head until there was only a fraction of an inch separating his lips from mine. His breath fanned my face, smelling sweet from the ice-cream cone he’d just devoured on our way back to the parking lot.
My heart pounded. Every nerve ending came to life and hummed with the anticipation of feeling his lips pressed against mine once again.
My eyes closed. My breathing sped up. Linc’s breaths mingled with mine. When he leaned in to close the last bit of space between us, I realized what was different about the kiss.
In the past when I’d kissed him, I knew I liked him and was having fun with him. But this time when his soft lips touched mine and he kissed me like the music had started to play, I knew I more than just liked him.
I wasn’t just falling for him, either.
I fell.
Right there in the glow of the old streetlamp in the parking lot at the boardwalk I’d visited a million times before, I stopped falling.
It was no longer in progress.
Right then and there, I fell for Lincoln Dobbs.
A soldier.
A SEAL.
A man whose fate was in my father’s hands.
Dear Lord, please let this not have been the dumbest darn thing I’ve done.
Chapter 29
Lincoln
“Dobbs?” an unfamiliar voice asked when I answered my phone.
I sat up in bed, blinking against the harsh rays of sun streaming in through the bedroom window. Shielding my eyes with my hand, I glanced down at the clock on the nightstand, then nearly passed right the fuck out again when I saw it was nearing noon. No wonder it’s so damn bright out.
I hadn’t slept this late in years, but I couldn’t deny that I also felt properly rested for the first time in years. Sofia wasn’t with me, but we’d talked on the phone late into the night.
After I’d dropped her off at her house, she’d asked me to call her when I got back to the house. I did, but instead of it just being a quick call to let her know I’d made it back, it had turned into a three-hour-long conversation.
It had started because I’d pointed out how ridiculous it was that she insisted I call her to let her know I was safe but had then evolved into a continuing of the conversation we’d had on the beach. We’d talked about her studies, why I loved my job, my mom and hers, and a thousand little uninteresting things that, for some reason, I couldn’t get enough of when it came to her.
A stupid, goofy smile that I was relieved as fuck no one was around to see spread on my lips until I remembered I had been woken up by my phone. The man on the other end of the line cleared his throat. “Lincoln Dobbs?”
“Yes, that’s me.” Suspicion crawled down my spine, straightening it as I waited for him to talk again.
“This is Dr. Willard,” he said. “I’m the one taking care of Mr. Phillips. We met when—”
“I know who you are.” My skin suddenly felt like it was squeezing the life out of me again. “Is he okay?”
“Yes actually,” he said cheerfully. “Mr. Phillips is awake. I told you I’d let you know when—”
“I’ll be right there,” I promised, my grip on my phone tightening even as relief nearly knocked me the fuck out. “Please tell him for me.”
“I’ll do that, but Mr. Dobbs?”
“Yeah?” I swung my legs off the bed and was already halfway to the bathroom before he issued his warning.
“You might want to hurry. The chain of command also have to be made aware that he’s regained consciousness. I’m not sure how long you’ll have before they come to say hi.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes. Thanks.” Tossing the phone down on my dresser, I didn’t bother having a shower before I left.
I grabbed a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt, pulled them on while also gathering the shit I’d need, and was out the door as fast as I’d ever been before. I burned rubber all the way to the base, only slowing down when I got close and realized I was drawing attention to myself.
Jackson manned the security gate again. When he saw me running, he huffed out a breath and stepped aside. “Make it a fast one, man. There’s a lot of movement today.”
“Got it. Thank you.” I made a mental note to send him something to show my gratitude. That was what people did, right? Send a fruit basket or flowers?
Snorting at myself while jogging toward the entrance of the hospital, I decided to simply buy him a shot of tequila next time I saw him at a bar. Maybe even a beer. Definitely a beer, too.
I owed him and the doc. Before I could wonder what I’d get the doc to thank him for calling, I was pushing into Eden’s room.
Dizzying relief crashed into me when I saw with my own two eyes that he really was awake. The ventilator and most of the other equipment had been moved out of the room, and only an IV remained.
As I burst into his room, his head swung to the side and his eyes met mine. “Linc, you came?”
“Of course. I came as soon as the doc called.” I shut the door decisively behind me. “How are you feeling?”
Eden grinned, but it wasn’t as bright as it usually was. His light green eyes were rimmed with red and his skin was still pale. “I’m just happy to be alive, man. I can deal with feeling like I’m near dead as long as I’m not actually dead.”
“But seriously.” I frowned, my gaze tracking up and down the length of his body. Most of it was covered by his sheet, and I knew he’d had injuries to multiple parts of his legs and abdomen. “Are you feeling okay?”
He shrugged, pointing to his head. “Other than a splitting headache and feeling like I got hit by a train, not too bad.”
“How are your legs?” Worry ran through me. “Can you move them?”
He nodded but winced as he demonstrated. “I’m going to have to get some physical therapy, but the doctors seem positive that I’ll be walking again before the end of the month.”
