Retreat Read Free Page A

Adams.”
    He rubbed the hair on his cheek. “It’s been nice not having to shave,” he said. “But I do need a haircut.”
    I chewed on a piece of the bread bowl as I studied his hair. “I like it. It’s a little less military. The whole look is very sexy.”
    He stared at me for a long time, those intense blue eyes twinkling as they flicked about my face. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
    “Thanks,” I said in surprise. “Where did that come from?”
    He leaned back into his chair and shrugged. “I mean, you’re here,” he said, motioning to me. “You didn’t tell me you were coming to California. You just snuck into my bedroom in the middle of the night and had your way with me. If that isn’t amazing, then I don’t know what is.”
    I glanced around, hoping nobody was within hearing distance. “That was pretty awesome,” I said with a wide grin.
    “So you managed to get some time off?”
    “I just took half of Thursday and all of today off, then I fly back home late Sunday night,” I said. “What time is your flight on Sunday?”
    “One o’clock, so I have to go to the airport right after my final session with Doc Gal.”
    “Doc Gal?”
    “Her name is Doctor Galicia, but I’ve called her Doc Gal since I was ten. It kinda stuck, I guess.”
    “Did she help you when you were younger?” I asked, leaning closer.
    “Obviously not if I’m back. But she did help me through some tough times, steered me away from juvie , that’s for sure.”
    My eyes widened, finding it hard to picture Henry as a delinquent. “That bad?”
    “I was always getting into fights, stealing, anything that would get me attention from my parents.” He grinned then. “Doc Gal told me that my destructive tendencies were just a cry for attention.”
    “Was she right?”
    “On the nose.”
    I took a big drink of my water before asking, “So how is it now, with your parents?”
    He shrugged but his eyes were not so nonchalant. “Getting better, I guess,” he said. “It might be too late.”
    I reached over the table and gripped his hand. “When it’s about forgiveness and love, it’s never too late.”
    He suddenly stood up, leaned over the table, and planted a kiss on my lips. He sat back down with a satisfied smile, crossing his arms across his chest.
    “What was that for?” I asked, feeling my cheeks heat up, not from embarrassment but from arousal.
    “I was just wondering how I got so lucky.”
    I bit my lower lip and gazed at the man before me, glad that Henry was finally making a recovery. “I was wondering the same thing.”

     
    We met up with my parents at the Monterey Aquarium. Henry offered to leave to give me some time with them, but my parents just looked at him as if he was crazy.
    “Are you kidding?” my mom asked, linking her arm through his as we walked through the member’s entrance. “You’re coming with us. I am grilling you until the sun sets.”
    “That’s what I was afraid of,” Henry said with a smile on his face.
    I walked ahead with my dad, giving my mom a chance to talk to Henry.
    “You happy?” Dad asked, putting his arm around my shoulders.
    “Miserable,” I said with a straight face. “Absolutely miserable.”
    “Yeah, I see that,” he said, ruffling my hair. “Henry’s a good kid.”
    I raised an eyebrow and glanced back at the man who towered over Mom. “Kid?”
    Dad chuckled. “He might be taller than me, but he’ll always be that kid with the braces and the crazy hair,” he said. “He almost ate us out of our home.”
    I laughed. “He wasn’t that bad.”
    “He was so intense at the beginning. I was worried that he was going to be trouble, but Jason asked me to give him a chance,” Dad said. “And look how that same kid turned out: captain in the Air Force. A war veteran,” he added with pride in his voice.
    I wrapped my arm around his side and squeezed. “You were his hero, you know.”
    Dad smiled ruefully. “I like to think I had a hand at