This trip to Evergreen was opening Tobias’s eyes to so many things. At the top of the list—the fact that he didn't know his own little brother very well.

It wasn't surprising, since he'd spent so much of Aiden's childhood overseas. Every time he came home on leave, he’d had to get to know the kid all over again, because he'd be into different things by then. The Minecraft phase would be over and he'd be into skateboards, for instance. Never once had he managed to bring back a present that suited whatever Aiden's current passion was.

In fact, this visit to Evergreen was his first chance to spend extended time alone with his little brother. So maybe he had Carolyn to thank for that. And for all the questions he was sneaking in during their racquetball match. Cleverly disguised, of course.

"So what happened with Daisy?" Daisy was Aiden's longtime girlfriend back in Jupiter Point.

Aiden whacked the ball into the corner. "Nothing happened. We just decided that we should take a break. I'm in college, she's starting a business. It's a good time to see what else is out there."

Huh. That didn't give much information. He raced for the ball and slammed it back. The court echoed with the sound of their squeaky shoes and the impact of the ball. "I always thought you two were great together. Very compatible. Same likes, dislikes, that sort of thing."

Aiden executed a cross court slam, then shrugged. "I guess. We both like to have fun. Hang out at the beach. Hike."

"Exactly. And you both hate…" He cast around for an example. "Smoking."

Tobias had picked up a cigarette habit during his first stint in Afghanistan. Aiden had freaked out when he'd first seen Tobias smoking. That was the end of that.

"That's true, I never had to shame Daisy into quitting." Aiden grinned at him as he lunged for a shot.

"You didn't shame me. You went online and found a comprehensive list of reasons to quit. And you threatened to disown me as your big brother."

"I was hardcore."

"Yup. When you don't like something, you really don't like it. Such as…" He pretended to be out of breath so he couldn't finish the sentence.

"Tattoos," Aiden said promptly. "I'm like the only student here who doesn't have one. I think they're pretentious."

"There you go. Tattoos. Funny thing, half my team had tattoos but I was never tempted." He missed the next ball, signaled for a break and went to mop his face with a gym towel. Cigarettes and tattoos. Would that be enough for Carolyn to work with? "So what about the girls here in college? Anything stand out about them? Good or bad?"

"They're nice, I guess." Aiden twirled his racket in the air and caught it. "I haven't paid that much attention. I kind of got…well, anyway. They're always doing Snapchat and Instagram and I'm not that into social media. Everyone stares at their phone all the time, it's boring. But there's a girl in my dorm who doesn't have a phone, so I asked her out. This was at the beginning of school, before…" He coughed to avoid finishing that sentence. "It turned out she was super religious and wasn't allowed to have a phone or go out with boys. She tried really hard to convert me. Prayers, pamphlets, bible verses. She had a thing about angels. It was total overkill."

"Ah." Tobias filed that tidbit away, though he didn't know how it would be useful.

Aiden tapped his racket against the toe of his shoe. "So are you giving up, old man? You'd rather talk than try to keep up with me, is that it?"

"You kidding? I've been idling, bro. Keeping it in second gear. You ready to rock?"

"Bring it."

And they switched to the more traditional Knight brother approach, in which they basically tried to beat the crap out of each other.

Afterwards, they grabbed lunch at the Caf and Tobias managed to pry a few more pieces of information out of Aiden. But more importantly, he realized what a great kid he'd turned out to be. He disliked bullies, hated cruelty of all sorts, and, biggest shocker of all, was already thinking about the big family he wanted to have someday.

"Being the youngest sucks," he told Tobias wistfully as he popped French fries into his mouth. "We had this big fun family, and then everyone either grew up or left. It was just me and Will after that. I want like, ten kids when I grow up. I might even adopt a few. Oh, and a dog. Will never let us get a dog because he worked so much. I want a nice big dog. Maybe two."

Tobias cocked his head at his brother. "You have this all planned out, don't you?"

"Not really." Aiden grinned. "Okay, I kind of do. But I still have some details to fill in."

"You're still young. Plenty of time to get the details right."

Aiden dipped a fry in their shared puddle of ketchup. "Yes, but I don't want to wait too long and end up like you. All alone in your doddering old age."

"I'm thirty-one."

"Exactly. What are you waiting for, T? Doesn't seeing Will and Merry together make you want to hook up with someone?"

"I hook up. No worries about that."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "That's not what I mean. I know half the women in Jupiter Point are after you, and the other half are after Ben. It's not about hooking up. I'm only a freshman in college and even I know that."

