Chapter Four
Wendy sighed as she entered the little house that had been provided to her.
She was one of the lucky few to get her own place. Although if she’d known Jamie and Leah were going to show up, she might have just pushed to stay in the women’s dorms. Though she suspected Colonel Hall wouldn’t have liked the idea of civilians mixing so much with active duty who weren’t relatives.
In any event, it was nice having a quiet place to go at the end of the day.
It was a small house. A simple living area, small kitchen, bedroom with adjoining bath. Not the sort of place you entertained people, but still a nice space. Much bigger than the place at her last assignment, which was basically a glorified tent she shared with another woman who snored loudly.
She unlaced and removed her boots and dropped her keys on the little table by the door.
Wendy walked right into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of black yoga pants and gray tank to replace her uniform. That was always the first thing she did every day when she got home.
Carefully she pulled the bobby pins from her hair and watched as all the little flyaway pieces popped out. It was always so important that she have her hair pulled perfectly back, but her hair never seemed to agree.
Wendy pulled the band off the end of her braid and worked out the French braid she’d done that morning. Instantly, her head seemed lighter with the strands not being pulled so tightly against her head.
She rubbed her scalp a little, enjoying the feeling and then shook her head. In the mirror, she watched as the now crimped hair bounced around.
She smiled. It was a wavy mess, but she wasn’t trying to impress anyone, and she wasn’t in uniform and so didn’t need to keep things within regulation. The girls didn’t give a crap how her hair looked as long as the beers were on her.
A chuckle escaped her mouth as she made her way into the kitchen, now far more comfortable.
To be honest, she would gladly buy the beers if that meant she didn’t have to go to the Enlisted Club, or the E-Club as they liked to call it.
The makeshift bar was fine enough, but it was always loud, and since there were so few women there, it always seemed like they were being watched. Likely because they typically were actually being watched. Jamie was never one not to make herself known.
Wendy sighed. Nothing she could do about it. That was just how Jamie was.
She opened the fridge and pulled out things to throw together a sandwich. She’d need to eat something somewhat substantial before the girls got there.
She slapped together a sandwich. She took a large bite and hadn’t even finished chewing when a knock came at the door.
She groaned a little. They couldn’t have waited ten more minutes? She didn’t want to go drinking on an empty stomach.
“Coming,” she said with her mouth still full of food.
Wendy made her way to the door, sandwich in hand. She pulled the door open.
“I thought we said—” she mumbled around her food.
She stopped midsentence and struggled to swallow the food in her mouth.
Cato stood on the other side of the door, staring at her like she’d just lost her mind. And to be honest, that wasn’t that far off from the truth.
Wendy finishing swallowing her food.
“I…. my… what?” she said, desperately trying not to stare, but failing.
She couldn’t seem to make her brain think. This very large and handsome man was just staring at her and waiting for something, and she had no idea what the hell to even say to him.
Cato ran a hand through his hair, and she couldn’t help but wonder just how soft it was. It certainly looked like it was soft with the way the curls fell back against his head.
“I just came by to see if there was anything I needed to start on,” he said.
She frowned. “Start on?” What the heck was he talking about?
He frowned slightly. “With the party?”
Everything clicked in her head, and she felt a wave of heat as it rushed to her cheeks.
The party. He was there about the stupid party. She’d totally forgotten about it already. She still wasn’t even sure why the colonel felt she should be handling the stupid thing, but orders were orders.
For some reason, she felt a pang of irritation over Cato being there to talk about the party. Of course, it was silly to think he would be there for her. After all, they had just met and were assigned to the same task, but still the irritation was there.
She was a big girl. She knew that just because she’d experienced lust at first sight didn’t mean he did. She needed to just focus on her task for now and not worry about personal crap.
Wendy waved the hand still holding her sandwich toward the living room. “Would you like to come inside?”
She could see his eyes as they followed the sandwich. Her cheeks burned even more. So not cool.
“I didn’t know you were busy,” he said. “I don’t want to interrupt.”
He glanced around a few times, almost as if trying to decide whether he should just run or not. She didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or amused.
“You wouldn’t be interrupting.”
As she said it, Wendy could feel the shift in her voice. Suddenly, she was using a husky voice.
Holy shit. She was flirting with him! What was worse was that she couldn’t even seem to stop herself from doing it. Instantly, she could see that Cato felt the shift as well.
The gaze from his hot amber eyes trailed down her body and then back up to her face. For a moment, she was fairly certain there was some sort of electric current running between the two of them. A soft hum filled her body and seemed to set every part of her on fire.
Apparently, the lust at first sight went both ways.
He stepped forward. As they stared at one another, she licked her lips.
She had no idea what was happening. One second, she was just admiring a man she’d barely met, and now she wanted to kiss him.
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “I don’t—”
Someone cleared their voice behind him, and Cato stepped back quickly.
“So, should we come back later?” Leah said from behind Cato.
Wendy’s cheeks now burned even more. The heat radiated up into her ears.
Cato cleared his throat. “Maybe I’ll just meet you at the hall tomorrow morning. And we can go over stuff.”
She swallowed, not really trusting her own voice at the moment. She nodded.
Cato stared at her for a moment longer before turning to Jamie and Leah with a quick nod and jogging off.
“Wow,” Jamie said softly. “That was so hot, I think I got second-hand orgasms.”
Wendy’s friend’s words shoved her hard back into reality.
“Way to kill the vibe,” Leah said as she stepped past Jamie into the house.
Jamie snorted loudly and stepped inside. “Whatever. I wasn’t the one that opened my big mouth.”
Leah sat down on the couch and folded her arms. “And what exactly was your plan? Stand there waiting until morning?”
Jamie shrugged and tossed herself onto the couch as well.
“I was hoping to see a little action,” she said with a grin.
Wendy rubbed a hand against her brow. She wasn’t exactly certain what had just happened, but there was no way there was going to be action.
Maybe.
Well, probably.
She hoped at least.
Never in her life had she felt an attraction like that. It was such a strange feeling. And if she was being totally honest, she wasn’t sure what she would have done if Cato had made a move. There was something about him that pulled her in. Maybe there was a lot of things she would have done, and she should have been glad her friends showed up when they did.
It was silly. She had just met the man not but hours before, and already she wanted to roll around in bed with him. Sure, he was a handsome hybrid, but she’d been around many of the hybrids and never felt that kind of burning longing.
Wendy turned to the two women on the couch. They both watched her, eager expressions on their faces, clearly waiting for her to dish.
“It was nothing,” Wendy said, and took a big bite of her sandwich. “He just stopped by to talk about a party we’ve been assigned to work on.”
Leah raised a brow. “Didn’t look like nothing.”
Wendy stared down the other woman. She clearly wasn’t letting this go.
“Wait, party?” Jamie said.
She gave herself a little mental fist bump that Jamie took the bait. If she could count on anyone to change the subject, it would be Jamie.
“The colonel wants to boost morale and create bonds,” Wendy said. “Thinks a party is the way to go.”
Jamie frowned a little. “And you’re setting up this party?”
Wendy could hear the apprehension in her voice, and it irritated her. “So?”
Leah was the one to chime in this time. “Well, you aren’t exactly known as the partying sort.” She shrugged. “Not that I’m one to talk.”
Wendy took another bite and sighed.
Leah was right. The colonel assigning her to this was a chance, and she had no clue what she was doing.
“So help me out.” Wendy pulled out a pad of paper and tossed it over to the two. “Write down some ideas that I can use.” She shrugged. “And you can tell me a bit more about the guys you are going out with Friday.”
Jamie grinned. “I can do that.”