by Cat Johnson
Yeah. That was it.
Will made a vow to get out more. Maybe take the guys up on their invitation and hang with them one night. Not that he was all that keen on going out.
The thought of trolling for women at the local bar left him cold. Still, he needed to do something about this sudden awareness of Jessa as a woman so he could get back to normal and just be friends with her.
How to do that, he didn’t know. For now, the best thing he could do was get to work.
Will managed to do exactly that for the next hour, whipping through the indoor and outdoor tasks he’d set for himself. He only stopped to take a short break to sit down and eat the very tasty sticky buns she’d baked.
Then he was done and hovering by the front door, toolbox in hand and the thirty dollars she’d insisted he take in his pocket.
Hesitating leaving and not in any hurry to say goodbye he said, “So, tomorrow is Sunday.”
“It is.” She nodded.
“You’re off?”
“Yup. Are you?” Jessa asked.
“I am.” As long as the commander didn’t call the team in. He kept that slim possibility to himself and against his better judgment said, “Maybe we should go shopping.”
“Shopping?” She lifted her brows.
His lips twitched with a smile. “Not like purse shopping. That is definitely not on my list of fun things to do on a Sunday. I’m talking dog shopping.”
“Dog shopping?” Her eyes widened.
“Yeah. You told me you were thinking about maybe getting one.”
“Yes.”
“I think you should. And the shelter is open on weekends. I thought I could go with you.” He shrugged, ignoring that he liked the idea of seeing her again tomorrow too much for his own good.
“Oh. Okay. Sure. We can go see what kind are there.” She’d looked surprised by the suggestion. Will didn’t blame her. It had surprised him too.
“And no tiny foo-foo dogs either. I want it to be a decent sized breed,” he continued.
“Oh you do, do you?” She laughed, the action making her even prettier than usual.
Enjoying the sound of her laughter and that he’d inspired it, he cocked his head to one side. “Yes. And the reason is, if you’re going to be outside, alone and in the dark walking the damn thing, I want it to be able to scare away anyone who gets any ideas. And to be able to defend both you and itself.”
More serious now, she nodded. “Okay. So I guess no Papillion for me then.”
“I don’t even know what that is, but it sounds foo-foo so yeah, I agree. None of those. A Rottie would be good. But I’d approve of a Shepherd mix.”
“You’d approve?” She smiled. “Okay. We’ll see.”
“Yes, we will.” He smiled. “You know, I have friends who are security experts. If you ever decide you want a system installed—”
She shook her head, stopping him mid sentence.
“I know what you’re going to say,” he continued. “But it doesn’t have to be a lot of money. There are some good basic systems. Just think about it and let me know if you want to talk more. Okay?”
“Okay.” She nodded.
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He grasped her arm with one hand, leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
He didn’t know what possessed him to do it. He just felt so comfortable with her. Or at least he had until that damn kiss.
Now the whole thing seemed very uncomfortable, for both of them. Will saw that when he pulled back and she looked as surprised by his action as he was himself.
Clearing his throat he regrouped. “I’ll, uh, call you in the morning and we’ll set up a time.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
He pulled open the door and took a step out, happy to leave so he could consider what the hell had gotten into him.
Glancing over his shoulder, he said, “Lock the door behind me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Laughing at her poorly executed salute, Will shook his head and pulled the door closed behind him before he decided it might be a good idea to stay—for an hour, or for a night.
That would be an epically bad idea.
Even with as much as he liked her, Jessa was still Sara’s sister. If sleeping with his ex’s sister didn’t have bad juju written all over it, he didn’t know what did.
He was just about to pull away from her curb when his cell rang. Smiling, he figured it was Jessa, then he mentally slapped himself down for that hope and glanced at the display.
It read Mom—the other person in his life besides Jessa who preferred calling over texting.
“Hey, Mom.”
“William.” She drew in and let out a shaky breath.
Something was wrong. She didn’t sound like her usual cheerful talkative self.
Dropping his hand from the gearshift, he frowned. It seemed his good mood, as well as the good day he’d been having, was destined to be short lived.
“What’s happening?” he asked.
“It’s your grandpa.”
Closing his eyes Will leaned his head against the steering wheel and braced himself for the worst.
CHAPTER 8
Will didn’t know if the steady beep, beep, beep of the monitor was a comfort, or if the sound was about to drive him bat shit crazy. After only an hour into his bedside visit, it was still too close to call.
The one thing that he knew was not at all comforting, was the ashen face of the man hooked up to all those monitors.
Will was a damn Mensa-level genius and a bad ass Navy SEAL to boot, yet he’d never felt so helpless as he did right now.
He wasn’t used to feeling that way. It fucking sucked.
Even his computer, nearly forgotten on his lap, wasn’t offering any distraction today.
That was definitely not normal. He’d been known to get lost so deep in his laptop he’d forgotten to eat or drink or sleep.
But nothing could take his mind off the possibility he might lose the man who’d been there for him from the day he was born. The man who’d taught him how to bait a hook and how to clean a shotgun. How to nurture a seedling until it grew to be a mighty tree and also how to knock a man out with a single punch.
