good. Her voice had started to calm. “What do you do?”
“Just getting into freelance security work.”
Which was another way of saying government contracts. Her chest tensed, that wall around her heart building back up so her body would stop thinking of Isaac as a real possibility. “So you just got out of the Navy, but you want to go back overseas?”
He shrugged, eyes lowering away from hers. “I’ll have to go back occasionally. On my terms.”
And that, right there, was why she had to wrangle her heart before it started to beat his name. Last time he left, he hadn’t come back. He hadn’t called. He hadn’t written. He’d completely disappeared from her life. Remember that. She had to remember that.
“What do you do for Ben and Paige?” he asked as though bored talking about himself.
Before she could respond, a new song started and Ben waved Isaac over. “Come on, man! Haven’t seen you in a decade and you’re over there sitting in the corner.”
Reluctantly, Isaac stood. “I guess I should go. Will you come with me? We could dance…”
Well, this was awkward. She really should’ve told him who she was. But how could she have, when he made it so hard for her to breathe? “No, thanks. I’m happy here.”
“Come on.” He tugged on her hand. “I won’t step on your feet. I swear.”
Face flaming, she pulled her hand back. “I can’t dance with you.”
“Give me one good reason why not,” he said through a smirk that promised she’d never come up with one.
Little did he know. “I can’t walk,” she informed him. “So I definitely won’t be able to dance with you, Isaac.”
It must’ve been the way she said his name.
His face froze into the same look of shock she’d witnessed on many a man’s face when they realized she couldn’t walk.
“Julia?” It came out as a gasp.
Ben bounded over, followed by Paige.
She met her future sister-in-law’s eyes. “Can you get my chair?” So she could escape this whole humiliating scene. It was her fault. She could’ve warned him. She could’ve said, “Hey, Isaac. Good to see you again. It’s Julia. Remember me? Your best friend’s sister? The one who fell in love with you at six years old?” Then he would’ve known. He wouldn’t be standing there gawking at her, his kind eyes crinkled with a blatant pity that consumed all of her in the burn of humiliation. She couldn’t stand him looking at her like that. Not Isaac. He used to grin at her, ruffle her hair, chum around with her like a friend. Now he looked at her like she was weak.
God, she had to get out of here. “Paige?” she said again, breaking the awkward silence that had settled over their group.
“Of course I’ll get your chair.” Her sis-in-law hurried behind the bar and pushed over the wheelchair, then helped her scoot into it.
“Julia…” Isaac didn’t seem to know what else to say.
“Good to see you again,” she said, reinforcing the words with a strong smile. Because she didn’t need anyone’s pity.
All she needed was a new start.
Chapter Two
I t was the cleavage that had thrown him off.
Julia Noble didn’t have cleavage when she was fifteen. Isaac lowered his shocked gaze down her body. She didn’t have those curvy hips and long legs either. Back then, she didn’t wear low-cut black cocktail dresses accented with the same lace you’d see on a high-end teddy, and black, strappy fuck me heels, either.
Now that she’d revealed herself, it was obvious. How could he have missed it? The shining dark hair that fell in soft waves at her shoulders. The captivating smile that prodded dimples into her cheeks and sent a love for life blaring out of her exotically brown eyes. Holy shit. Julia. How could he not have recognized her?
Probably because he still thought of her as the broken girl he’d seen lying in that hospital bed the day before he’d joined up.
But Julia was not a girl anymore. She was a woman. The kind of woman he’d hit on.