by Soraya Lane
“You never did say where you were heading.”
Saskia’s question made him turn. He reluctantly released her hand, letting her fingers slip from his grasp.
“Nowhere important. I’m just back here for some recovery time before I head off again.”
Saskia’s raised eyebrow told him she guessed there was more to his story. “When you say recovery time…” Her sentence trailed as she waited for him to respond.
Luke grimaced. He hated to admit that he wasn’t bullet proof, even to a soldier who’d no doubt seen her fair share of injuries and battle wounds.
“I had minor surgery on my knee and I need to rest up a while. Nothing serious.”
She nodded. “And you already know where you’re going to next?”
Luke shrugged. “I know the basics, but I won’t find out the full details until just before we head out.”
Saskia shuffled up alongside him as the line inched forward. “I have another three months left on my tour, then I’m home for good.”
Luke’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re leaving the military?”
“Yeah, it’s all over for me soon,” she said. Luke couldn’t tell whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. “I can’t keep leaving my son, and it’s not fair on my parents to have to care for him all the time. And besides, I never went into this as a permanent career.”
Luke hesitated. “His dad’s not in his life anymore?”
Saskia’s eyes clouded over, a darkness passing through her, before she regained her smile. “Let’s just say that we’re better off without him,” she replied. “Jack’s a great kid, and he has plenty of people around him who love him to bits. But yeah, my career plan kind of changed when his dad walked out.”
Luke nodded. He didn’t question her any further, but the smile itching to spread over his face told him he liked the fact she was single.
The speaker system crackled to life and he touched her arm, as if she wasn’t going to notice the rehearsed voice speaking to them all. The airport, a moment ago chaotic and loud, was more like a low hum as everyone awaited the announcement.
“We regret to inform you that all flights are confirmed as grounded until further notice. Please make yourselves comfortable and wait until your airline has an official announcement as to when flights will commence.”
Saskia groaned and leaned into him slightly. Her head fell to his shoulder, like they’d known each other for longer than an hour. “I can’t believe it,” she muttered.
Luke awkwardly put his arm around her, not sure how to comfort her. But he knew what he had to do.
“How long do you have before you’re back in the air?”
Saskia looked at him quizzically before checking her watch. “47 hours and counting. Please don’t go telling me you’re going to hire a helicopter and go all Rambo or something in the snow.”
Luke grinned. “Good idea, but no. How about you take our bags and find a table. I’ll join you as soon as I can.”
“The counters are all closing.”
“Trust me.” Luke gave her a gentle push to send her in the right direction, wishing he’d had the guts to drop a kiss into her soft dark hair instead. “I’ll figure something out, okay?”
He nodded at her encouragingly. When she finally nodded back, trusting him to give it his best shot, he turned and marched toward the airline counter. The woman was already fending off more than a dozen people, but he had a plan. And that plan did not include taking no for an answer.
CHAPTER THREE
“There must be something you can do.” Luke gave the woman at the ticketing counter what he hoped was a pleading smile. She didn’t look impressed with him blocking her way. “We’re talking about a soldier trying to get home to spend a night with her family. Please.”
The woman sighed and shook her head. “I wish I could help, but I can’t. Come back in the morning after the official announcement, and I’ll do my best.”
Luke raked a hand through his hair. There had to be something he could do. Some way he could get Saskia to her son.
I owe you, Luke. Any time you need a favor, if I can do anything to help you, just pick up the phone and call me.
Yes. Luke grinned and stepped back, allowing the unhelpful woman to pass. There was something he could do, and he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to call in a favor that was long overdue. He was determined to get Saskia home, no matter what. It didn’t completely make sense to him why he felt such a… burning desire to do this, but there it was. Maybe it was because it was the holidays.
Luke pulled his phone out of his bag, switched it on, and scrolled through his contacts. He hit call on a number he’d never had reason to dial before.
“Luke Gray?”
It was a voice he hadn’t heard in a long time. “Hi Rob.”
The other man let out a gasp of surprised laughter. “Don’t tell me that after all this time you’ve finally decided to call me so we can have that beer? You in New York?”
Luke stared after Saskia, tracking her with his eyes as she wandered toward the food court. “Not this time, buddy, no. I need to call in that favor you promised me.” It had been a long time ago, but Luke knew the other man would never forget what he owed him. His life. They’d been on a special task force together, and if Luke hadn’t found him, if he hadn’t scooped him up and carried him out over his back, Rob would never have made it home to his own family. Let alone ended up in the position he held at West Point Military Academy.
“Any chance you can send a Humvee out to JFK airport? I have a situation here, and I need a vehicle that can get me through the snow,” Luke told him.
“Official business?” Rob asked.
“No.” Luke paused. He could have lied but he didn’t want to. Rob knew he wouldn’t be calling in the favor if it wasn’t important, official business or not.
Rob didn’t say anything and neither did Luke. “How soon do you need it? This weather isn’t showing any signs of letting up.”
