Page 62 of Keeping Laryn
“What? What’d I say? Shit, Laryn, don’t cry!”
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” she said, reaching up and dislodging his hands from her face as she frantically wiped under her eyes. “It’s been a long day for me too. And I had visions of you coming to your senses and wondering what the hell you’d done last night and wanting to backpedal. Telling me that now wasn’t a good time to date since we’re being deployed. Or maybe that, since we work together, it wasn’t a good idea at all.”
“Fuck that. This is the best idea ever. And Ihavecome to my senses…and opened my eyes to the beauty that’s been in front of mefor years. No backpedaling, Laryn. Unless you aren’t sure about us.”
“No!” she exclaimed, making Casper feel better. “I haven’t changed my mind.”
“Good. Thank you for thinking ahead and coming to get me. Assuming you’re okay with leaving your car in the lot while we’re gone?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.” Realizing his key ring was still dangling from his finger, he held out the keys to her. She took them with a small smile and headed toward her Civic, which she’d parked just a couple spots away. It took them seconds to grab the backpack and two duffel bags she’d brought and throw them into his trunk. The drive to his apartment didn’t take long either, since, like Laryn, he’d chosen a small apartment complex not too far from the base. Because this was a military area, there were a lot of apartments available to accommodate the personnel who were constantly coming and going.
She expertly backed into a space, and Casper met her at the back of his car.
“You need the duffels?” he asked.
“No. Just the backpack. It’s got my overnight things and clothes for the flight tomorrow.”
Casper grabbed it and put it on a shoulder, then reached for her hand as if he’d done it every day for years. It felt natural.
After walking up to the third floor, he opened his apartment door and let Laryn enter first. He tried to see his place from her eyes, but had no idea what she’d think. He was a bachelor and his apartment reflected that. There weren’t any homey touches, just his big television that he barely had time to watch, lots of clutter on the kitchen counter, shoes on the floor, books he’d half read strewn about the room. But it was clean. If there was one thing he’d learned from being in the Army, it was the importance of bleach in his life.
“So?” he asked.
She looked at him and shrugged. “It’s an apartment. You hungry? I’ve already eaten, but I can find something to make for you real fast while you pack…if you want.”
“Sounds perfect. I’ve got some leftover taco stuff from the other night. The lettuce might be brown, but the cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, and meat should still be fine. Besides, it needs to be eaten or thrown away since we’re leaving.”
“On it,” she said, putting her backpack on the floor.
“And feel free to get rid of anything in the fridge that won’t survive the couple weeks we’re gone.”
“Will do,” she said, walking toward his galley kitchen. The apartment was set up much like hers. Galley kitchen, living area, hallway with the two bedrooms and one bathroom.
Casper watched Laryn make herself at home in his place and realized he didn’t feel the slightest bit uncomfortable having her there. The few times he’d brought other women home, he’d been a little on edge, hoping they didn’t read anything into being there. Feeling uncomfortable when they touched his stuff, inspected his kitchen.
But with Laryn, hewantedher to touch. To make herself comfortable. To rifle through his things.
Reaching down, he picked up her backpack before heading for his room. He took a moment to soak in the sight of her bag on his bed. It was pathetic, to be so happy about seeing her things in his personal space.
Closing his eyes, he wondered if this was what Nate had felt the first time he’d seen Josie. Of course, their situation was much different than his and Laryn’s. His twin and Josie had been prisoners of war in a shithole of an Iranian prison. But that feeling of knowing deep in his gut that Laryn was meant to be his…was that what Nate felt, why he’d called Josie “his woman” so soon after meeting her?
It had taken Casper a lot longer, but now that he’d openedhimself up to the possibility of a relationship, he was all in. And it felt right.
Shaking his head, he spun around and headed for his walk-in closet. It was one of the reasons he’d chosen this specific apartment, because the closet in the main bedroom was huge. He had a lot of flight suits he kept impeccably ironed and carefully hung. He’d needed the space to store them all, plus his boots and other flight gear.
Now, as he looked around the closet, his brain was mentally rearranging the space to make room for Laryn’s stuff.
Laughing at the way he was getting ahead of himself and realizing exactly how tired he was, Casper got to work packing his own duffel bags for deployment. The scent of spicy taco meat began to waft into his room as he worked, and once again he felt warmth spread through him. It had been a very long time since anyone had taken care of him the way Laryn was. It felt good. Really damn good. He would never take her for granted. And he vowed to return the favor tenfold. If anyone deserved to be taken care of, it was Laryn Hardy.
Laryn had taken a chance with packing her bags for deployment and driving to base to wait for Tate to get out of his meetings. But thankfully, that chance had worked out. She was in Tate’s apartment, his kitchen, making him dinner before they’d crash for a few hours.
It made her mind spin to think of how she’d gotten here. And the thing was, she had no idea what she’d actually done to finally make the man of her dreams notice her. But she wasn’t going to question it. She was going to enjoy their time together for as long as it lasted.
Because she still wasn’t convinced this would be a long-term relationship, no matter how badly she wanted that. The sex wasout of this world, and Tate was thoughtful and kind. But would that change once the threat he thought she might be under was mitigated? Once they returned from deployment and things got back to “normal,” whatever that was?
She had no idea, so in the meantime, she was going to enjoy whatever stolen moments she had with Tate. And part of that enjoyment was taking care of him. Long ago, she used to cook for her father, and it satisfied a need deep inside her to nurture. He’d taught her everything he knew, looked after her, protected her, was her champion, and she’d done what she could to make sure he understood how much she loved him for it.
