Free Lips Are SEAL'ed (BBW Contemporary Military Stepbrother Romance) by Ava May Page A

She sucked in a breath, and her arms wrapped around his neck, forcing her to stand on the tips of her toes.
    “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered and her stomach flip-flopped.
    She hadn’t realized she’d missed him too, not until she was in his arms. “I missed you too, Ash.”
    He pulled back and smiled. “So we’re going to lunch, right? I’m starving.”
    Charlie laughed. “Yeah, we can go eat.”
    He led the way out of her second home and when she would have went to her car he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards his truck.
    “You still have that thing?”
    “Of course, a buddy kept her for me.”
    She shook her head. He’d always referred to his truck as ‘her’. It was strange, but she let him lead her to the passenger side and help her into the truck without a complaint. He got in his side and started the truck. It rumbled beneath her and she sighed laying her head back. It was strange seeing him again. She always figured he wouldn’t come back much. He gave his life to the military, and it apparently shaped him into a man.
    His boyish smile was the only thing that remained. As he drove she watched the muscles flex and stretch as he gripped the steering wheel. The silence was close to uncomfortable, but she didn’t really know what to say.
    “So how come I didn’t know you were sick?”
    And there it was. She was waiting for him to ask and he certainly didn’t wait long.
    “You were away fighting in a war. There was no need to tell you.”
    He glanced at her with a flare. “No need? Really?”
    She sighed. “I didn’t think it was any reason to worry you. Your mom was a saint for me though. Besides I thought she would have told you. She wrote you all the time.”
    “Well she apparently didn’t fuckin’ think I needed to know either. That’s bullshit. You know how I felt—feel about you.”
    Charlie’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry no one told you, but that was a very hard time for me, Ash. I was in the middle of fighting for my life. I did my best.” Tears filled her eyes and she closed them. It wasn’t long before she felt the truck jerk to a stop and she opened them to see he had parked in the supermarket parking lot.
    “I’m sorry, it’s just hard to stomach knowing I was so far away and no one told me anything. I sort of felt like no one cared that I would be hurt too.”
    Charlie sighed and gripped his trembling hand. “Hey, there was no need to make your time over there even more stressful. If the chemo would have failed I would have made sure you knew.”
    “So when it was too late then?”
    Charlie cringed. She didn’t like thinking about that, but it was true unless she was going to die she wouldn’t have put that on him. They’d gotten close in that short time before he left and she couldn’t bear to tell him she might die. It wasn’t something she wanted him to live with.

Chapter 2
    Ash
    It was sweet she wanted to protect me, but damn. The fact that she had meant so much to me in such a short amount of time, and then finding out I didn’t mean that much to her sucked. Now I understood I did. She was trying to protect me, even if she totally went about it the wrong way.
    “I would have come home, if I could have.”
    “I know that, but it wasn’t your fight. You already had your own battle, and I had mine.”
    I flipped my hand around and laced our fingers together. “But you’re all good now, right?”
    She nodded. “Yep, three years cancer-free.”
    “Thank God.”
    I was glad to hear that she wasn’t sick anymore. I wouldn’t be able to leave again if she was. Already, I had a feeling three weeks with Charlie wouldn’t be enough. If things went the way I planned, things in my career would change. No one knew, but I was good at keeping secrets. I kept her hand laced with mine and put my truck back into drive. I was still starving, and I felt like I could eat now that I knew she was all right.
    “Where to?”
    “Wherever you want to go is good