This man in the hospital bed looked nothing like that man and that was enough to bring a mist to Will’s eyes that he didn’t even try to hide.
He should visit home more but it always seemed he was too busy to get home. And officially putting in for leave every time he needed to travel could be such a pain in the ass.
Excuses—that’s what all that crap he’d just used to justify his too infrequent visits had been. Damn poor excuses, just like he was a damn poor excuse of a grandson.
“Shit.” His gaze shot to the clock on the wall as he remembered he’d promised to call Jessa this morning about going to look for a dog. Apparently he was a bad friend as well.
Things had happened in such a whirlwind starting the moment he received his mother’s phone call, he’d forgotten to cancel their date—not that it was a date.
He sighed. Whatever it was, he’d been so distracted he’d forgotten completely.
After putting the laptop down on the empty bed tray, he pulled out his cell and dialed Jessa’s number.
“Hey,” she answered with a happy lilt in her voice.
Sadly, he was going to put a damper on her good mood.
“Hey. I’m sorry, but I gotta cancel today. I’m in Maryland.”
“Maryland?” She sounded surprised. He didn’t blame her.
“Yeah, it’s where I’m from. My grandfather’s in the hospital here.”
“Oh, Will, I’m so sorry.” The genuine concern was evident in her voice.
“Thanks. I would have called earlier but things got crazy right after I left your place yesterday.”
While trying to track down his commander to request emergency leave, he’d driven home to grab a bag, then he’d hit the road.
“No need to apologize to me. You just take care of
yourself and your family. That’s what’s important.”
“Thanks.”
“Is there anything I can do for you? Water the plants? Feed your fish? Take in the mail? I don’t know . . . anything?”
Will sniffed out a short laugh at her vision of a home much cozier than the one he actually had. “No, I’m good.”
Pets? Plants? They’d have all died long ago. With the unpredictable nature of his job, he’d never bothered acquiring living things that needed steady tending. And his mail went to a PO Box where it would wait for him until he could get it.
“Thanks for the offer though,” he continued. “How are you doing there? Any more news on the robbery?”
“No, but I have to take out my garbage so I’m sure I’ll have more news soon.”
Not understanding the connection, he frowned and laughed. “Okay.”
The door opened, drawing his attention away from the call. “Um, Jess, I gotta go. My mom just walked in.”
“Okay. Keep me updated?” she asked.
“Sure, if you want. Talk soon,” Will promised.
“All right. Bye.”
After disconnecting, he lowered the cell and stood. Shoving the phone in his pocket he turned to face his mother in the doorway.
“Willie.”
“Mom.” Will accepted the hug from the woman who’d worked two jobs to raise him and his two sisters as a single mother—another reason he should visit home more than he did.
“How is he? Any change?” she asked, glancing at the bed.
Will lifted a shoulder. “He hasn’t woken up but I’ve only been here since thirteen-hundred.”
His mother smiled and he realized what he’d said. It was a hard habit to break. “One o’clock,” Will added for her benefit.
“I know, sweetie. Your father and your grandfather were in the military too, you know.”
“I know.” Serving his country had been what had taken his father from them when Will was young. And now he could lose his grandfather too, the toughest damn USMC veteran at the Union Avenue VFW.
That thought nearly had him bawling. Christ. He needed a change of subject. “So, how’s Amanda doing?”
As the problem child of the family, Will’s younger sister was always a good topic of conversation. Before his mom could answer, Will’s other sister filled the doorway.
Megan cocked up her brow. “You don’t ask about how I’m doing? Only about Amanda?”
Will couldn’t help but smile at that accusation as he moved to embrace his older sister. “I don’t need to ask about you. You’re happily married and have a great job and the perfect home. Right down to the white picket fence.”
Pulling back from the hug, Megan screwed up her mouth as if considering that. “Well, that’s all true so I guess I’ll let it go.” Her gaze landed on the bed before cutting to their mom. “How’s he doing?”
“Same.”
“I guess no news is going to have to be good news for now.” Megan drew in a breath and let it out. “Anyway, as for Amanda . . .”
The sentence she’d left unfinished, accompanied by her look of sheer exasperation, had Will asking, “That bad?”
Megan let out a short laugh. “I swear if there’s the wrong man to be found, that girl will find him. Now she’s got like five different dating apps on her cell phone and each guy she chooses is worse than the last.”
“I’m sure it’s not that bad—” his mother began.
“Mom, come on.” With a cocky eye roll, Megan interrupted their mother before turning back to Will. “It is that bad. Believe me. I mean it’s not that I’m completely against online dating. I’m sure there are some nice guys out there, but it’s like she consistently gravitates toward the worst ones.”
Knowing Amanda and her track record with men, Will believed Megan. Completely. That was the problem.
Feeling helpless again—and hating the feeling again—he sighed. “It’s too bad you can’t, I don’t know, take over her dating profile. Pick the guys for her. You know?”
