“Thank you.” She took it from him and slipped it into the back pocket of her jeans. “You didn’t have to drive all the way out here to give this to me. You could have texted me the information.”
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Invite me in.” He cleared his throat. “Please.”
More? How could he know more? She hadn’t given him any information. She stepped aside and he moved past her in the entry. She turned and leaned her back against the closed door.
“Last night after you left the bar, I wanted to kick some ass. I felt like shit and I wanted to make someone feel as bad as I was feeling. I would have done that in the past.”
Sadie glanced at his hands then up to his clear face. “But you didn’t.”
He shook his head, and a lopsided smile twisted his lips. “If I show up with a black eye at my sister’s wedding, she’ll kick my ass.” He paused and his smile fell. “Mostly I didn’t because I don’t want you to think I’m the kind of guy who can’t control himself. For the first time in my life I care what a woman thinks of me. I care what you think.”
The bottom of her heart squeezed a little and she tried not to make his words mean something they didn’t. Caring what someone thought wasn’t love.
“Last night when I saw you, I thought we could just go back to the way things were. That we’d just pick up where we left off.”
“That’s not possible.”
“I know. I never meant for you to be anything other than a one-night stand.”
“I know.” She looked down at the floor beneath her feet. She’d never meant for him to be anything but a friend with benefits. But the friend part had turned to love.
“But one night turned into two and two into three and three into a week and a week into two weeks. Two weeks into two months. I’ve never been with a woman as long as I was with you.”
She looked up. “I guess I should be flattered that it took you longer to get bored.”
“I told you last night I wasn’t bored. I wasn’t ready for it to end.”
“Then why did it?”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Because you saw me that night. I never wanted you to see me like that. No one besides a Navy doc knows about the dreams and I never wanted anyone to know. Especially you.” He shook his head. “Never you.”
She pushed away from the door. “Why?”
“Because I’m a man.” He shrugged and dropped his hands to his sides. “Because I’m supposed to handle everything. Because I’m a Navy SEAL. Because I’m a warrior and don’t have PTSD. Because I’m not supposed to be afraid of a little dream.”
“It’s not a little dream.”
He looked over her shoulder at a vase filled with yellow roses Clara Anne had cut from the garden. He opened his mouth and closed it again.
“How long have you been having them?”
“Since Pete died. On and off for about six years.”
“Your buddy, Pete Wilson?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to Pete?”
He looked at her, but once again, she thought he was seeing beyond her to something she couldn’t see. And like the last time, it broke her already broken heart. “It should have been me. Not him. We were pinned down, taking heavy fire, bullets slamming into trees and rocks, coming from every side. Pete blasted away, shooting at everything with one hand as he radioed for air support with the other. We were boxed in, with the Marines below us firing straight up at the Taliban. But there were so many of them. Hundreds. No way to fall back off that fucking mountain. Too many terrorists. Nothing to do but slam new magazines in the breech and hope to hell the airstrike happened in time to save our asses.”
She felt an urge to place her hand on the side of his face and look into his eyes. But she didn’t. She loved him but she couldn’t touch him. “I’m glad you didn’t die that day.”
He looked to his left again. “Pete took three bullets. One to his left leg and two to the chest. I didn’t get hit. At least not by Taliban bullets. The fighter-bombers and attack choppers screamed in and blasted the living hell out of the crevasses until all those Taliban fighters were obliterated. When the rescue helos finally rocketed in from the south, Pete was gone. I was deaf and puking my guts out, but I was alive.”
Sadie held up one hand. “Wait. You were deaf?”
“From the concussion of the airstrike.” He shrugged like it was no big deal. “I got it all back but about sixty percent in my left ear.”
So that’s why he watched her talk sometimes. She’d thought he liked watching her lips.
“I’ve never told anyone about Pete, but you saw me at my worst, I thought you should know that. I came out here today to tell you why I acted the way I did after you saw me pathetic and . . . Well, saw me in the corner of the hall.”
He didn’t owe her an explanation. “You weren’t pathetic.”
“A woman should feel safe around a man. Not find him shaking in a corner, yelling at shadows.”
“I always felt safe around you. Even that night.”