One of my eyebrows rose as I whistled between my teeth. “Really? After the kind of knock you took, they think you’ll be on the mend that soon?”
“I believe their exact words were that I was ‘fit and healthy.’” He smirked, a glimmer of my friend’s personality finally showing. “One of the nurses might have mentioned that a ‘strong young man’ such as myself would make a fast recovery from these injuries.”
“Did they tell you what injuries you actually had? No one would tell me anything concrete, but you were in a fucking coma.”
“A medically induced coma,” he corrected, his smirk morphing into a knowing grin. “It drove you crazy not being able to do anything for me, didn’t it?”
“Sure did.” I wasn’t even in the mood to fuck with him today. I was too happy to see him breathing on his own and smiling, even if he did flinch and wince whenever he moved. “How long are they going to keep you here?”
“Probably about a week or so.” He turned his hands palms up but only managed to lift them a few inches off the bed. “Apparently, I need time to rest and recuperate.”
“I’d say. You were in a coma until this morning, dude. I wouldn’t start making plans about rushing your recovery.”
“I won’t, but again, it was a medically induced coma. They were worried about my head wound. There was swelling on my brain and a few other indicators they wanted to watch, hence the coma. All that has cleared up now, which is why they yanked me out.”
“Th
ank God for that.” I dropped into my chair beside his bed, bringing my forehead down on the cool metal rail again. “I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to hear your whiny voice again.”
“My whiny voice is here to stay.” When I looked up, he gave me another weak smile. But as his eyes met mine, his expression turned serious. “You only have yourself to thank for having to put up with me and my whiny voice. If you hadn’t been there…”
“I was there, though,” I said firmly, keeping my gaze unwavering on his. “I always will be, so you never have to wonder about what would happen if I wasn’t.”
He nodded before reaching out toward me, curling his hand into a fist to bump against mine. It looked like it took a lot more effort than it should have, which worried me, but at least he was speaking and moving.
“I wouldn’t have been alive—”
“Don’t even say it,” I warned him but gave him the fist bump. Sighing as I sat back in my chair, I scrubbed my hands over my face. “We’re in big fucking trouble, bro. I hate to tell you when you’ve just woken up, but the doc told me they’d be calling the powers that be to let them know sleeping beauty has opened his eyes.”
Eden’s blond eyebrows pulled together, and he dipped his head to the side. “How are we in trouble? We did exactly what they asked for once, and we successfully achieved the objectives for the mission.”
“I know.” I shook my head, releasing a heavy breath. “I don’t know what the hell happened after we left here, but it’s not good. I’m on indefinite suspension.”
“What the hell?” His head jerked back, which made a low groan slip out of him. “Why?”
I leveled him with a look. “Because I went on a mission while still suspended from active duty.”
Disbelief clouded Eden’s eyes. A deep frown formed between them, and his tongue made repeated swipes over his lips. “That’s impossible.”
“And yet, it’s what’s happening.” I let my head drop back, studying the dots and lines on the ceiling as I blew out a breath. “Since I’m on suspension and they’re considering my dishonorable discharge, no one has let me in on what’s going on. If they’ve started with the investigation, no one has spoken to me about it.”
“Let me guess. You haven’t spoken to them about what happened at all?” His lips pressed into a thin line and his eyes narrowed when I shook my head. “We have to tell the truth, Linc. I mean it. The only way we don’t get kicked out for this is if we tell them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. No games, no nothing. Just walk them through what happened that day.”
“I don’t know.” I shoved my hands into my short hair and lowered my chin. “It might not make much of a difference at this point.”
“It doesn’t fucking matter,” he burst out, his fingers curling into fists above his starched white bed sheet. Red stained his cheeks, and his jaw tightened. “We have to try, Lincoln. I’m not walking away from a career we’ve been building for the better part of a decade and want for the rest of our lives when we’re being fucked.”
“I’m not planning on just walking away.” I shook my head at him. “There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that I’m just walking away, but we also need to time it right. If we don’t—”
The door creaked softly on its hinges as it swung open, and I cut myself off before I’d even turned around to see who was there. I figured it would be the doc, but I was wrong.
I found myself staring into the ice-blue eyes of the lieutenant commander. His graying brows swept up on his forehead and he shifted on his feet, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. “I’ve come to check on Phillips. I’m not surprised to see you here, Dobbs, but you have to leave.”
“But I—”
Those eyes narrowed to slits, and he planted his feet about a foot apart. “I’m being generous here, Dobbs. This is your one pass. The next time you open your mouth to argue or I find you anywhere near this hospital, you will be in jail. Got it? Good.”
He dismissed me by moving his gaze to Eden. Rage bubbled in my chest, but I climbed to my feet and gave Eden a wave.
I’d meant it when I said I wasn’t leaving without a fight, but this wasn’t the right time to have it. If I wasn’t careful, my ass would be thrown in jail today. Even if I wasn’t, I might still end up there. The longer I could keep myself on this side of the bars, the better shot I had at finding out what the hell had gone down before and after Eden and I had boarded that plane.
