SIX
Ryan woke to a sense of loss. Where was she? He knew before he even looked around that she’d left. The sun peeked through the shades covering the balcony door. After everything they’d shared and done, she’d still left? Insecurity wormed its way into his thoughts. Had she left because she didn’t want to go out with him again? Of course she doesn’t want to see him again. He’s a gimp. She wants a man, not a piece of one. No woman wants to spend the rest of her life being nursemaid to a needy soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder. He needed to know, and the only way to do that was to see her. Now. Right now.
Unwilling to waste any time moping, he dressed, grabbed his smart phone, and placed a call to the lobby. After that he made the one call he wished he didn’t have to.
“Yo. What’s up, bro?” Calvin could sleep well into the morning.
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“Sure. What’s up?” Suddenly his brother’s voice was alert, ready to assist in whatever way necessary. It was what made him a top-notch federal agent.
“Can you find out some information on a woman? I need to know about a private island property her family owns not far from where I’m staying.”
Cal was quiet for a moment. “What did you say to piss her off?”
Ryan knew he’d have to answer if he wanted Cal’s help.
“I didn’t say anything. We hit it off, but she left before I could ask to see her again. I already tried the lobby, but they said all guest information is confidential and could not be shared. I need this now.”
“I got you, bro.”
After giving his brother Kayla’s name, he waited in quiet tension while Cal went on his laptop. “Damn! That is one hot piece of—”
“Cal! Don’t make me kill you when I get home,” he bellowed.
“Fine. Here are the details,” he said, passing along the information and telling Ryan how to get to the island. “By the way,” his brother sighed. “Good luck. Call me if you need anything else.”
“Thanks, bro.”
Ryan arranged for a chopper to Isla Dorada through a military connection in the area. An hour and a half later he was getting off the helicopter on Kayla’s family’s private pad.
As he marched in the mansion’s direction, he noticed a woman headed toward him—clearly Kayla’s mother. She wore an expression of curiosity.
“May I help you?” She asked in a thick Spanish accent.
He went straight to the point. “Yes, I need to see your daughter.”
“You do?” Her brows flew up. “And you are?”
“Ryan?” Kayla’s soft voice drifted from behind him. He turned toward the sound. She was staring at him with so much vulnerability in her gaze that it made his heart clench. “What are you doing here?”
“Yes. What are you doing here?” Her mother asked him with a smile. He had a feeling she knew just what he was doing there.
Purposeful strides brought him to Kayla. He didn’t know what to say. Fuck.
“Look…” He grabbed hold of her small hands and twined his fingers with hers. “I know the last thing you want is to date someone like me.”
She frowned. “Like you?”
“With a physical disability, the need for therapy, and PTSD. But I—”
“Ryan, stop.” She stared at him for a moment. “You’re an idiot.”
His brows rose. That was certainly not what he’d been expecting.
“Your disability has no bearing on whether or not I want to date you.”
“It doesn’t?”
She smiled. “No.”
Hope unfurled in his chest. “I know you were looking for last night to be a clean slate. A good experience to erase the bad ones,” he said, ignoring her mother at his back. “But what if… if we could make it a longer experience? Last night was more than what I could have hoped for and…”
He didn’t know how to word it.
“And?”
“I don’t…” He took another deep breath and continued, “I don’t want to stop seeing where this—we—could go.”
It was the first time since the loss of his leg, when his entire life had changed, that he’d asked a woman for more than one date. He wanted a relationship with Kayla, but his nerves were getting the best of him.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
The knot in his throat thickened, and he swallowed. “Yes. I want you. I want to see where a relationship can take us.”
Her smile widened, her eyes bright with tears, and she launched herself into his arms. “I want that too. I want you too.”
THE END