Dropping his arms, Jake stepped into the kitchen and opened the fridge.
Her brows flew up as she caught sight of the contents. “Did you get enough beer?” she asked, watching him pull one from the fully stocked shelves.
Jake offered it to her with a wink. “Enough for a couple of days.”
“No thanks,” she replied with as shudder. Beer made her feel bloated and tired. “I’ll have a wine though.”
He set the beer on the kitchen counter and reached for a glass from the cupboards above.
Fin looked around the living area, searching out Ryan and not seeing him. “I thought Ryan was with you?”
“He’s in the shower,” Jake told her as he poured out a red wine.
Trying to ignore the flutters filling her stomach, she returned to the hallway to collect the dinner and files she’d dumped on the floor.
Showered and dressed, Ryan rubbed a towel at his hair haphazardly. Hearing voices coming from the kitchen, he hung it neatly on the rack and leaned his knuckles down on the bathroom vanity, frowning into the sink.
What the hell are you doing staying here, Ryan?
It wasn’t the first time he’d questioned his own motives, but he couldn’t seem to find an answer. He missed her. It was that simple and that complicated.
Looking up, he saw nothing in the mirror except tired eyes and the ghosts of those he’d killed in the line of duty. He rubbed a hand across his face as though to wipe it all away and left the bathroom.
Back in the hallway, his eyes fell on the scattered files littering the floor. He crouched down and started pulling them together.
“Ryan.”
He froze for a moment, time standing still when he turned and saw Fin in the hallway. Her blonde hair was a tousled mess, reading glasses were caught in the neckline of her pretty top, and her legs—so damn long—were on display in a short, black skirt. His eyes skimmed the length of her before falling to her full pink lips.
She was utterly beautiful and it was like a punch to the gut. Despite tears filling her eyes, she smiled the smile that haunted his sleep at night, and seeing it right before his eyes left him breathless.
Fuck, he swore to himself and dragged his eyes away from her mouth.
“Fin,” he murmured. He stood slowly as she reached his side. Her eyes went wide as they followed him.
“You okay?” he asked.
Was I okay?
Fin eyed the stranger in her hallway, realising she wasn’t okay at all. The person that left her bedroom six years ago had been a boy. The man that stood before her had dark eyes that should have been familiar, but they were hard now, and intense. Framed in long black lashes, they were studying her face, darkening when they came to rest on her mouth.
Despite Ryan being dressed casually in a fitted white shirt and navy blue cargo pants, his stance was imposing and powerful. His biceps were heavily muscled with thick veins, and tattoos ran the entire length of his right arm. The entrance hall was crowded by the bulk of his wide shoulders.
She drew a burning breath into her lungs.
“I missed you, Ryan,” she said thickly.
Those hard, dark eyes of his softened, reminding her of who he used to be. “I missed you too.”
“It’s been six years.”
Ryan nodded again, staring at her, and replied softly, “I know.”
A beat of time passed, and then another, until Jake called out from the kitchen. “Fin, are you going to bring that food in here or do I have to serve up Crookshanks for dinner? I’m starving.”
Flustered, Fin picked up her bags. “Hungry?”
He smiled slowly. “Always.”
Ryan followed her into the kitchen and took hold of the beer Jake held out to him. “Thanks.”
She picked up her wine and leaned against the counter as Jake pulled out plates. Ryan stepped into the room and suddenly the quaint cottage kitchen felt tiny.
“So … Tell me about Afghanistan?” she asked. Jake wasn’t able to tell her much during their Skype chats, and she wanted to know everything. She needed the distraction because her fingers were aching to touch Ryan, wanting to make sure he was real and not an illusion.
“It’s hot,” Jake replied.
“And dusty,” Ryan added.
“The bunks on base are small,” Jake told her as he carried their dinner to the table.
“Jake’s learning to play the guitar.”
Fin raised her brows at Jake as they all sat down at the dining table. “Really?”
Jake grinned. “Yep.”
Ryan looked at her across the table. “And it’s killing us. Your cat could play better than he does.”
Jake leaned over the table and punched Ryan in the arm with a laugh. “Ryan’s lazy,” Jake told her as they started eating. “He falls asleep during all our training exercises.”
Ryan, taking a sip of his beer, almost spat it out. “Fuck off. That was you!” Ryan looked at Fin, laughter in his eyes. “One morning Jake was sleeping like the dead and missed training. He was sleeping on a camp bed so we carried him out to the mess hall. Eventually he woke up, looking around at everyone eating breakfast and watching him snore like a freight train.”
“I woke to a standing ovation,” Jake boasted.
“And baked beans down your pants.”
Fin burst out laughing, and as they one upped each other with stories through dinner, her laughter almost turned to tears. How had she ever managed without them?
“So, what’s going on with you?” Ryan asked as they stood washing and drying dishes at the sink.
