Secrets in Battle: Secrets of Savannah Series Book 3 (3 page)

Chapter 3

Damn, seeing my Princess for the first time since coming home makes me a little nervous. I promised that girl I’d come back to her and I almost didn’t. She hasn’t been over here since I’ve been home. Then again, I didn’t call her or let her visit while I was still at the VA Hospital recovering, either.

I take a quick shower, get dressed
, and make my way outside for the cookout. I know my Mom and Nana have been fussing over it for the past few days. Ryder has been great this past week. He’s tried to give me my space, but also make sure I’m never alone.

“There he is!”  Greer shouts from the other side of the pool.

I throw my hand up to wave and carefully make my way down the back steps. I’m doing pretty well with my walking, the doc cleared me to ditch the crutches. I just tire out pretty quickly. My mom comes up and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

“You okay
, honey? Do you need to sit down?”

I shake my head
. “No Momma, I’m fine.”

I walk over where
my Dad and Ryder are standing by the grill. Ryder reaches in the cooler and hands me a beer. I nod, taking it from him. “Thanks, man.”

“No problem.”  He nods his head toward my Princess
in a very tiny bikini lounging on a chair next to Nana.

I have to keep my dick under control
, this is a family event. No one wants to see the huge ass boner I have for this girl.

I walk over to the chairs and sit down next to Nana
. “So, how are two of my favorite ladies doing today?”

Nana laughs
. “Well, I’d be doing better if I looked like Annabelle here in a swimsuit and if you’d refill this fruity drink that Ryder fixed for me.” 

I laugh
, taking her glass and motioning to Annabelle. “What about you, Princess?”

She smiles
. “I’m good, thanks.”

Damn
, that smile. I’m tempted to snatch her up and take her inside and fuck the hell out of her. I keep reminding myself everyone is here to see me. This is a family event.

I go over and refill Nana’s glass from the pitcher on the table
. As I hand it back to her, she laughs. “You’re a mighty cute cabana boy, Judd.”

“Thanks
, Nana, maybe that’ll be my new profession. I’ll try to go get a job down at the country club.”

She laughs
. “Nope, can’t let those damn jaguars get ahold of you.”

Annabelle and I both look at her confused
. Scarlet walks over confused, too, but then starts to laugh. “Nana, do you mean cougars?”

“What the hell ever
. I don’t want them rich ass old house wives making googly eyes at my boy.”

That gets a laugh out of everyone.

Greer sits down in the chair beside me. “So, have you thought any about what you wanna do now?”

Ugh
, the questions, this is the part I don’t like. I know people are just trying to make conversation but I’m just wrapping my head around everything.

“Greer
, hush. The boy just got home, give him time to breathe.”  Nana says over her drink.

I chuckle, thanking God for Nana
. She’s the one person, besides Ryder, that I trust with my every thought. Well, I feel like Princess knows me too, without me even having to tell her anything. It’s like she can read me.

Greer looks at her
. “Momma, I’m sorry, I was just trying to talk to the boy.”

“Well, mind your own business.”

I put my hands up to stop them. “Whoa. It’s okay. Greer, I think I’m going to take a few classes in the fall. Not sure of much else yet.”

“Well
, you are welcome to stay here as long as you want.”

“Thanks
, Greer. I appreciate it.”

A little later
, it’s just Nana and I left sitting here talking, making general chit chat.

She looks over at me
. “So, I’ve gotten to know little Miss Annabelle and she seems quite nice. She works hard with school and her intern stuff.”

“Yeah, she’s a sweet girl
. I don’t know about us, though.”

She pats me on the hand
. “Just give it time. You don’t need to be rushing into anything. When my sweetie came back from Korea, he had some rough times. Grayton was a tough man, but he still had his moments of weakness.”

“Thanks
, Nana.”

“I’m glad
that I’ve gotten to know Annabelle a little bit, she’s quite different from her damn momma. Her momma, Kelsie Grace, is one of those little debutantes, never gotten her hands dirty a day in her life.” 

I have to laugh at Nana
, she’s always spoke straight from her heart. “Thanks. I don’t really know what’s going on with us.”

“Like I said
, you have time.”

Ryder steps out the back door
. “Hey, you two old ladies quit gossiping about everyone and get your asses in here and eat.”

Nana stands up and points her finger
. “Who in the hell are you calling old, Ryder Grayton Abbott? I’ll take a switch to your ass so fast you won’t know what hit ya!”

Ryder quickly moves back inside
. She smiles over at me. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

~*~*~

Walking through the living room later, after I think everyone’s left, I head to the den where I’ve been staying. When I walk through the door, she’s sitting on the sofa and staring off into space.

“Hey.”

She’s a little startled. “Oh, hey. Sorry, I hope you don’t mind. I just came in here for a little bit. I’m kinda tired. I worked a long shift last night.”

I shake my head
. “No. It’s no big deal. So you’re doing you’re rotations now with the nursing stuff?”

“Yeah, last night was rough
. I worked twelve hours in the ER. We had a meth head go crazy and try to break into a locked cabinet thinking it had drugs in it, and then a really bad accident came in. It was intense.”

“
How is everyone at your house dealing with the Princess working?”

“My dad is actually okay with it
, I guess. I don’t really talk to him about it. He says that he worries about me being out so late, coming in and out of the hospitals. My brothers are like whatever. The only person who takes real issue with it vocally is my mother.”

“What’s her problem?”

“She thinks I should find some nice young man with a fat bank account and get married. Let him
keep me
and care for me. Well, they all think that, she’s just more forth coming.”

I laugh
. “So basically she wants you to be her?”

“Yes
. I told her I’m not interested in being a dependent to someone, I want to be an equal partner. Then she got all pissy and stormed out of the kitchen.”

