Reckless Hero (Savage Soldiers Book 5)

by Nicole Elliot

  I walked over to her slowly, letting her shock wear off.

  As I approached, her eyes roamed my face like she couldn’t quite believe it was me.

  “Hi,” I said, my voice breathless. “What are you doing here?”

  “I go to school here,” she answered, her words slow and reluctant.

  “Really?” I said. “Wow. I didn’t even know you were still in the area.”

  “I could say the same about you.” Her voice had grown guarded and her eyes watched me carefully, sizing me up.

  I could tell she was nervous, as was I. My heart was beating faster each second. “I just got back a few months ago,” I said. “My tour ended, so I moved back home.”

  “With your mom?” she asked, her voice softening somewhat. “How’s she doing?”

  I nodded. “She’s okay. Doing a lot better. It’s been five years now, so…” I trailed off, not wanting to talk about my father. This wasn’t the way my conversation with Anna was supposed to go; we weren’t supposed to talk about my dead dad or my depressed mom. She was supposed to see me and be overwhelmed by how good I looked and want to get together for old time’s sake. My confidence was supposed to attract her like it had all those years ago.

  After being relocated by the Savage Soldiers, I’d spent so many nights in Iraq imagining how she would greet me whenever we crossed paths again. I’d always envisioned it would be with the trademark smile she used to give me—the one that told me I was the only man in the world for her.

  Damn, you’re still whipped over this girl, a voice taunted from deep inside my head.

  I couldn’t deny it.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I remember.”

  “So,” I said, quickly changing the subject. “Who’s this? New boyfriend?” I directed my attention to the man beside her and extended my hand, stretching to make myself look taller. I hoped my tone didn’t convey the jealousy I felt at the thought of her being taken by another man; it would hardly make a good impression if I pummeled the guy into the ground. So instead of giving into that impulse, I pasted a smile onto my face, all teeth. It probably looked fake, but it was the best I could manage.

  “No.” Anna laughed. “This is Brandon. My cousin.”

  “Brandon?” I blinked and stared at the man again, suddenly realizing that he was younger than I’d initially thought. I remembered Anna having a younger cousin. They’d been close, and I’d met him several times while we’d been dating. However, the young man before me was nothing like the scrawny kid I once knew. He had grown at least a foot and had the beginnings of a mustache on his upper lip.

  “Tucker,” Brandon said, shaking my hand.

  “Man,” I said, “you look different. You were just a little guy the last time I saw you.”

  Brandon shrugged. “Five years will do that.”

  I watched him for a second before turning my attention back to Anna and putting on my best smile. “It’s really great seeing you again,” I said softly, pushing my hair out of my eyes.

  She cleared her throat, shifted awkwardly, and looked down at her feet.

  “Do you think we could get together and catch up? Maybe talk over coffee or something?” I asked, ignoring her tensed body language.

  I had to at least try my luck.

  Her eyes started darting around, and I realized I still made her nervous.

  Good, I thought. Nervous was an emotion I could work with because it meant she still felt something for me.

  “Anna, your class is about to start,” Brandon said pointedly. “You should probably get going.”

  “Right.” She shook her head, the spell between us broken. She then flashed Brandon a grateful look before turning back to me. “I’m sorry, Tucker. I can’t. I’m really busy with classes right now.”

  “Me too,” I said.

  She took a step away, but I blocked her path.

  “Come on,” I said. “You know you want to. Just coffee. We can meet somewhere on campus.”

  I hated how pushy I sounded, but couldn’t help myself.

  “No,” she said firmly.

  I blinked in surprise. She had never used that tone with me before.

  “It’s good to see you, Tucker, but I don’t have time. Sorry.” With that, she moved around me and headed down the path.

  Brandon shot me a glance before following after her.

  “Anna,” I called again on impulse.

  She stopped in her tracks and wearily looked back at me.

  “This is not the end,” I promised. “I’m not letting you get away from me again that easily.” I tried to keep my tone light and joking, but wasn’t quite successful.

  Her mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. I knew she was in shock. Anna had never been good at hiding her emotions; her face was an open book most of the time.

  Nevertheless, I couldn’t help smiling a little, knowing I had rattled her. It was only fair since she had shaken me so.

  She looked at me a few seconds longer before turning and walking away without another word.

  I watched as she and her cousin disappeared from sight. My class was about to start as well, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. I just stared after Anna, hoping she would come back and say she’d changed her mind.

  I should have known she would turn down my offer though. After all, it had been five years and we’d hardly parted on amicable terms. She had always been prickly; the charm that usually worked on other women never worked well on her. Thus, the history between us would understandably make her weary.

  Her refusal was still a hard pill to swallow though and every instinct I possessed screamed at me to follow her.

  I fought those instincts though, knowing they wouldn’t do me any favors.

  When my legs finally moved, I forced them to go in the opposite direction.

  As I slowly walked down the path, I could still hear her voice in my head saying no. She had been so firm. So final. No matter what I still felt for Anna, it didn’t matter because she obviously didn’t feel anything for me.

