Just Sign Here - Cara Dee Page 0,26

neither of which he showcased as if he had something to brag about. Instead, he waited for people to listen to him. He had patience, I’d discovered. Much more than I did. He listened before he spoke.

My hunger for knowing more about him kept growing.

I only got glimpses here and there. This was his first time seeing our country, and he was introspective enough that he kept his reactions mostly to himself. I’d seen his eyes light up at the sight of Boston Harbor, though he hadn’t said anything. He’d gazed in awe at the Golden Gate when we’d crossed it during our trip to San Francisco, and he’d people watched with enthusiasm in Santa Monica.

I wanted to get into his head.

“Where did your interest in history come from?” I asked.

He flashed a curious look at the change of topic, but he didn’t hesitate to answer. “My grandmother. Well, her whole family. She was the youngest and had six brothers who all fought in World War II. She saved their journals and letters and gave them to me.”

I was a bit of a history lover myself, and there was no dousing the spark of interest. “Personal stories always fascinated me the most.”

“I know.” His eyes gave off a warm glow of mirth and fondness. “I may have checked out your library.”

I chuckled. If only I had a library of my own. What I did have were floor-to-ceiling shelves in the living room, one unit reserved for military history.

“Did your grandmother’s brothers make it back?”

He shook his head. “Only two of them survived the war. One drank himself to death a few years after. But Jefferson, the second youngest, died of old age when I was fourteen. His stories were my drug.”

I could imagine. My family was part English and part French, and they moved to the US right after the war. I was surrounded by veterans growing up. “An uncle of my father’s wrote a book about our family members who fought in the war. I must’ve read it a dozen times before I graduated high school.”

Peyton blushed a little for some reason. “It’s possible I found it. I reacted to the author’s last name—Delamare. It’s also possible it’s in my room now.”

I grinned. It made me happy that he was curious about my family too.

“Then I don’t have to tell you any stories,” I said. “I’ll listen to yours instead. Did your grandmother’s brothers fight in Europe or in the Pacific Theater?”

“Mostly the latter,” he answered. “One of them went to Italy, but the others were scattered around the Pacific. Jefferson was a Marine at Iwo Jima. The two eldest were there too, but they were in the Navy, so they didn’t go ashore.”

Peyton needed little to no prompting to share tales of his family members, and he was an amazing storyteller. He spoke animatedly about one of the brothers in particular, who’d been a Navy pilot. He even made me forget where I was.

Then he mentioned, just in passing, something that brought me back to the present.

His grandmother had died when Peyton was sixteen. Two years before his sister was born. He’d truly had no one else once his sister was in his care.

Goddammit, I was getting emotionally attached.

“Sir, wake up.”

I was almost there anyway… Since Cathryn had already taken Julia to the beach, I thought I’d get some extra rest.

“Sir.”

“Yes, yes.” I groaned and stretched out, then rolled onto my back and dragged a hand over my face. “What is it?”

Peyton stood in the doorway with clothes draped over his arm. “We’re in paradise, and I’m wondering how strict you are about clothes in eighty-five-degree heat.”

I chuckled drowsily and dragged myself up to lean back against the headboard.

It’d been dark when we’d arrived at our resort here in Martinique last night; it was understandable that Peyton wanted to go explore. But we had a meeting at eleven, so work came first.

“I’m quite generous, actually,” I yawned. “You don’t have to wear a tie.”

He blinked. “You call that generous, sir?”

“I do.” I smiled and patted the spot next to me. “Let’s see what you’re wearing today.” I shifted my legs off the mattress, and my feet landed on the granite floor tiles. Everything in the resort was new, after a hurricane passed straight through a couple years ago. The main building had been restored, but the bungalows, the clubhouse, the pool area with two restaurants and three bars, and the activity center had to be rebuilt from the