One Night With a Hero

  …

  “What do you think of this one?”

  Joss peeked out of her fitting room door. Christina lifted her arms and spun in the midnight-blue jersey dress. “That’s the best one yet. You have to get it.”

  “Really? You like this better than the gray one? The cleavage might be too much.” She tugged at the neckline, trying to cover the little bit of her breasts that showed.

  Joss grinned. Christina looked like the preschool teacher she was: blond, sweet-faced, petite, and conservative. But despite their differences, somehow from the time they’d met at work, they’d just clicked. Best friends ever since. Christina had married last year, so they didn’t manage to hang out as much as they had before, but she never could turn down a holiday sale at the mall.

  “Definitely not too much. That’s the one. I’m telling you. How about this?” Joss stepped out of her dressing room to show off the ankle-length black chiffon dress she’d found.

  “Turn around,” Christina said.

  Joss smiled. The back was the best part. It had a cutout that framed her blackbirds perfectly.

  “Oh, Joss. That is totally you.”

  “Couldn’t wear it to work, though.”

  “True, but it would be a great date dress. If you get that one, I’ll get this one.”

  The mention of dating sent heat to her cheeks. She turned away and peered into the mirror again. Twisting her hair on top her head, she imagined how she’d wear it to show off the tattoo. Brady likes it down. She groaned. “What is this? Fashion bribery?”

  “Absolutely. You always ask me to go shopping and then I’m always the one who leaves with eight bags of loot while you go home empty-handed.”

  Joss chuckled. “All right.” They returned to their fitting rooms, and she looked at her reflection. Taking a deep breath, she mentally prepared for the Inquisition. “So, speaking of dates…” She slipped out of her dress and arranged it on the hanger.

  “Oh, thank God. I seriously wasn’t going to be able to last much longer. What happened last night?”

  Good question. She dressed, collected her things and stepped out into the hall, all the while replaying Brady’s departure in her brain. She and Christina had the whole fitting room to themselves, so no harm in spilling here. “Well, the abbreviated version is that I met a guy and hooked up with him last night.”

  Christina’s door flew open. “Define ‘hooked up.’”

  Joss opened her mouth to reply—

  “You had sex!”

  “Shh. Why don’t you just announce it to the whole store, woman? ‘Attention, Macy’s shoppers, Joss Daniels had sex last night.’ Oh, and this morning.”

  Christina gasped and her eyes went wide. “Good sex?”

  Joss should’ve felt insulted at her amazement, but seeing as she was still kinda amazed herself, she didn’t. Memories full of Brady’s incredible intensity and hot, hard body rushed before her mind’s eye. “Mm-hmm. Great sex.”

  “Holy crap. I have, like, fifty-two questions now,” Christina said, stuffing her feet into her flats. “We need food for this conversation. Lunch?”

  Food and spilling good dirt had always gone together for them. “Sure.”

  Fifteen minutes later, they were settled in a booth at a festive American chain restaurant off the mall food court, one shopping bag next to Joss and five next to Christina.

  “All right,” her friend said. “Spill. And don’t leave out any of the good parts.”

  Joss recounted her night and morning with Brady, from the chance meeting when he’d caught her giving into a momentary pity party to the truck sex to the kitchen counter sex to his strained departure at her front door this morning. Even after their lunches arrived—a burger and fries for Joss, and a grilled chicken salad for Christina—her friend sat rapt the whole time, occasionally interjecting questions and sprinkling in a number of “oh my gods” and “holy craps” at all the right places.

  “Do you think you’ll see him again?” Christina asked.

  “Well, I’ll definitely see him, since he’s my next-door neighbor.” And, oh, goody, that won’t be weird at all. “But, whether I’ll see him, I have no idea. I don’t think I imagined that he was off when he left. It was like the shutters had come down or something. I definitely wasn’t getting a ‘let’s do this again’ vibe, but, you know, I’m oversensitive about these things anyway.” Joss shrugged, not as unaffected as the gesture implied. In fact, her gut had been heavy with the feeling of dread all day. She glanced down at her mostly uneaten burger. Out of nowhere, she recalled Brady’s voice saying how he hated to waste food. She’d get it boxed to go.