  Still, seeing her again had reignited a fire within me, and I just couldn’t accept that no for an answer.

  I couldn’t let things rest as they were.

  This couldn’t be the last Anna saw of me, not by a long shot.

  CHAPTER 6

  Anna

  I was early for class this time and took a seat closer to the front of the room. Getting myself settled, I unpacked my notebook and laptop. The laptop was bulky and outdated; I couldn’t afford the latest gadgets like some of the other students, but the device worked and served its function well enough. And it would keep me from writing my fingers off, at least.

  After arranging everything on my part of the table, I pulled up the recorder app on my phone – again not the latest on the market, but serving its purpose.

  Ready for class to start, I looked around. Only a few other students were there at the moment—a group of girls conversing around an open notebook while a guy lounged in the back with a pair of headphones hanging from his ears.

  Tucker wasn’t there yet.

  At the thought of him, my stomach cramped and I broke out in a sweat. I had been dreading seeing him again. My head was still reeling from our unexpected chance meeting. I could still hear his voice and the words he’d said to me: I’m not letting you get away from me that easy.

  Every time I thought about those words, I felt hot and bothered one second, then panicked and angry the next.

  Deep down, I knew Tucker was bad to the bone. He tried to hide it behind a friendly smile and a laidback attitude, but the ruthless light in his eyes showed what an alpha he was under the veneer.

  He was the kind of man determined to get whatever he set his sights on, and once upon a time, it had been me that he wanted. His persistence was one of the things that had drawn me in against my will. I’d hated the thought of being one of the cliché girls who fell for the bad boy, but when I fell for Tucker, I had fallen hard.

  When he lef
t, it had destroyed me and made me doubt everything I thought I’d known about myself. Afterwards, I had vowed to never feel so deeply for a man again.

  As if my thoughts had conjured him, he appeared in the entrance.

  I involuntarily gasped.

  Tucker James was still the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen, even if I hated admitting it. He was the walking definition of tall, dark, and handsome. Filling out a plain t-shirt and a pair of jeans, his attire was simple, but he still somehow looked like he belonged on the cover of a magazine.

  He was accompanied by three other guys. Although they were younger than him, none of them carried an ounce of his raw sex appeal.

  He had certainly aged sexily.

  I was considered sensible to a fault, but when it came to Tucker, all my senses went right out the window. His presence awakened hormones within me that had been dormant for nearly five years. Suddenly, I could remember his intimate touch so clearly that it was like those five years had never passed.

  Fearful that my entire body was flushing, I averted my gaze.

  That’s when I noticed I wasn’t the only one who noticed Tucker’s entrance, or his attractiveness for that matter. The female students had perked up, smiling and trying to subtly fix their hair and clothing before he looked their way.

  I caught a growl in my throat, barely suppressing the sound.

  Being Tucker’s girlfriend had always brought out an unexpected streak of jealousy in me, and apparently, that hadn’t changed. Except the girlfriend part, that was.

  I turned away, annoyed with myself for reacting so strongly when his eyes landed on me. There was no turning away from his gaze. The heat of it brushed my skin like a physical touch. Electricity raced up my back and made the hair at the nape stand on edge.

  Tucker’s grin was slow and knowing, as if he knew exactly what he was doing to me. My cheeks warmed.

  Peeling his gaze away from me, he said something to the guys he came in with. Without waiting for an answer from them, he then sauntered toward me and took a seat beside me, never even looking at the other women preening for his attention.

  One of them shot me a dirty look.

  Go ahead girlfriend. Been there done that. Not going down that road again, I thought, hoping with my all that it was true.

  Just when it was time for class to start, the professor and the remaining students came through the door. The atmosphere in the room changed as everyone got ready for the lecture.

  Thanks to the sudden bustle, I was finally able to take my focus off Tucker, even though I knew it would be impossible for me to entirely ignore him.

  “All right,” the professor said by way of greeting. “Today, I would like you all to pair up in groups of two.”

  Tucker immediately leaned towards me. “Told you, you aren’t going to get away that easy, partner.”

  ***

  The class proved to be a lesson in self-control and I was grateful to have had my phone recorder running because I hadn’t been able to concentrate at all.

  The professor had handed each group a worksheet to complete during his lecture that was to be submitted to him by the end of class.

  I tried to focus on what the white-bearded man said, just like I tried to take notes and give my input on the handout. However, the spicy scent of Tucker’s cologne kept me distracted. I could remember that scent so well…

  Late into the nights we used to spend together so long ago, I would put my nose against his neck and inhale that scent as we cuddled and drifted off to sleep. That same scent had clung to the t-shirts he would give me to sleep in, as well as his hoodie whenever I borrowed it.

  That scent reminded me of security and love.

  Sitting beside Tucker in class, fighting those memories felt like an uphill battle.

  I practically sighed in relief when the professor dismissed class.

  When Tucker went up the professor’s desk to submit our assignment, I took the opportunity to escape. I hurriedly stuck my belongings into my bag, hopped out of my seat, and rushed for the exit.

  “Anna,” Tucker called.