“I can sit tight until the morning, otherwise I’ll have to find another way of getting out of here.”
Rob laughed. “Give me until 0600 hours and I’ll get you the Humvee. But just promise me you’ll bring her back in one piece, okay?”
“You have my word.” Luke hung up the phone and headed towards Saskia. If he couldn’t get her home on a plane, he’d drive her home himself. Right now, all he wanted was to have dinner with her – he could figure out how the hell he was going to drive through the snow in the morning.
Saskia was nervous. She was heartbroken that she wasn’t going to make it home, but it was her nerves troubling her right at this exact moment. Especially watching Luke as he walked towards her. The Navy SEAL was hot, there was no other way to describe him, and the thought of sharing more time up close and personal with him was suddenly scaring the hell out of her.
“Hey.” She couldn’t read the look on his face.
“Hey,” he said back, dropping down into the seat across from her. “Did you have to fight for this spot?”
The airport was full of people stranded, with no place else to go. “Surprisingly, no. But getting dinner might be another story entirely.”
She met Luke’s gaze, desperate to ask him if he’d come up with a magical solution to her transport problems but not wanting to make him feel like crap if he hadn’t.
“Fast food, steak, ethnic…” Luke twisted around in his seat. “I wish I could take you somewhere nicer, but I think we might have to pick by the shortest line.”
Saskia laughed. “I haven’t eaten good food in a long time. Where I’ve been? Believe me, I’m not fussy.”
“How about a good old fashioned steak then?”
“And alcohol,” she told him. “I think we definitely need alcohol.”
Luke bent toward her slightly, his eyes never leaving hers. Now she needed that drink more than ever.
“Just one drink for me. If I have any more I won’t be able to get you out of here in the morning,
will I?”
His cheeky smile made her flush. So much for being confident around men because of all the time she spent with them. “When you say get me out of here…”
Luke touched her hand, gave it a squeeze, his fingers a little rough against her skin. “I’m not making any promises until the morning. But if I can get you out of here to see your little man, I’ll do it. I gave you my word and I meant it.”
Saskia didn’t move. She was listening to him, smiling at what he was saying, but inside she was terrified of the way his hand felt over hers. The warmth of his hold. When he pulled away and stood up, she let out what must have been her first exhale in a few long moments.
“Thanks, Luke. For what it’s worth, I’m just grateful that you’re trying.” And she was. Getting home would mean more to her than she could ever express, but knowing someone had tried to help her meant something too. “So how about that steak?”
“Stay seated.” He stood and placed his hand on her shoulder as he passed. “You save the table and I’ll rustle up some food that’ll make you remember why you love being back here.”
Sakia watched him walk away and shut her eyes for a beat. What the hell was she doing? She’d sworn off men for good less than a year ago, and now she was flirting with a stranger and enjoying it.
Luke was gorgeous. Handsome. Fun. But could he really get her out of here and to her family? She doubted it, but at least she could try to enjoy her leave. Because soon enough she’d be back in the middle of nowhere, contending with the desert and little else, and wishing she had something else to think about than how guilty she felt about being separated from her son.
“Good?”
Saskia put up her hand as she finished her mouthful. “Oh my God, better than good. It’s amazing.”
Luke laughed and gestured for her to keep eating. “Unless you’ve served, I don’t think you can explain how good a medium-rare steak, shoe-string fries and ketchup can taste. Even at an airport.”
He watched as she placed her fork back down and took a sip of wine. The noise around them was deafening, way too many people crammed into not enough space, but sitting here wasn’t half bad. Compared to going somewhere with him and being alone? It was great.
“You’ve spent your fair share of time off shore?” she asked him.
“More than I’d like to admit. Sometimes I wonder when I’ll ever be able to spend a decent stretch of time back here.” It was nice talking to a woman from the military. Usually he downplayed what he did, but Saskia was different. He’d always been honest with his wife about his work, but she’d been gone a long time now and it was good chatting to someone who’d lived and breathed the same kind of situations he had.
“So where were you headed tonight?”
Luke looked up. No more thinking about his wife. It had been three years this Christmas and he needed to dump the guilt and try to move on.
“Luke?”
“San Diego. I live close to the Navy base there.”
She nodded, looked like she didn’t know what else to say.
“So tell me something I’d never guess about you.” Luke didn’t want to discuss family or work right now, but he’d never been great at small talk.
“I swear a lot.”
“Curse at me, then.”
“Mother fucking, son-of-a....” She burst out laughing and put her hands over her face. “I can’t do it with you staring at me!”
Luke sucked back a breath, grinning at Saskia. “Look at you, cursing like a sailor. I thought you said you were in the Army.” He finished his final forkful of steak, placed his cutlery together and leaned back in his chair, eyes on the woman seating across from him. She was full of surprises.
Luke swallowed. Hard. Not to mention the fact that she was tall and slim. Her T-shirt hugged her curves, jeans showing off her long, slender legs. He glanced down, trying not to ogle. Even her god damn wrists were slender and attractive.