I shake my head
. “Well, you know most princesses aren’t supposed to work.”

“I know
, I’m a big failure to my kingdom.”  She rolls her eyes.

It feels good to laugh with her
. “Look, I’m sorry I never asked you to come up to the-.”

She stops me
. “No, Judd, it’s okay. You needed time. Everything was kind of thrust at you all at once.”  She puts her hand on mine. “It’s okay.”

“Thanks.”

Chapter 4

Sitting on the couch just chatting with Judd is great. I feel more relaxed than I have in a long time. It’s like he sees right through me, he gets me.

“So at the risk of sounding like every other nosy asshole around the world
, have you thought about what you want to do now?”

He laughs
. “It does get old with people asking, but I don’t mind you asking. I am planning to take some classes, but I really don’t know. I didn’t think I’d be planning for a new career until I retired, and certainly not at twenty-two years old. Does that make any sense?”

I smile
. “Yeah. You’ve always been very dedicated to your job, now you have to figure out life. It’s not fun, trust me.”

He brushes his hand down the side of my face
. “I’d like to figure a little more out about you.”

“Maybe that’s possible.”
  Our faces are only inches from each other now.

He grabs the back of my head and kisses me
. Our kiss becomes needy and fevered for each other.

It’s powerful
. Here is a man that for a few days I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see again, much less kiss again. I need him, I want him. Oh God, I want him to touch me! The emotions become too much and I start crying.

He stops and pulls me into his chest
. “Princess, what’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

I shake my head and start wiping my face
. “No, it’s just.”  I clear my throat. “It’s just I was scared I’d never see you again. The day your parents came to tell us, I fell apart. If it hadn’t been for Nana I would’ve really lost my mind.”

He smiles a little
. “Nana. She’s always saving people.”  He tilts my chin up to his face. “I promised you I’d come back, didn’t I?”

I nod
. “Yeah, but there was a couple of days that it wasn’t looking too promising.”

He pulls me back down to his chest and brushes my hair with his hands
. “I know, baby. I know. You were one of the things flashing through my mind.”

“
Judd, we left things so up in the air when you left. I know that we both saw other people-.”

He puts his finger to my lips
. “Princess. That girl I was seeing over there, she was just someone to fill the void.”

“I know
. I tried to go out with a couple of guys, I just didn’t find them appealing. I had sex with one of them and it was nothing to write about. In fact, I faked it.”

He laughs
. “Oh, so are you saying that I’ve spoiled you?”

“Yes
. You’ve ruined it for all other men, I think.”

“Well, I’ll say I slept with that girl twice, but she’s nothing compared to you
, and like I said, I was trying to fill a void. The void left by you.”

I laugh
. “So let me get this straight. You only had sex with her twice and I’ve only had sex once in the past year almost. We are pathetic.”

“No, we just didn’t feel like we needed to have sex with other people
. We found perfection and nothing compared, so why even try?”

I laugh and look at my watch
. “Shit. It’s getting late, I should really go.”

“Why don’t you stay with me?”

“Do you think it’s a good idea?”
 
Please say yes. I want to be wrapped up in your arms all night.

“Yeah
. This is the most relaxed I’ve felt in months. I like sitting here with you, holding you.”

Thank God
. “Okay then.”  He stands up and shuts the doors to the den. Leading me over to the area they’ve set up for him as a bedroom, he reaches in a drawer and hands me a t-shirt.

He strips down to his boxers and climbs in the small double bed
. I put on the t-shirt, leaving only my panties on underneath it. I slide into the bed beside him and our legs automatically intertwine.

My eyes grow very heavy as he st
rokes my hair and before I know it, I’ve drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~

I’m startled awake by someone sweating and shaking. I pull away a little from Judd. He’s still asleep, and I know from some of my classes that it can be very dangerous to wake soldiers from their nightmares.

Then I hear his soft sobs
. I have to do something so I stroke his hair. “Shh Judd, baby, it’s me. You’re okay. You’re at home. Please baby, wake up.”  I keep stroking and suddenly he jumps up.

I reach over and turn on the bedside lamp
. He wipes his face quickly and starts to pace the room.

“Judd.”

He won’t look at me.

“Judd
. Look at me.”

He keeps pacing the room.

“Judd!”

Finally
, he looks at me. “Judd, it’s okay. You were having a bad dream.”

His side of the bed is saturated with sweat
and his body is coated. He still hasn’t said anything.

“Judd, why don’t you go shower off and I’ll find some clean sheets
, okay?”

He nods and walks toward the downstairs bathroom
. I walk to the linen closet and find some sheets. I lay him out a clean pair of boxers and I grab a clean shirt for myself. His sweat has part of this shirt soaked.

About thirty minutes later
, he returns to the room wrapped in a towel. He looks at me and seems defeated.

“I’m sorry if I scared you
, Princess.”

“No, it’s fine
. You didn’t scare me.”  Well, he did a little, but I’m not telling him that.

He sits down on the sofa with his head in his hands
. “I thought maybe I was ready to have someone stay with me, but I guess I’m not. Sometimes the dreams wake me up, sometimes they don’t.”

“Hey, this is okay
. You’ve been through a lot, you’re allowed to have some emotions.”

“I know, but I thought maybe since everything felt so right with you that I would sleep, but I guess it’s not meant to happen.”

I sit down by him. “Look, I changed your sheets, go try to rest. I’m gonna go on home.”

“No
. I don’t want you driving this late. Please go sleep in the bed, I’m gonna sit here for a little while and watch TV. I seem to sleep better sometimes while I’m watching it and sitting up.”

I nod
. I don’t want him to worry about anything else, he has enough on his plate. “Okay. Here, I grabbed you a pair of boxers.” I hand them to him.

He kisses my forehead
. “Thanks, Princess.”