Free Last True Hero by Diana Gardin Page A

read my intentions in my eyes.
    I’m here for you, Berkeley. Only you.
    She sighs. “Okay. I’ll bring you your usual.”
    As she turns, I reach out and grab her arm. She stiffens, turning to face me. “No Killian’s. It’s kinda early. Just bring me a sweet tea.”
    She nods and walks away. I smile.
    When she returns with my drink, her boss is on her heels. “Break time, Berk.”
    She whirls, a glare on her face. “But I just—”
    The lady, who has a bouquet of flowers in her future from a grateful ex-Ranger, shakes her head. “Sit. Have lunch with your friend. I got it covered, and Daniella will be here any minute.”
    Berkeley glances between her boss, and me and blows the stray piece of hair I’ve grown to love so much out of her face. “Fine. Have Boozer make me a crab cake. Thanks, Lenny. ”
    Yeah, thanks, Lenny.
    She sits down across from me, her mouth set in a stubborn line.
    “Lucky turn of events,” I offer.
    She holds her angry stare for about another five seconds before it crumbles, and she bursts into laughter. It’s infectious, and I’m laughing, too.
    “How’d you pull that off?”
    I shrug, eyeing the dark shadows beneath her eyes with a frown. She hasn’t been sleeping?
    “Maybe I’ve picked up a little of your siren magic.”
    She leans forward, placing her elbows on the table, and giving me a clear shot at her cleavage, which I take advantage of. When I meet her eyes again, she’s staring at me with a mixture of frustration and curiosity.
    “I thought I made it clear last week. I thought you got the message, since I haven’t seen you since.”
    “You haven’t seen me since because I’ve been strategizing. I didn’t get any message, other than when we kiss, the whole fucking world stops moving. So we shouldn’t stop kissing. We should kiss more. ”
    Her eyes drop to my lips, and I go instantly hard in my jeans.
    She does that to me with a look.
    Sexy siren indeed.
    “So, what? You’re just going to keep coming in here until I kiss you again?”
    “If that’s what you want.”
    She shakes her head, and I change the subject.
    “You haven’t been sleeping well. Is something stressing you out?”
    The bluntness takes Berkeley aback, her eyebrows twitch in surprise. “How did you know—”
    I just wait, toying with the straw on my tea while I read her face.
    Finally, she sighs. “My parents want me to move out to San Diego. My dad’s a pretty powerful guy, and he’s making all kinds of arrangements without my consent.”
    My chest clenches as my heartbeat kicks up. “Why would he do that?”
    She hesitates, averting her eyes. “I told you I’m not available, didn’t I? My life is…complicated.”
    “If you don’t want to go, you just don’t go. That’s pretty simple.”
    “Yeah.” She sighs. “That would be pretty simple, except you don’t know my father.”
    That’s true, I don’t know her father. Right now, I’d really like to meet him, though. Because it’s really, really crazy, but I don’t want her to go.
    It must show on my face, because hers softens. “I’ll think of something.”
    My lip twitches, and my chest expands.
    Suddenly, she reaches for my arm across the table. “I’ve been dying to read this.”
    I glance down, and her fingertips are burning into my tattooed arm. The heat spreads, traveling through the limb and beyond. “Go ahead.”
    Her lips move minimally as she reads the cursive script, and I add it to the list of “Berkeley’s Adorable Character Traits” that I’m building in my head.
    “‘My Country, My Sacrifice, I Protect What’s Mine.’” Her eyes are serious when they meet mine again. “That’s beautiful.”
    I shrug again. “It’s true.”
    We sit, locked in each other’s gazes for about a minute before Lenny brings us heaping plates of food.
    “You can’t survive on just a crab cake, sweetie,” she chides Berkeley gently.
    She’s loaded Berkeley’s plate with not only two crab cakes, but also hush