Don't Say Goodbye (Navy Book 2)

Chapter 3

Kellan entered the kitchen, quietly shutting the door behind him. The light over the stove was on and there was a plate of brownies sitting on the counter. He was starving so he snagged two and ate each one in one bite.

It had been a hellish week and he was doing his best to push it all out of his mind. He hadn't showered or slept in two days and he hadn't eaten since breakfast, which had been nothing put a power bar and a banana at the airport.

He had thought he was done with teams, and other than the regular training that the reserves required of him he would be out of it, but with all that had happened on the political front, the teams had taken a hit and he had been called back into service.

The University had been more than willing to work with him on his schedule so he wouldn't have to give it up completely, but he would not be devoting as much time to teaching as he had in the past, at least for the time being. At the end of this next quarter he would be leaving for an eighteen month tour, and part of him had his doubts that he would return. Unwilling to think about that, he wondered were the dogs were. Normally, they would have been at the door greeting him.

He walked through the dining room and into the living room, and he had to blink away the exhaustion to make sure he was actually seeing what he was seeing.

There, on his over sized sofa, was Charlie.

But it was not a Charlie he knew. She was laying on her side facing the T.V. and she was dead to the world. Her golden brown hair, which she normally wore in a messy ponytail, was cascading over the pillow in a silken mass and her baggy clothes were long gone, replaced by a tank top and boxer shorts. Her long legs were curled around Ares and her arm was flung over Athena. Both dogs were watching him but neither one was willing to move.

He didn't blame them.

Charlie's over sized, ill-fitting clothes, had hidden most of her assets. He looked at her curves which were ample, and her current clothing, while covering her curves well enough, highlighted her wonderful silhouette.

The T.V. was on so she must have fallen asleep watching it. Scattered around her were books and notes.

He watched her even breathing. Asleep she lost the edge that she always seemed to have about her; as if she was waiting for the worst to happen. Charlie was definitely not a carefree young woman.

Shaking his head, he reached for a blanket and covered her as best he could without covering the dogs. Then he reached for the remote and turned off the T.V.

First, a shower, then bed. Food would have to wait. He was too tired to mess with it. He grabbed a few more brownies as he walked down the hall and into his room.

The bed was unmade and there was a dent in the pillow that Charlie's head had left. Her bag was on a chair in the corner and the clothes spilled out onto the chair and floor making him shake his head a little. That was out of character too.

He stripped and pulled out a pair of pajama bottoms. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered but he didn't think Charlie would appreciate him sleeping in the buff. After his shower he crawled into bed and was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. The first night after a training mission was always when he got his best sleep. He was too tired to even dream.

*******

Charlie woke the next morning to sunlight filtering through the windows. She stretched but stopped abruptly as she realized there was a blanket on her. Quickly, she sat up and looked around. The dogs were gone. They were always next to her when she awoke.

She stood up and went into the kitchen where she noticed that most of her brownies were gone.

Her heart stopped. There was someone else in the house.