Now that I knew he was awake, clearing our names was at the top of my list of priorities. I didn’t know how to do it yet, but I’d find out.
No matter who my opponent was, I wasn’t backing down again. Not even from Charles fucking Cantor.
Chapter 30
Sofia
Every once in a while, everything felt like it was right in the world. When I woke up after an incredible day with the man I’d most definitely fallen for and had spent most of the night talking to, it felt like it was going to be one of those days.
A soppy but upbeat love song popped into my head the second I opened my eyes. Stretching out on my bed with a ridiculous smile on my face, I wiggled along to the tune in my head like the princess in a damn movie. Then I decided to grab my brush and sing into it as I climbed out of bed and made it.
By the time I was freshly showered and dressed, I felt like an actress in one of those romantic comedy movies Haley and I watched sometimes. I couldn’t quit smiling, my ass shook along to music only I could hear, and I swore I was only a pen and paper away from scribbling Lincoln’s name with little hearts all around it.
Floating on a fluffy cloud of elation and riding a unicorn over a rainbow in my head, I missed the thundercloud hanging over my father when I first walked into the kitchen. My voice even came out as a song when I chirped my good morning. “Hey, Daddy. What’s up? How was your fourth?”
When he lifted his head away from the newspaper and his eyes hooked onto mine, the cloud evaporated and the unicorn died. My shoulders slumped and dread pooled in my stomach. And he hadn’t even said a word.
Still without saying anything, he slowly set the newspaper down and pushed it across the table.
I frowned. “What’s wrong?”
He folded back a page, then tapped on it with his index finger. So many emotions burned in his eyes that I couldn’t begin to identify them all, but none of them were good. Nor was the fact he remained silent.
Slowly dragging my gaze away from his, I saw the article he had opened to. On top of the page in big bold letters, the headline read “Couple saves a life on the beach!”. Beneath it was a photo of my own smiling face and Lincoln’s arrogant yet sexy smirk. His arms were wrapped around me from behind and his head was right up against mine. Instead of looking directly at the camera, his eyes were focused on me.
There could be no denying that we were together in the picture. It wasn’t like I could try to spin it that he’d coincidentally ended up helping me when he’d heard someone on the beach was in distress.
The dread in my stomach turned to lead. Douglas had chosen a nice picture of us, at least, but it brought me no comfort in the moment. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
In my lovestruck haze, I hadn’t thought for a second that Dad might see the article when Douglas told us he wanted to do a story. I should have known it would happen, but I hadn’t seen it coming.
There was also a part of me that wondered if I’d intentionally, albeit subconsciously, forgotten about the fact that Dad read every local paper every day. Had I wanted him to find out about Lincoln and me?
The short answer was not this way, but yes. Our relationship had developed into something a lot more than just fucking and having fun. It wasn’t something I wanted to have to hide from my father forever.
My feelings for Lincoln were deep, and they were real. I wasn’t ashamed of them, and I wasn’t ashamed of the man they were for.
“Oh, yeah,” I said casually, knowing I’d have to explain but still trying to figure out ho
w. “A man had a heart attack on the beach and we helped. I’m pretty sure I saved his life.”
“That’s great, honey,” my dad said, his tone as flat as a pancake. He cleared his throat, tapping his fingertip on the picture again as he cocked his head at me. “Why were you with Lincoln Dobbs?”
“He’s a friend,” I started but then shook my head at myself. There had been enough lies. It was time for Dad to know the truth. “Actually, no. He’s more than a friend. I’ve been seeing him.”
All the color seeped from Dad’s cheeks, leaving them blue-gray and mottled. His eyebrows rose on his forehead and he blinked at me like he wasn’t sure if I was really there.
“Excuse me, what did you just say?”
I raised my chin as I sat down in the seat opposite his, reaching for his hands. He pulled them to his lap and narrowed his eyes at me. “I could have sworn I just heard you say that you are seeing Lincoln Dobbs.”
“He also goes by just Lincoln. You don’t always need to add his last name.” My attempt at lightening the mood failed dismally.
A muscle in Dad’s jaw ticked, and he inched forward on his chair. “Why were you with him and what do you mean when you say you’ve been seeing him?”
“We spent the day together. That’s why he was with me in that picture. It’s a good thing he was there, too. He really helped me when the man had his heart attack.”
Dad swallowed, his mouth twisting into a grimace. “If he helped you, it was because there was something in it for him.”
“There was nothing in it for him. He’s a really good guy, Dad. I know you don’t like him, but I really think if you just give him a chance—”
“I’ve given Dobbs plenty of chances,” he spat. Color returned to his face but not the good kind. He turned so red he was almost purple, then jumped to his feet and slammed his palms down on the table. “You have no idea what that boy has done. He’s not a good guy, Sofia. He’s trouble. Jesus, he couldn’t even follow the order to be suspended. Literally, all he had to do was nothing, and he fucked it up.”
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