  I ignored him, leaving the building and heading straight for the parking lot toward my car. This was my last class for the afternoon, and I had to pick Garrett up from the daycare.

  “Hey Anna, wait up,” Tucker called out.

  The voice sounding a lot closer than I expected, I turned around to find him standing right behind me like a wall. Startled, I bounced off the hardness of his chest. Losing my balance, I gasped. But right before I hit the tiled floor, a pair of strong hands grabbed my upper arms and lifted me. Before I knew it, I was pressed against Tucker. My fingers tangled in the fabric of his shirt as I looked up at him.

  “We worked well together today, just like before,” he said, smirking.

  I straightened up and gave him a look. “With our history, I don’t think I have to explain why that’s not exactly a good thing.”

  “I hardly think our history factors into the fact that we work well together,” he said slowly, as if speaking to a child.

  I sighed, not wanting to argue with him in the middle of the hallway. “It's just not a good idea, Tucker. Let’s just leave it at that.” I hoisted my bag on my shoulder, ready to continue on my way. But for some reason, my feet stayed rooted in place. I watched as he opened his mouth, already knowing he was going to say something to upset me.

  “No, let’s discuss this,” he said. “Why don't you think we should study together? Is it because you don’t think you can keep your hands off me?” He raised a suggestive eyebrow.

  I placed a hand on my hip. “You’re not nearly as irresistible as you think,” I said, annoyed, although it was an outright lie.

  Tucker grinned. “Then prove it,” he challenged. “Let’s be study buddies. We’ll hit the books without letting the past get in the way. We’re both responsible and sensible adults, right? There’s no harm as long as we stay focused. I mean, unless you’ve got other things you want to focus on…”

  The tone of his voice made his words sound like a dare.

  “Tucker!” I yelled in frustration.

  “Just joking. Seriously, let’s just study together. You were always a good partner.”

  I sighed. “Fine,” I said, the word coming out from between clenched teeth. I would show him. After all, responsible and sensible were my middle names. “We can study together.”

  He gave a triumphant smile and I wanted to kick myself for falling so neatly into his trap. But I knew I couldn’t back out now.

  “How about we start tonight?” he suggested.

  I nodded. “All right.”

  “Want me to come over to your place?”

  “No!” I said too loudly, imagining the horror of him coming into my home.

  Of him meeting Garrett.

  I couldn’t let that happen.

  He gave me a puzzled look, as did a few others passing by.

  I cleared my throat. “No,” I said more calmly. “We can meet up at your place. Are you staying with your mom?”

  “No. I’ve got my own apartment so that I could be closer to campus.”

  I swallowed. Tucker and I all alone in the confines of a space that smelt like him? What could possibly go wrong?

  He pulled out his smart phone – a slick-looking new model - from his back pocket. “Give me your number and I’ll send you the address.”

  Even though warning sirens blared in my head, I began rattling off my number. He picked up from the middle, finishing the last four digits for me.

  “You have the same number,” he realized. “So do I.”

  I was stunned that he still had my number memorized. But then again, I still knew his by heart too. Nevertheless, I put on a show of entering a number that I never deleted in the first place.

  “I’ll text you my address in a few minutes,” he said.

  “Okay. I have to go now. I am late for…an appointment.”

  If Tucker noticed my hesitation, he didn’t show i
t. He simply beamed a smile at me and said, “See you tonight, Anna.”

  I walked away, knowing I was making a huge mistake, but unable to stop myself.

  CHAPTER 7

  Tucker

  I was as nervous as a high school virgin on his first date. What the fuck was wrong with me?

  I looked in the mirror hanging on the wall for the umpteenth time, smoothing my hair down and looking for imaginary creases in my clothes. I then turned away, annoyed with my own lovesick behavior.

  It was ridiculous how hung up I was on this woman. Even now, there was an uncomfortable snugness in my jeans just thinking about her. My attraction to Anna had been undeniable from the moment we sat in that class nearly eight years ago, and it had only grown over time.

  But now?

  Now was a whole new ballgame.

  She was all grown up now, and the way her already curvy figure had filled out damn near left me panting. It was puzzling how strongly I felt for her now; my previous feelings seeming shallow in comparison.

  There was no use pretending that my offer to be study buddies was entirely innocent. While I loved the thought of having her as an academic partner again, I primarily just wanted an excuse to be close to her.

  I moved to the kitchen table, where I had set up my laptop, notebook, and textbooks. After neatly arranging them on the surface, I began pacing the hardwood floors while casting frequent glances at the clock on the oven.

  It was 6:43, seventeen minutes until our scheduled study date.

  Anticipation and nerves drove me to grab a bottle of beer from the refrigerator.

  I felt so far out of my element, it was almost laughable. The feelings Anna stirred within me was unsettling and I had no idea what to make of them.

  A knock on the door announced her arrival a few minutes later.

  I put my half-finished bottle on the kitchen counter and wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. I looked around to make sure everything was in place, which it was. I had never been a messy person, but being in the military had drilled tidiness into my bones.

  There wasn’t much that could be out of place though, considering I had just moved into my apartment. Hence, I only had the essentials.