*
THE knock on Graham’s door at exactly twenty-one hundred hours made him smile. He got up and expected to see one of the coaches standing there, doing a head count. Instead, he found Reagan. “Hey there, pretty lady. Does your guy know you’re knocking on my door instead of his?”
She smirked. “Bed check was relegated to me tonight. Coaches’ meeting. You all set? What?”
He tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean, what?”
“You’re smiling. Like, loony smiling. What . . . did something happen?”
He could tell her, but he had a feeling Kara would want to share the news with her girlfriends. So he simply shrugged and said, “I got a win, I got to see my girl . . . no reason not to be smiling.”
“Hmm.” Her tone said I’m not buying it but she simply waved and walked down to the next room to knock. “Bed check!”
He pulled back in his room, prepared to close the door, but the door across from him opened and Greg poked his head out. “Bed check Nazi gone?”
“I can still hear you,” she said from down the hall.
“Love you!”
“Get back to bed!”
There was laughter from the other rooms in the hallway.
“Okay, quick, before the drill sergeant comes back. What happy pills did you take?”
The door next to Greg’s opened and Brad’s exasperated face stuck out. “Both of you shut the gossip train down, would you?”
“Sweeney’s got news. I can smell it.” Greg turned his eagle eyes back at him. “’Fess up.”
“Wow, third degree much?”
“I still hear you,” Reagan sang from around the corner.
“God, she’s a pain in the ass.” Greg grinned from ear to ear. “Mine. Now spill. Fast.”
“I . . . might have asked Kara a very important question.”
Both men stared at him, dumbfounded.
“She might have had a very positive reaction to that question.”
“Jesus H.,” Brad breathed out. “You really went for it.”
“And it paid off, apparently.” Risking it, Greg stepped out into the hall and held out an arm for a guy hug. “Congratulations, man. You’re a lucky guy.”
“Yeah, lucky. Congrats and stuff. Night,” Brad said, zipping back in and closing his door silently.
Greg and Graham both smiled and shook their heads. The man was crazy about rules and not breaking them.
“Let’s follow Grandpa’s lead and hit the rack. We’ve got a huge day tomorrow.”
“Yup. And you wouldn’t want your fiancée to see you lose like an asshole, would you?” Greg nudged his side with an elbow. “Night.”
Graham shut his door and headed for bed. Ten seconds later, there was a soft knock.
“Uh, Graham? I’m locked out.”
“Gregory Higgs!” Reagan yelled from down the hall. “Your ass is grass, Marine!”
“Fuck,” his friend croaked.
Graham laughed quietly and tucked himself back down.
CHAPTER
23
His first match had been easier than yesterday’s. After a third round KO, Graham advanced to the next round, as did most of his team members. They had a three hour break for lunch, which Graham intended to use to spend as much time as possible with Kara. He had one more day with her before she headed home. She’d miss the finals, but just having her there at all was a dream come true.
He took her out to lunch, picking somewhere close where he knew he could order the right combination of protein and carbs to keep his energy up for the next round. Kara stared at him when he ordered his chicken dry, no seasoning.
“Hidden salt,” he explained. “Normally I wouldn’t care. It’s just this week. Brad, now he’s a stickler for that junk.” Handing the menu to the server after Kara ordered—the much more appetizing sounding classic burger and fries—he reached over and held her hand. His thumb rubbed over her left ring finger. “Any requests?”
“What, like karaoke?”
“No, for your ring.”
She scrunched her nose. “I don’t know. I’m not big into jewelry so . . . something small? Like, not set too high. And nothing flashy, or with stones all the way around. Just the single stone on top is good. But not an oval or a pear. Emerald or princess is fine.”
He snorted. “But you don’t know.”
She blushed. “Okay, so once you think about it a little, stuff comes to you. I haven’t been designing my ring for years or anything. I don’t have any hidden sketches of wedding dresses anywhere. It just wasn’t on my mind. Even when I got pregnant, my first thought wasn’t to rush down any altar.”
He played with her fingers a moment while their server dropped off a bread basket. He pushed it towards her, but she just set it aside. “No regrets? You weren’t anti-marriage before this?”
“No. I just didn’t think I’d get to experience it. I didn’t think I’d be this lucky.” She squeezed his hand. “You are so unexpected in my world. So out of left field.”