Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115997 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
“Just because you guys are a bunch of narcissists who talk about yourselves all the time.” He glared at Gray.
“As opposed to you, who says absolutely nothing,” Black countered. At least I thought the blond guy was Black. Pretty sure the guy with the dark beard in the corner was Lilac or something ridiculous.
“You have to give us something.” Gray leaned forward, putting his hands together. “Please. We’ll never get this opportunity again.”
I took another bite and looked at Nate.
We locked eyes for a second, and he rolled his eyes. “Fine. Just . . .” He sighed. “I’m trusting you.”
I nodded, understanding what he was saying. If he didn’t share the personal details of his life, there was a reason for it. He’d barely shared the details with me. “What do you guys want to know?”
Gray whooped and sat on the floor like it was story time. “How long have you known our boy here?”
“Almost ten years.” Innocuous enough.
“Did he hatch from an egg? Arrive in a spaceship?” Lilac asked. “Grow up like George of the Jungle?”
“No.” I laughed. “He grew up on a farm.” The farm. I glanced at Nate, wondering if his father still lived there, or if he’d sold it like he’d threatened.
We locked eyes, and his expression softened.
“A farm?” Gray’s eyes widened. “Really?” he asked Nate.
“Really.” Nate nodded, looking away with a slight smile.
I took another bite.
“What else do you have, Ms. Astor?” Black asked, rubbing his hands together.
“He likes cookies and cream ice cream.” I grinned.
“Traitor,” Nate accused, his eyes lighting up.
For a second, I forgot we were in Afghanistan. No, we were on a street on Tybee Island, laughing and flirting behind ice-cream cones. I could almost taste the butter pecan. It was a lifetime ago, and yesterday, all in the same breath.
That’s what Nate was to me. As far away as a lifetime and as close as yesterday, as near as twelve inches.
“This is so good.” Gray glanced between the two of us. “Has he ever been married?”
I nearly choked on my spaghetti but forced it down my throat. Had Nate found someone and married her in the almost three years it had been since New York? If he had, surely these guys would have known, since they were a part of his present. Why did the thought cut like a damn knife? I’d worn Jeremy’s ring until last night. I was hardly in a position to judge.
But apparently, I was in the perfect position to be jealous as hell of a woman I’d never met and would never know. She’d have his heart, his laughter, his smile, his arms around her at night, his body, his kids . . .
And I hated her.
“So is that a no?” Gray asked.
But he’d never changed his next of kin form.
“Only once,” I answered, ignoring the way Nate gaped at me.
“Really?” Lilac’s eyebrows rose.
“Really.” I grinned. “At least that’s what he told the nurses so he wouldn’t get kicked out of the waiting room when I was in surgery.”
Nate snorted. “Never living that one down.”
Gray laughed. “This is amazing. Okay, what’s with the taped-up tag he carries around?”
My brow puckered, and I looked to Nate.
He went rigid.
“I honestly don’t know,” I answered, doing my best to cover whatever reaction he was having to the question. “But I can tell you I know why he carries this scar.” His hand was warm as I picked it up, turning it toward Gray so he could see the scar across the back of it.
“Tell me it was something undeniably stupid,” Brown pled. “You have to give us something.”
I grinned. “Coral in Fiji. My necklace fell off, and he swam down to get it, cutting his hand up.” My touch lingered before I let his hand go, and our eyes met.
“Must have been some necklace,” Gray said. “Coral cuts like a knife.”
“It was,” I said without looking away from Nate, remembering the way he’d made love to me when we’d gotten back from snorkeling that afternoon. My body heated at the memory, and given the way his eyes darkened, I wondered if he was reliving those hours too. “It’s still one of my favorite pieces of jewelry, considering you gave it to me twice, first on my birthday and then after you found it.”
“It always looked good on you,” he said softly. “Took me hours to pick out the right one.”
The block of ice I’d kept around my heart when it came to Nate didn’t just thaw; it melted. Whatever had bound us together in the first place was still there, as tangible as ever. We’d buried it, ignored it, burned it to the ground, but never managed to sever it. At least not on my end.
It would always be there.
The radio made a noise, and Gray’s attention shifted as he lifted the handset, answering what appeared to be a call.