  Christina dropped her napkin on her plate. “Do you want to see him again?”

  Joss debated for a moment and nodded. “Yeah. Even though he’s setting off red flags all over the place.” She finished the last of her fries and attempted to keep her insecurities from swamping her.

  “I think this situation calls for some froyo,” Christina said.

  “With toppings.” She could always count on Christina to know just how to lighten a situation, or at least divert Joss from a downward spiral.

  As they waited for the waiter to return with a box and their bill, Christina grasped Joss’s hand. “Just give it some time. Neither of you expected this to happen, right?”

  Joss nodded.

  “So, just play it cool when you see him and follow his lead.”

  …

  Christina’s plan was sound, except the whole week passed and Joss didn’t see Brady once. He was always gone when she left the house and not yet home when she returned in the evenings. Admittedly, his job had to be demanding. And she had been busy, too. The first week of the new school year meant extra hours setting up the center, filing student paperwork, catching up with the returning students, and meeting all the new kids and parents. Not that she minded. New school years had always filled her with an excited anticipation. As a child, the first day back to school represented an escape from the children’s home where she’d mostly grown up. Now, even though it had been many years since she was last a student, September always gave her that same feeling.

  This year, something new could happen. This year, anything was possible. This year, you could find a family and everything could be better.

  Maybe she was being neurotic. Okay, probably she was. But it seemed more than coincidental that she hadn’t run into the man even once.

  It didn’t help that out of sight did not mean out of mind. How many nights had she fallen asleep with the events of last weekend in her mind’s eye? How often had she stared at her bedroom wall and imagined his big, hard body stretched out on his bed on the other side? How many times had her fingers served as a weak substitute for his? Sexual frustration, unending curiosity, and a bruised ego had been her constant companions.

  So, on Saturday morning, Joss wasn’t above gathering her dry cleaning and recycled grocery bags and heading out to run her errands just as Brady was coming out of his house with two other people, a dark-haired man and a petite brown-haired woman who was talking animatedly.

  The September sun looked suddenly brighter, she was so glad to see him again. Both her behavior and her reaction to seeing him were a hundred shades of pathetic, but at least she’d finally have a chance to feel him out.

  She opened the passenger door of her truck and dumped the cleaning, the bags, and her purse onto the seat. She didn’t want to interrupt their conversation, but she had to at least say hello. Stupid, but she missed the sexy smart-ass even though it had only been a week. When she closed the door and turned, Brady had joined her in the space between their cars. He stood, watching her.

  And damn did he look fine in a pair of beat-up jeans and a navy T-shirt that emphasized the size of his biceps.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Hey.” His gaze flickered to the couple walking toward the passenger side of his Rover.

  She smiled at them, then looked back to Brady. “How have you been? I can
’t believe I didn’t run into you once all week.”

  “Uh, good. My department has been gearing up for a big security exercise, so, yeah, some long days,” he said, his tone stilted and uncomfortable.

  Her stomach sank, just a little. “Oh. Well, of course. First week of back-to-school for me, so I get it.” She felt the couple on the other side of his truck watching them, so she glanced their way. “I’m sorry to interrupt you guys. I just wanted to say hi.”

  “Hi,” the young woman said. All at once, Joss realized why her features looked so familiar—she had Brady’s eyes.

  The man raised a hand and Joss nearly did a double take at how the brightness of his blue eyes stood out against his dark hair.

  “Hey,” she said.

  She looked at Brady, and apparently her gaze galvanized him into action because he said, “Oh, Alyssa and Marco, this is my, uh, neighbor, Joss. Joss, this is Alyssa and Marco, my sister and her…” He frowned.

  “Fiancé, idiot. He’s my fiancé,” Alyssa said, rolling her eyes. Marco chuckled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Forgive him, Joss. If you have any brothers, you know they can be complete morons sometimes.”