“Besides the cursing I can’t think of anything,” she confessed. “I do my work, I think every day about coming home to my son, and that’s it.”
He looked up and smiled straight back at her.
“And you?” she asked. “Or doesn’t Mr. Navy SEAL have any vices?”
“I like small dogs.”
She burst out laughing. “As in you have a fetish that involves them, or you just really want a teacup poodle?”
“Ha ha, very funny.” Luke leaned back further in his chair, pushing it onto two legs. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting a small dog. And I don’t recall mentioning poodles, either. I’d just quite like a nice little terrier when I finally settle somewhere, something small enough that it can’t take my arm off.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Bad experience?”
Luke rolled up his sleeve and held his left arm out, his scars on show. “Let’s just say I’m lucky I don’t have Tetanus or rabies.”
She held up her hands in a truce. “Shit.”
“Yeah, shit. Can’t say I enjoyed being attacked by a rabid Iraqi dog.”
She started to laugh again. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it. I just can’t imagine a dog thinking it was a good idea to take you on!”
Saskia hadn’t finished all her dinner and he pulled his chair back in closer to the table.
“I can’t believe you’re not going to eat all that.”
“Why, do you want to save it for your little dog?”
He shook his head at her, not impressed. “You’re hilarious.”
Saskia threw her balled-up napkin at him and stood up. “I’m going to make a quick call home and grab some provisions. It could be a long night. Do you want anything?” she asked.
Luke shook his head. “I’m good, thanks.”
“Suit yourself,” she said, smiling at him over her shoulder.
He watched her go, eyes trained on her body as she walked away. Luke reached for her wine and took a long, slow sip. He had no idea what the hell he was doing here, why he was calling in high-level military favors to impress a woman who was virtually a stranger to him, but he wasn’t complaining.
He should have known by now that things never turned out as he expected.
Saskia glanced at her watch as she approached Luke, trying not to just stare at him. There was something about him that made her want to run. Another possibly reckless, stupid part of her wanted to get as close to him as possible. Because she hadn’t met a man like this in a long time and while he might not manage a miracle, she wasn’t going to get home to Jack on her own.
“Did you get through to your son?”
She shook her head.
“I’m guessing the line was down?”
“Yep,” she said, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. Breaking her promise to Jack was one thing, but not even being able to explain it to him over the phone would be unforgivable. “I couldn’t even get a connection.”
“Come here,” he said, patting the seat. “I have blankets and coffee, so we may as well try to get some sleep.”
She stopped, looked at the blanket he was holding out. “When did you get that?”
Luke shrugged. “See that family over there?”
She looked where he was indicating. “Yeah.”
“They were standing over here before and I heard them say they were short on cash. Couldn’t buy what they needed for the kids.”
Saskia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Surely he hadn’t…
“I offered them a little money if they watched our bags so I could go buy some provisions. It was a win-win situation.”
She started to laugh. “Haven’t you ever heard about not leaving your things with strangers at airports? What are you going to say when the check-in attendant asks if you’ve packed your own bags? They could have put anything in there.”
He just shook his head, smug look on his face. “I’m not planning on flying tomorrow, so I think we’ll be just fine.”
“They could be al-Qaeda for all you know.”
“Yeah, sure. That’s exactly what I thought when I saw a nice American family with four kids.”
They both laughed, though Saskia knew it was completely wrong to be so amused. “I’m serious, Luke. Don’t you get kind of suspicious and cynical given the work we do? I look at everyone like they could be a potential threat these days.”
He patted the seat again and she sat down, taking the coffee he held out. “I used to,” he admitted, sipping slowly before leaning back in the chair. “Now? I try to just be a regular guy when I touch down on home soil, because it’s way easier to deal with than the alternative.”
Saskia relaxed. It wasn’t something that came easy to her, but there was nothing within her power she could do to change the situation with the storm. She’d done everything she could to get home for Christmas, and now all she could do was wait. Until morning.
“Can you tell me how, exactly, you plan on getting us out of here tomorrow?” she asked Luke.
He shook his head.
“Come on. Either you don’t have a plan at all and you’re just trying to distract me from thinking about the snow, or…”
“What?” he asked, eyebrows raised.
“Okay, I don’t have another option.”
“I can’t tell you.”
Saskia stared at him, but she was guessing her intimidation tactics weren’t going to work. She wasn’t his superior and he knew it.
“If I told you I’d have to kill you.”
His voice was low, gravelly, and it sent a lick of adrenaline through her body. “Really?” she teased.
Luke leaned closer, his face way too close to hers, but she didn’t move away. Just held her breath and stayed deadly still. “Really,” he repeated.
Saskia gulped and sat back, forcing her body further from his. Because the way her pulse was racing right now wasn’t healthy, and no matter how much she wanted to pretend she was used to this kind of flirting, she wasn’t. Every day she was surrounded by gorgeous men with big egos trying to trash talk her all the time, so what was so different about this guy?