What Part of Marine Don't You Understand - By Heather Long Page 0,27

her ribs. “Good morning.”

The answering smile on his face lightened his sober expression. He closed the distance between them and wrapped her up in a fierce bear hug. Inhaling his scent, she sighed and returned the squeeze. “I missed you.” The confession came easily.

Matt chuckled. “I missed you, too.” Jethro gave them a moment before butting his head between them and demanding his share of the attention. Pressing a fleeting kiss to Matt’s lips, she slipped away to crouch and give the dog a good scratch.

“Where’s your guitar?” The frown in his words echoed to her.

“I left it at the apartment—and yes, I locked the door.” She tugged the key out from beneath her top where it hung with four dog tags—one for each of her brothers.

Matt helped her up. Tracing his fingers down the chain, he gave her an inquiring look. At her nod, he turned the tags over and read them.

“They’re my brothers’. Each time they deploy, they give me one of their dog tags to keep for them. Brent’s home now, but he said I could keep his. We’re kind of scattered all around the world, but they’re always with me.” Sappy sentimentality, but she treasured the tags. She hadn’t worn them since arriving at Mike’s Place, but that morning she’d wanted to feel her brothers close.

“They’re not going to like you seeing me, are they?” Honesty hollowed the teasing from the question.

“Well, Charlie knows that I like you.” She looped her arm through his. Touching him came naturally, and for a physically affectionate person, maintaining her distance for the last several days had proven harder than she imagined. Happily, she didn’t have to anymore. “I get to talk to him every few weeks…so I thought breaking the news about a potential boyfriend when he was a few thousand miles away seemed a good plan.”

“Very sassy of you.”

“I try. Matt, they’re going to love you. They’re pains, and will probably tell you how obnoxious I am and that they’ll break your legs if you break my heart, but they really do mean well.”

His snort of laughter relaxed her. Her brothers would love him. She thought Brent in particular would like him, but they would cross that demilitarized zone when they came to it.

“I told James about us this morning.” The simple declaration surprised, and pleased her.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I’m working on a policy of being as bare-bones honest as I can during sessions. If I don’t run away from what bothers me, maybe I can fix it. You know?”

Her stomach wavered. Bothered him?

“Not that you bother me.” He paused to slip his arm around her waist and pull her closer. “You make me a little crazy, and I’m currently wondering how many people come through this part of the park, but you don’t bother me.”

“Come through here? Why would you…oh.” Desire shivered through her. “We can go to the apartment….”

“We could, but talking is better—for now. And Jethro needs a walk. He’s a specially trained dog, did you know that?”

Unwilling to muddy their potential with even the slightest of lies, she nodded. “I guessed—he reacts to your moods so beautifully, and I’ve read about the work they’ve done with service dogs. Didn’t you know?”

“Nope.” His expression turned rueful. They came to the clearing where she’d composed most of the week, and Matt let her go to unclip Jethro’s leash. The Labrador bounded away, did his business, and returned with a stick. “I didn’t really have a diagnosis before a few days ago. Doc knew, but he didn’t tell me.”

“That sounds strange…why wouldn’t he?” More curious than critical, she grabbed a spot and sat. He joined her and lifted her legs to lay across his.

“I wasn’t ready to hear it. I focused on my inability to adjust and kept blaming myself for the hearing loss. It sounds really stupid now, but I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.” He sent the stick sailing for Jethro and the dog raced after it. “I went home a few months ago—for the second time—and I’ve always felt like my family pressured me to be who I was before I enlisted and that I couldn’t live up to it. It’s like having tunnel vision, and I couldn’t see what my triggers really were. When I lost it there, I packed my bags and came straight back to Mike’s Place.”

He paused, his attention turned inward and she waited. If he wanted to finish the story, he would, she didn’t want to push. Jethro returned