"Then you're a very unusual college student."

His brother's open, innocent face sobered. "We're all unusual, Tobias. Our father was murdered and our mother left us. Don't you think that screwed us up? I mean, each in our own way?"

Tobias snagged the last fry and glanced around at the buzzing cafeteria. Aiden really knew how to cut to the heart of matters. Tobias might be the most physically fearsome, but Aiden was emotionally fearless.

He could learn a thing or two from his little brother.

"You're probably right about that," he said finally. "About the screwed-up part, not necessarily the woman part. And anyway, aren't I supposed to be lecturing you? How'd you go turning the tables like that?"

Aiden made a face at him. "It's called college. Suck it."

Gotta love that kid.

Later, Tobias called Carolyn from his hotel room. A part of him longed to go to her house and talk to her in person. He could probably rustle up an excuse. How's that paint drying? Is Dragon still breathing?

But a bigger part of him didn't want to take any chances with Aiden's feelings. His brother had such a big, caring heart. He wanted to protect it, not hurt it.

"So listen," he said to Carolyn once he got her on the phone. "Before we go any further with this, you have to promise me that you won't say or do anything that might hurt Aiden."

"Of course not. That's the whole point. Maybe this is a bad idea." The doubt in her voice echoed his own. "I just thought, since I have to meet with him anyway, maybe I can use the opportunity to change his perspective."

"All right. Well, I'm trusting you here. Trusting you with my brother's heart."

"Got it." Her serious tone reassured him. Carolyn was a kind, sensitive person, after all. She wasn't looking for a way to hurt one of her students. He knew that. "Before you fill me in, I should let you know that the FBI showed up at my office unannounced today. I gave them your number and they might call you."

"Damn it. I really wanted to be there. What'd they have to say?"

"Not much." She told him about the meeting, which made his teeth grind. They'd basically brushed her off.

"If they don't pay a visit to that compound, you tell me where it is and I'll go myself." The offer came out before he even thought about it. But once it had, it seemed like the best idea he'd had in a while.

She laughed. "We'll see. I wouldn't want to send you into the line of fire. That's the FBI's job."

"The line of fire is my natural habitat," he told her. "The crunchier the better. That's when I do my best thinking, in the midst of chaos and bullets."

"Then we're complete opposites. Give me peace and quiet and I'm purring like a cat."

"Yeah, maybe, but there's a wildcat inside that cat. I've seen it in action."

"Pffft. That was a special occasion. I'm not usually like that," she said primly, though he caught a hint of laughter under her scolding.

"I guess it takes a special kind of person to bring it out, is that it?"

"You're obviously gifted."

Ten thousand naughty answers came to mind. He managed to keep them to himself only by thinking of Aiden and his feelings.

* * *

Carolyn met twice a semester with each of her students to talk about their progress and answer any questions they might have. During her first meeting with Aiden, he hadn't said much. She'd assumed that he was simply a shy freshman who was taking her course to fulfill a liberal arts credit requirement. Now she wondered if he'd been tongue-tied, not bored.

When he walked into her office, she surreptitiously looked for any resemblance to Tobias. Would her young student have any similarity to the big former soldier with the intense eyes?

Yes, she saw with a quick scan. Their faces had a similar square-jawed shape, and they both had devastating smiles, with a groove that popped up in their left cheek. Aiden's smile came more easily, but Tobias’s was more lethal, maybe because it was more hard-won.

Their differences were easier to identify. Tobias was more physically imposing, his sheer presence more compelling. Aiden had a lighter manner and a more open face. The biggest difference was that she felt no magnetic tug toward Tobias’s little brother.

She smiled at him and gestured toward the chair where visitors sat. The same one Tobias had occupied during that infamous encounter during which she'd kicked his legs out from under him. Hiding the smile that memory inspired, she opened Aiden's folder.

"So how are you enjoying your freshman year so far, Aiden?"

"It's…yeah, it's good. I like it."

Well…she drew in a deep breath. Might as well jump right into this performance.

"Listen, do you mind if I take a tiny break before we start?" She pulled a pack of Marlboro Reds from her purse and knocked one into her hand. The damn pack had cost her nearly ten bucks, and she'd had to practice that movement. She'd never smoked a cigarette before.

"Uh, sure." A look of surprised revulsion crossed his face as he locked onto the cigarette. "You should really think about quitting, you know."

That might have been the longest sentence he'd ever spoken to her. "You're right, I should. I keep telling myself that. I've been praying every night about it too. If I can't find the strength on my own, maybe God can take on the burden for me."

