Shielding Gillian (Delta Team Two #1) - Susan Stoker Page 0,71
nodded.
“That was kind of rude,” Gillian informed Walker as they headed off the field toward the parking lot.
“Did you want to stay?” he asked, but didn’t slow down.
“What if I said yes?” Gillian asked, curious.
Walker stopped and looked down at her. “Then we’ll go back.”
“Just like that?” she asked.
“Just like that,” Walker said without a trace of annoyance.
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to take you back to my apartment and hang out. Talk about the upcoming week, what you have planned. I want to kiss you, but only when we’re upright and both fully dressed. I want to know more about the event we’re going to next weekend at the zoo, and I want to spend every minute of our time together before I have to take you back to Georgetown. I love my friends, but I see them all the time. I already know them. I’m being selfish, but I want to spend time with you, not them. But if you want to stay and watch more heats, I’m okay with that because I’ll still be by your side.”
Walker didn’t look away from her as he spoke, and Gillian couldn’t help but fall for him even more.
“I don’t care if you leave beard shavings in the sink,” she informed him. “You can be as neat as you want and it won’t faze me. I’ll probably worry that you’re doing too much for me, that you aren’t doing what you want, so you’re going to have to make sure not to go overboard and spoil me too much, okay?”
“Nope. Now, do you want to stay or go back to my apartment?”
“Your apartment,” Gillian said immediately. It wasn’t a hard decision.
Walker started walking again, taking her with him. All the way to his apartment, Gillian tried to think what she’d done to be lucky enough to have this man by her side. She couldn’t come up with a single thing by the time they’d arrived, so she decided to just go with it. If Walker wasn’t freaking out by how well they fit, why should she?
Chapter Thirteen
The next week went by way too slowly for Trigger’s comfort. Ever since he’d joined the Delta teams, he’d been single-mindedly focused on his job. He never got distracted, and he spent every day looking forward to training and the possibility of being called for a mission.
But since meeting Gillian, he no longer lived and breathed Delta. He could still focus when he needed to, but in his down time now, he thought about her. Wondered what she was doing and if she was having a good day. He was constantly on his phone, texting her just to connect.
It was Friday afternoon, and he and the rest of his team were taking a break from an intense informational meeting they’d been in since nine that morning. It looked like a mission was forthcoming very soon, if the intel they’d been getting was any indication.
“Things seem to be going well with Gillian,” Lefty said a little too nonchalantly as he and Trigger stood alone in the Texas heat, trying to thaw out from the frigid air-conditioned room they’d been trapped in all day.
“They are,” Trigger agreed.
“She seemed to have a good time last weekend.”
Trigger turned to his friend. “What?”
“What, what?”
“Just say what you’re thinking before you explode,” Trigger said in exasperation.
“I like her,” Lefty told his friend. “So before you fly off the handle at what I’m going to say, you have to know that right off the bat.”
Trigger nodded, but braced for whatever his friend wanted to tell him.
“I just want to make sure you’re not moving too fast with her,” Lefty said. “I mean, you met her on an op…that can screw with both your heads.”
Trigger waited, knowing Lefty wasn’t done. He was right.
“Gillian’s pretty, man, so I don’t blame you. She’s got a good job, she’s funny, and all of us like her. She kept her head in Venezuela and seems mature beyond her years. But she also seems like a forever kind of girl. If you’re dating her simply to get laid, you’re gonna hurt her. Bad. Just be careful, that’s all I’m sayin’.”
“You’ve never stepped into my personal life before. Why now?” Trigger asked, genuinely curious.
“Because it’s more than obvious she’s in love with you. Or at least she thinks she is. It’s obvious by the way she looks at you.”
Trigger couldn’t help but grin at his friend’s words.