Jake, reclining on the couch with his feet on the coffee table, called out, “Fin’s a caped climate change crusader now, aren’t you, Fin?” He pointed the remote at the television and began channel flicking.
“I work at the Department of Environment and Conservation now,” she told him and her lips twitched, “but I save my Supergirl suit for special occasions.”
Ryan chuckled. “You’ve been there for over two years now?”
Her mouth fell open. “You know?”
“I know.”
Of course he knew. Jake never tired of talking about her, and Ryan never tired of hearing it. He heard every detail of her life from Jake, and it obviously hadn’t been enough because here he was.
Fin hung the tea towel over the rack on the oven door. “So I guess you know I’m headed for Antarctica in two weeks?”
Ryan should have felt relieved. Two weeks with Fin was going to be hard enough knowing he had to keep his distance, but he was worried about her being in Antarctica. What if she got caught in a snow storm, or fell down a deep crevice? Shit. He was acting like an irrational twat. Ryan gave himself a mental shake and forced a grin. “I always said you were going to do big things with your life.”
“You did,” she agreed.
Ryan took hold of her hand and pulled her a little closer. She looked up at him and his heart hammered in his chest when her green eyes fixed on his. “I’m proud of you, you know.”
Fin licked her lips. “You are?”
His eyes fell to her mouth and all the blood in his body began heading in one, single-minded direction. He cursed under his breath. Two weeks of this? What had he been thinking?
Ryan let go and stepped back. Clearing his throat, he said, “I think I’ll head to bed.”
“You don’t want a coffee or anything first?”
“No. I’m good, thanks.”
He turned to leave.
“Ryan, wait!”
He paused.
“I need to make up the bed in the guest room for you.”
“No,” he said firmly. “I can do it. Jake showed me where the sheets are.”
“Yes, but there’s a whole bunch of different sizes in there,” she pointed out. “It won’t take a minute.”
He backed up. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Do mine too, Fin!” Jake called out.
“Do your own,” she retorted as she left the kitchen for the laundry at the back of the house.
“Why does Ryan get his done and I don’t?”
She came back out under a pile of sheets, quilts, and pillows. “Because Ryan is a guest.”
“Ryan isn’t a guest, he’s family.” Jake turned on the couch and looked over his shoulder. “Right, Kendall?”
Ryan looked at the man that was his brother in every sense of the word but blood. “Right.”
With the linens piled high, Fin walked blindly into the guest room and cracked her shin hard on the timber bed frame.
“Ouch,” she yelped, her stomach pitching from the sharp burst of pain.
Ryan yanked the sheets from her arms. She watched them sail across the room and land on the bed. Pillows flew everywhere. She looked at Ryan.
He was frowning. “Are you okay?”
She gritted her teeth, waiting for the twinge to pass. “Fine.”
Taking hold of her shoulders, Ryan directed her towards the bed. “Sit,” he ordered.
Reminded of how she’d taped his split brow, she sat. “Doctor Kendall, I presume?”
He chuckled. Crouching down, he gripped the smooth skin of her calf in his hands, lifting it up to rest on his knee for a closer inspection.
She sucked in a breath.
“Hurts?”
Yes. Your touch is warm and your palms are rough, and it hurts to have you so close when you don’t want me.
“A little.”
Ryan trailed his fingertips over the red, burgeoning lump on her shin until it felt like an intimate caress.
She shivered and he looked up at her, heat blazing from his eyes. “Fin,” he said hoarsely.
“Mmm?”
He stared at her for moment. His lips curved into a smile, and the hard edges on his face softened, making him almost beautiful. “I think you’ll live.”
She tried to remain casual, but his hand was still caressing her leg. “You have a very capable bedside manner, Doctor Kendall.”
“Fin? What the hell is going on here?”
Ryan snatched his hands away hastily, the smile sliding from his face as they both turned towards the door. He stood as Ian stalked into the room.
Fin cleared her throat, her stomach sinking because she realised she forgot to ring Ian. “Ian. You remember Ryan, don’t you?”
Ryan held out his hand.
Ian looked at it, then at Ryan.
Fin gritted her teeth at the tension in the air.
“I do,” he eventually said, his voice flat and unhappy as he shook Ryan’s hand. Letting go, he added, “I didn’t know you and Jake were home.”
Ian turned to Fin expectantly.
“Jake and Ryan just got—”
“Fin,” he cut her off. “Can we talk?”
Fin stood up, glancing at the unmade bed. “Sure, uh …”
“I can do this, Fin,” Ryan said and nodded at the door. “You go.”
“If you can’t find anything, Ryan, just let me know,” she told him before following Ian out the door.
Walking into her bedroom, he shut the door behind them and folded his arms. “You didn’t ring.”
“I’m sorry. I meant to, but Jake’s return was an unexpected surprise.” Her eyes filled. “I haven’t seen him for two years, Ian. I … we got caught up talking. I missed him so much.”