Basic Training Read Free

burnished hair. Then he held on to Ethan’s arm while he retrieved something from the backseat.
    A cane.
    “Poor Travis,” Amy whispered in sympathy. “I had no idea.”
    Tess’s hand fisted around the edge of the curtain, betraying the concern and compassion that gripped her chest just as tightly.
    Once he was free of the car door, Travis shook Ethan off and proceeded up the driveway to the front door under his own power. But Tess’s sharp eye for physical weaknesses and pain could tell that, despite the unwavering set of his shoulders, Travis was relying heavily on that cane. His left leg was stiff—probably from the long drive from the Quantico military base near Washington, D.C. And she suspected that if he didn’t have the hardheaded determination of the Corps drilled into him, he’d be limping.
    That perfect body had taken a few more hits than she’d been led to believe.
    He wasn’t even smiling.
    Whether playing a joke, flirting with a woman, or striking out a batter, Travis McCormick almost always smiled.
    Splaying her fingers against the glass at her window, cool from the air-conditioning, Tess reached out to her friend. Ashton’s hometown hero had come home, all right. But he hadn’t made it in one piece.
    “Trav,” she whispered, her warm breath close enough to fog the glass.
    Travis paused on the front sidewalk, almost as if he’d heard her soft plea.
    By the time he turned and looked up, Tess had swiped the pane clear and ducked away from the window,letting the curtain fall back into place. Somehow, it seemed wrong to be spying on her childhood friend and longtime hero when he wasn’t feeling up to snuff. He’d always been so strong. So sure of himself. So perfect.
    Tess retreated another step, pulling Amy with her toward the center of the room. “Did you come up here for a reason?”
    She had to change to subject, focus her mind on something else, before she ran downstairs and across the yard to see Travis face to face. To hug him, touch him, ensure with her own two hands that his body hadn’t been damaged beyond repair—and that the scars and weakened leg didn’t mean that his fighting spirit and wicked charm had been wounded as well.
    “Mom wanted your opinion on the cake she’s baking for tonight. She said you’d know Travis’s tastes better than either of us. Does he like chocolate? White?”
    “Lemon.” Travis had always had a taste for food with a little attitude. Just like his women. “He’d want a lemon cake.”
    At least the old Travis would. Now she was beginning to wonder how much of the old Travis still existed—and wonder how she could help heal this newer, harder, humbler version of the man who had always been her best friend.
    “I’ll tell her.” If Amy had any inkling of the turmoil spinning inside Tess’s head, the only sign was the teasing tug on her younger sister’s ponytail. “Come on down when you’re done unpacking. We could use your help before the party. Mom’s fixing enough food to feed the entire town.”
    Tess nodded. “I’ll be there in a sec.”
    By the time Amy left and Tess dared to return to the window, Travis had gone inside the house with his brother.
    She’d been patient for twelve long months, ever since she’d first gotten the news that he’d nearly died in that accident.
    He was hurt. He was her responsibility as his therapist. He was her friend .
    Screw waiting until tonight.
    Tess tucked her T-shirt into her denim shorts and dashed down the stairs.
    “Tessa, I need…Where is that girl going?”
    “Give her a few minutes, Mom.”
    Her mother’s and sister’s voices were cut off by the noise of the screen door slamming behind her. Tess jogged across the lawn separating the two houses, and tucked a few stray waves into her ponytail as she slowed to a walk to climb the steps to the McCormicks’ front porch. She knocked, then fixed a grin on her face as Hal McCormick answered the door.
    The older gentleman’s welcoming smile