Megan’s eyes widened in agreement. “Exactly. If she’d just let me, I could weed out the bad ones. Narrow it down to a list of only the men who’d be good for her. I mean she would have the final decision of who to meet for a date—”
“But she’d only be choosing from a preapproved selection . . .” Will’s mind reeled as the idea hit him like a bolt of lightning.
So sharp. So clear. So freaking obvious he didn’t know how no one had ever thought of it before.
“Holy fuck.” He spun toward where he’d left his laptop.
Will was halfway there when his mother said, “William! Language.”
“Sorry.” He couldn’t be all that sorry because this idea was pure gold.
If this app wasn’t already out there, it could make him a fuck-ton of money. He had the browser up and was searching the two big app stores in seconds.
“Uh, oh. I’ve seen that look before.” Megan laughed, watching him. “I think we’ve lost him.”
“I can still hear you,” Will said as his heart beat faster.
So far, so good. He hadn’t found what he was looking for and that was a very good thing. Because if no one else had developed the app yet, he was going to and it was going to change the dating world.
Possible names flew through his head as he searched. Wing Man. Wing Woman. Cock Blocked. He’d need a great name for the app but he could think of one later.
All that mattered was that he had a kick ass idea and so far it looked as if he might be the first.
He had a two-week leave and nothing to do except sit vigil at his grandfather’s bedside. This project would occupy his mind and his time.
God knew he needed a distraction from the worry and the horrors of the hospital. With his computer equipment here with him it was totally doable. He could knock out the coding for this app. Put together something good enough to beta test in the real world.
Other dating websites and apps had substantial databases of opted in users, but he had an idea on how to get around that. He could start with an existing database.
Piggy-backing on the Facebook user base would be perfect. It was huge and he sure as hell knew the platform inside and out after his recent project.
He could expand his app later to include Instagram. Then Snapchat, or whatever new fad app hit with the younger generation.
His excitement grew as ideas fell into place.
Eventually he’d need a sizeable group of beta testers, but for the initial round of testing, his sisters could be his first guinea pigs. He could probably get some of the guys from the team too.
That would be far preferable to testing it on himself. That he did not want to do. Dating was the last thing on his mind at the moment. But developing a new app, a project just for him, nothing to do with the military or the government with their many parameters and restrictions, was exactly what he needed right now.
He loved having a task. A challenge.
“Are you going to tell us what brainstorm hit you, boy genius?” Megan asked.
“Eventually.” Will grinned.
He hadn’t felt this enthusiastic about something in awhile. And man, was it going to be epic!
CHAPTER 9
It wasn’t in Jessa’s nature to sit back and do nothing when someone she knew was in need, but she didn’t know what to do. She’d been racking her brain trying to figure it out for days. Ever since Will had called her from the hospital.
She didn’t have Will’s family’s address in Maryland. She didn’t know which hospital his grandfather was in.
Heck, she didn’t even know his grandfather’s name. If it was his maternal grandfather, it wouldn’t be Weber. He’d have a different last name.
Without any of that information she couldn’t send flowers or a fruit basket or even a get-well card and it was driving her crazy.
Sending something was the decent thing to do when someone was in the hospital. And she was a decent human being . . . who happened to
be armed with a laptop, Wi-Fi and a search engine.
That was the only reasoning she was comfortable with to explain why she booted up her laptop at nearly eleven o’clock at night to open a browser and search her ass off to try and track down Will Weber in Maryland.
For lack of a better plan, she figured Facebook should yield something.
She had been friends with Will on Facebook for years because of Sara, so she had access to his profile. He didn’t post all that much, but there might be something there she could use.
Even if he hadn’t posted anything, his family might have. She wasn’t friends with Will’s mother or sisters, but she could find their profiles through Will’s and see if there was anything public that would give her the clues she needed.
The word stalker came to mind as she sifted through his virtual identity with a fine-toothed comb, but she quickly dismissed that.
Will was her friend. He’d gone out of his way to help her with her security situation. She wanted to repay the kindness. That was all.
Yeah, right.
Of course, flipping rocks often exposed snakes beneath them—even online. Jessa discovered that the hard way when, buried deep in Will’s Facebook profile, she kept finding evidence of Sara.
Every item Jessa unearthed twisted her heart a bit. It was all a reminder that while Jessa had no boyfriend at all, Sara had had Will in her life and had left him.
It was obvious that since the break-up Will had deleted the pictures of them together, but there were still crumbs left behind for Jessa to find.
Remnants of Will and Sara’s long running relationship.
A picture of the lighthouse in Pensacola from when they’d gone there together.
A photo of some supposedly great sushi from a waterfront restaurant there, which Sara had gone on and on about when she returned from that trip.
The picture of Will on the beach, shirtless and looking like a Greek god silhouetted against the sky . . .
He was alone in the photo but Jessa knew, because Sara had told her, that she’d taken it right before they’d had sex in the water.
In spite of it being way too much information for one sister to have about the other’s love life, Sara had gone into excruciating detail about the orgasmic underwater encounter.