  Joss laughed. She liked Alyssa right away. “I don’t, but I’ll take your word for it. Brady is a self-admitted pain in the ass though, so I do know that much.” She grinned at Brady, who was watching the two of them talk like he was at a tennis match.

  “Ah, you do know him then.” Alyssa grinned.

  “Yeah, a little. So, when’s the big day?”

  “Next summer, we think,” Alyssa said. “We’re still working on a date.”

  “Well, congratulations. That’s great.” She jingled her keys and smiled at Brady. “What are you up to today?”

  “Aly’s offended by my minimalist decor, so I guess we’re going shopping.” His eyes didn’t quite meet hers.

  “Brady, your house echoes it’s so empty.”

  He shrugged.

  “Well, good luck,” Joss said, feeling more and more like an intruder, not because of Marco and Alyssa, but because of Brady’s standoffishness. She’d only known him a short time, of course, but it wasn’t a description she would’ve used for him before this moment. Clearly, he wasn’t comfortable with her meeting his family. And, fine. He didn’t owe her anything. A fact that made her feel even more stupid for the hurt sinking through her stomach. If she was reading him right, then she needed to go. Now. “I’ll see you later.” She stepped past him and waved to the others. “Nice meeting you.”

  Without waiting for their answers or looking back, Joss rounded the hood of her truck, got in and started the engine, and backed out.

  At least now she knew where she stood.

  Brady watched Joss’s truck turn onto 36th Street and felt like a total dick. The initial bright, open expression on her face made it crystal clear she was excited to see him again after the week apart—which he had ensured by alternately working late, hanging with the guys at night, or running after he got home.

  As he left her house last Sunday morning, unwelcome pangs of regret and longing had squeezed his chest until he could barely breathe. He’d felt his solitude more keenly after spending the time with her, and it had all just highlighted every fucking thing he could never have. He’d paced the length of his kitchen, scenes of what had transpired in hers tormenting him until that familiar red haze settled over his eyes. He’d nearly punched a wall. Instead, he beat the stupid out of himself with a grueling twelve-mile run in the heat of the day. Still, the annoying pull to see her crawled around in his brain all week, making him insane. Not to mention horny as all fuck. Seeing her again just now? Every bit of his desire, his impossible want, his anger roared back to life.

  Watching her expression shift from happy to searching to hurt had just been icing on the cake. It was that last one that stuck in his mind’s eye now. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. Hell, the farther away he stayed, the better off she’d be. He’d just been blindsided by the force of the desire that flooded through him when he saw her again—not just sexual desire, but for the soft intimacy they’d shared afterward, the feel of her arms around his stomach, her whispering voice saying she trusted him.

  He’d never wanted those things. With anyone. Never let himself entertain the idea. But one glance at her and they were all he could think about. And he had no clue what to fucking do about it. So he’d bit his tongue, swallowed the bitter, choking pill of his regret, and kept his trap shut.

  And it didn’t help that Marco and Aly were there. The only people who could read him as well as these two were 7,000 miles away on the other side of the world.

  Forcing the thoughts from his mind, he got in the driver’s seat.

  Alyssa started in right away. “Joss seems great.”

  He kept his gaze away from Marco’s, because his best friend would know instantly that they’d slept together. “Yeah, seems like it.” He busied himself with backing out of the spot.

  “You should ask her out.” She leaned forward into the open space over the center console.

  “I don’t even know her, Aly.”

  “So? That’s the point of asking her out. To get to know her.”

  Brady could feel Marco’s gaze on him. Don’t look. Don’t look. He looked.

  Marco wore a smirk that Brady’s fist itched to remove. “Sure seemed like she knew you.”

  Brady rolled his eyes, glad driving gave him an excuse not to have to look at the two of them. And people said he was a pain in the ass. “We share a wall. Of course we’ve talked.”

  “Uh-huh,” Marco said.

  Fucker.