He blinked at her as she hurried out of the office. Smoking was forbidden inside the building, but there was a terrace outside where smokers could indulge. She dashed onto it, lit her cigarette, and waved it through the air around her body. Singh Dal, the grumpy chemistry professor, looked at her as if she was crazy. "How much does it take to smell like cigarette smoke?" she asked him.

"You're going to set yourself on fire. Watch that thing."

The smoldering top had nearly caught the sleeve of her jacket.

Good. She could probably use that.

The cigarette was burned about halfway through. She dropped it into the sand-filled urn for used butts and rushed back inside. As she passed the office next to hers, she popped her head inside and gave the five minutes signal to her friend Amanda, who taught French poetry. Once she'd gotten a thumb's up, she hurried to her own office.

"Whew," she said as she plopped into her chair. "Sorry about that."

Aiden coughed, forehead creased, then managed a smile. "No problem."

"Well, of course it is a problem, but I'm putting it in the hands of a higher power. Now, let's talk about your last essay. You did an excellent job with your comparison between the Tuscan school and the Venetian school." As she rattled off her critique of his work, she noticed, with a quick glance under her lashes, that he was…holding his breath?

Yes. The poor kid was not enjoying the aroma of Marlboros that had invaded her office. Neither was she, quite frankly. She'd have to invest in a case of air freshener after this.

She glanced down at the sleeve of her jacket. "Oh my goodness. Yet another reason to quit."

A bit of ash had burned a tiny hole in the fabric. She pulled off her jacket with an exasperated pout. Underneath it she wore a cap-sleeved shirt that left most of her upper arms bare.

She angled her body so that Aiden had a perfect view of her right arm. He squinted at it. "Is that—"

"Oh. My new guardian angel, yes. I acquired it just the other day. I'm hoping it will help with the quitting smoking, but so far, well…" She shrugged apologetically, making the fake tattoo on her upper arm twitch. It was a colorful, almost cartoonish rendition of an angel wearing a long blue robe, hands in prayer, looking soulfully heavenward. "I can't be praying all the time, you see. But with this on my arm, part of me always is."

"Uh huh. That's uh…a good idea."

She took note of his completely flummoxed expression. Not a single bit of googly-eyed adoration to be seen. "So. It looks like you're in good shape going into finals. Do you have any questions for me about the class, or about Renaissance art, or the perils of nicotine addiction?" She smiled innocently and set her forearms on the desk, so there was no way he could avoid the angel.

"No." He shook his head and scooted his chair back a little. "I think I'm good."

"Excellent." She took a surreptitious glance at her watch. Time for the coup de grace. She could already hear those toenails clicking… "Well, if that's it, then I guess I'll see you in—" She broke off. Dragon came trotting into the office. In her tiny space, he looked about the size of a small Clydesdale.

"Oh my Goodness. What is wrong with people? Why do they think it's okay to bring their pets to work? Especially dogs. They're revolting. They leave hair everywhere, they slobber. Ugh, I'm so sorry." Dragon had done his usual routine and sniffed Aiden's leg, leaving a string of drool on his jeans.

"That's okay, I like dogs."

"Yes, well, no one likes a big hairy beast leaving slime all over them. It beats me why would anyone want a dog like this. Come on, you." She came around the desk and took a firm hold of Dragon's collar. Out of Aiden's direct line of sight, she gave Dragon a reassuring pat.

She tugged the dog toward the door. He came willingly, trotting alongside her. Too bad Dragon wasn't much of an actor so he could pretend to resist. "I'm going to have a word with my colleague. This is completely inappropriate. Just imagine if you were allergic to dog hair! Or dog slobber. If you want to make an official complaint—"

"No! Of course not. Dogs are great."

Carolyn twisted her face into a dubious look. "If you say so. Call me unconvinced." Hiding a smile, she took Dragon back to Amanda's office and slipped him a dog treat.

When she got back to her own office, Aiden was on his feet. He looked neither adoring nor heartbroken. "I have another class to get to, but thank you, Professor Moore."

"Good to see you, Aiden. Keep up the good work."

He practically ran out of the office. When he reached the hallway, she heard him haul in a long breath of air. Had her ridiculous act actually worked? Aiden didn't seem to be at all crushed by anything he'd witnessed. She was absolutely certain she hadn't broken his heart with her goofy angel tattoo and Marlboro Reds.

If he was hurt, at least he was in the right place to seek comfort. There were probably hundreds of girls here at Evergreen who would be happy to heal his broken heart.