He shook his head. “A man should take care of a woman. Not the other way around. You saw me at my worst and I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry for a lot of things, especially that I just dropped you off that night. I was kind of hoping you could forget that whole night ever happened.”
“Is that why you drove all the way out here?” He should know she didn’t gossip. Well, about anything other than Jane’s promiscuity. “I would never talk about it to anyone.” And as far as being dumped on her doorstep, she wasn’t likely to ever tell anyone about that, either.
“I’m not worried about you telling anyone. And that isn’t the only reason I’m here. There’s more.”
More? She didn’t know how much more she could take before she fell apart again. Like last night when she’d bawled all the way home. She was just grateful no one had seen her.
“I’m sorry I made you cry last night.”
Crap. It had been dark and a single tear had leaked out. She wished he hadn’t seen that. Wished she’d been able to suck it up better.
“I don’t ever want to be the reason you cry again.”
The only way that could happen was if he left and gave her time to heal her shattered heart. She took a step back and reached for the doorknob behind her. The backs of her eyes stung and if he didn’t hurry and leave, she was afraid he might see her cry again. “Is that all?”
“There’s one more thing I came out here to tell you.”
She lowered her gaze to the third button on his shirt. “What?” She didn’t know what there was possibly left to say. Just goodbye.
He took a deep breath and let it out. “I love you.”
Her gaze rose to his and a single “What?” whispered from her lips.
“I’m thirty-six, and I’m in love for the first time. I don’t know what that says about me. Maybe that I’ve waited for you all my life.”
Her mouth fell open and she sucked in a breath. She was feeling kind of light-headed, like she might pass out. “Vince. Did you just say you love me?”
“Yes, and it scares the hell out of me.” He swallowed hard. “Please don’t say thank you.”
She bit the side of her lip to keep from smiling or trembling or both.
“Did you mean it when you said you love me?”
She nodded. “I love you, Vince. I thought you’d be just a friend with benefits. Then you became a real friend and brought me Chee-tos and Diet Coke. I fell in love with you.”
“Chee-tos?” He frowned. “That’s all it took?”
No, there’d been a lot more. “You rescued me, Vince Haven.” She took a step toward him and tipped her head back to look up into his eyes. Whenever she’d needed him, he’d been there.
“I’ll always rescue you.”
“And I’ll rescue you, too.”
One corner of his mouth turned up. “From?”
“From yourself. From turning thirty-seven without me.”
He placed his hands on the side of her face. “I love you, Mercedes Jo Hollowell. I don’t want to live without you for another day.” He brushed his thumb across her cheek and bottom lip. “That son of a bitch Sam Leclaire said something. Something about it not mattering where a person lives. It’s who you live with.” He kissed her and added against her lips, “God, I hate when that guy is right.”
Sadie chuckled and reached for Vince’s hand. Sometimes an anchor wasn’t just a place, it was a person. The JH was her home. Vince was her anchor. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Someplace more private. Someplace where you’ll rescue me from these tight jeans and I’ll rescue you from those non-issue pants.”
“Hooyah.”
About the Author
With the publication of New York Times bestselling author RACHEL GIBSON’s first book, readers discovered one of contemporary romance’s freshest voices. Four of her novels were named among the Top Ten Favorite Books of the Year by Romance Writers of America. She has won numerous awards, including Borders Bestselling Romantic Comedy, National Reader’s Choice, and two RITA® Awards for the Best Single Contemporary Romance Title of the Year.
Readers can write to Rachel Gibson at P.O. Box 4124, Boise, Idaho 83711-4124, or visit her website at www.rachelgibson.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
By Rachel Gibson
Rescue Me
Any Man of Mine
Nothing But Trouble
True Love and Other Disasters
Not Another Bad Date
Tangled Up In You
I’m In No Mood For Love
Sex, Lies, and Online Dating
The Trouble With Valentine’s Day
Daisy’s Back in Town
See Jane Score
Lola Carlyle Reveals All
True Confessions
It Must Be Love
Truly Madly Yours
Simply Irresistible
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
RESCUE ME. Copyright © 2012 by Rachel Gibson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition JUNE 2012 ISBN: 9780062069139
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062069122
FIRST EDITION
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollins.com
Rescue Me Page 23