  “So where are we heading, Al?” Brady asked, changing the topic and hoping it stayed changed. She rattled off some nearby furniture stores she’d found using her iPhone and they picked one.

  The lot to the place was huge. And packed. Dread had Brady strangling the steering wheel while he circled for a spot, which he finally found at the very end of a row. He parked, but didn’t kill the engine. Instead, he looked over his shoulder at Alyssa, then settled his gaze on Marco. “Why don’t we go see a movie instead? This place is insane.”

  Marco gave him a half smile that said, You don’t have a prayer.

  “You don’t have any furniture, Brady. Let us help you while we’re here.”

  “I can get furniture any time.”

  “But we’re here,” Alyssa said, pointing at the huge furniture store, exasperation coloring her voice.

  “You guys have done enough of this lately setting up your new place. I’ll do it later.” They’d just moved into an apartment in a renovated warehouse in DC so Alyssa could accept a new event planner job she’d landed at the Washington Convention Center, while Marco was bartending and putting his GI benefits to use to finish his college degree. “Besides, how often do I have time to spend with my little sis?”

  Marco grinned and looked away.

  Alyssa rolled her eyes, recognizing his ploy for what it was. Now that they were grown up, he couldn’t get nearly as much by her as when they were younger. “At least get a couch and a table. You don’t even have a place to eat.”

  “Leaning against the kitchen counter works just fine.” Not to mention, Joss has a table—

  “What are you, fourteen?” she asked. “Come on.” She hopped out of his truck and closed the door, ending the conversation.

  Marco clapped him on the shoulder. “Good effort, man.”

  Brady shoved his hand off and killed the engine. “Why the hell didn’t you back me up? There’s no fucking way you want to do this, either.”

  Marco chuckled and opened his door. “I’ve learned to pick my battles with your sister. Now, suck it up and shop fast.” The door slammed behind him.

  Brady sighed and got out. When he rounded the rear end, he found Marco and Alyssa kissing in the narrow space between the parked cars. “Aw, come on. You two need to keep that shit to a bare minimum.”

  Breaking the kiss, they both smiled at him. When Alyssa
caught up to him, she smacked his arm. “You know, we’re getting married. We might even have sex someday.”

  Brady shuddered and shook his head. “I cannot believe you just said that. You are my little sister. In my mind, you are a totally asexual being. Fuck’s sake.”

  She elbowed him. “Get over it already.”

  He glared at Marco, who held one hand up in surrender. He was holding Alyssa’s hand with the other.

  Brady sighed and looked away. Weird as it still was, he didn’t begrudge Marco and Alyssa the happiness they’d recently found in each other. Marco had been like a brother to him since they were on the same peewee baseball team, and had been his brother-in-arms in the same Special Forces unit until he’d been medically discharged after they were ambushed last year. So Brady had every confidence that if anyone could take care of Aly, treat her right, and give her everything she needed to be happy, it was his best friend. Besides, after what she’d gone through growing up, it was right that she got to have a loving family now.

  But that didn’t mean he wanted to think about what went on behind closed doors.

  Two hours and forty-seven minutes later, Brady was the mind-numbed owner of furniture for his living room, bedroom, and dining room. Or he would be after it was delivered in seven to ten days. He made a mental note never to step foot into any retail establishment that had the word “superstore” in the name ever again.

  He was somewhat mollified by the follow-up trip to the electronics store, where he picked out a laptop, Wi-Fi components, and a television.

  “Food?” Brady asked when they were back in his truck.

  “Food,” Marco agreed. “Aly?”

  “Yeah, I’m starving,” she said from the backseat.

  He took them to a Tex-Mex restaurant the guys at work had introduced him to. They got a table right away and dove into the chips and salsa while they read the menu.

  After they ordered, Alyssa grabbed a chip and said, “So, once your stuff arrives, you can invite Joss over.”

  Marco leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, hint of a smile on his traitorous face.

  Brady scoffed. “I’m not inviting Joss over.”