Because it had been cold, windy, and rainy throughout the day, they'd stayed indoors, but Lora didn't seem to mind the seclusion. She'd finished reading the book she'd started yesterday, then took a nap, and when she woke up feeling rested and refreshed, she'd challenged him to a game of Scrabble she'd found in the hall closet.
He learned that Lora was very competitive and loved a good challenge. They laughed and teased one another over some of the ridiculous words they each spelled, and she argued passionately when she believed he'd made up a word just to use up his tiles and gain points. Usually, she was right.
It was so easy to be with Lora. So comfortable and enjoyable on so many levels. And even though the awareness had simmered between them all afternoon, she didn't pursue it, didn't try and seduce him again. It was as if she'd known that last night would be the final time that they would make love, and accepted, even respected, that knowledge.
Another thick strand dropped onto his thigh, and he grimaced, wondering if he was going to have any hair left by the time she was done. "I feel like I'm back in boot camp getting my first military cut."
Her fingers combed through the top of his hair, then snipped off another portion. "Your hair was this long when you joined the Marines?"
"Yeah, pretty much." She came around to stand in front of him, between his spread legs, to finish trimming the sides, and it was all he could do not to groan at the sight of her breasts beneath her long-sleeved thermal top, just inches away from his face. "It's just one of those things I don't hassle with until I absolutely have to."
"You were definitely overdue for a haircut," she said with a smile in her voice. "And I promise not to cut it too short so you don't feel like a jarhead again, but it already looks and feels much better."
He grinned at the use of the military term. "Did you learn that lingo from Zach?"
She ruffled her fingers through his hair and sent more snipped strands falling all around him before cutting the longer length off the back. "Yeah. Right after he joined the Marines, when he was calling me on a regular basis before he shipped off to Iraq, he'd always complain about the haircut the barbers gave him, and how he looked like a jarhead."
"Yeah, that's about right," Joel said with a chuckle. "It's far from a stylish haircut, but I have to tell you, when it's one hundred and twenty plus degrees in Iraq during the summer, the less hair you have on your head, the better."
She was quiet for a few moments as she continued to cut and trim, then finally she spoke. "Joel, there's something I've been wanting to ask you."
"Okay." Her comment made him both curious and wary, because he had no idea what was currently going through that mind of hers.
She came around to stand in front of him again and met his gaze, the scissors no longer active. "The night I was attacked behind the bar, after Zach called and you told me about what he'd done with the insurance policy and how he'd asked you to watch over me, you said something about owing Zach for saving your life in Iraq. What did you mean by that?"
He easily recalled that conversation, and he also remembered how he'd brushed off her question in favor of more important issues. Then there had been the time at the spa when she'd been giving him a massage and had asked about the scar on his leg, and he'd managed to evade the discussion there, too, and Zach's involvement in that harrowing mission.
"Why does it matter?" he asked gruffly.
"I guess I'm trying to understand my brother a little better," she said with a small shrug of her shoulder. Obviously done cutting his hair, she set the scissors on the table, then went to the sink to wash her hands. "I mean, if he's capable of saving someone's life, there has to be some good in him, right?"
Ah, hell. As much as he wanted to wring Zach's neck for what he'd done to his own sister, and how he was wasting his own life with booze and gambling, Joel could see that Lora was desperate to believe something positive about her brother. To know that, despite putting her life in jeopardy for his addictions, Zach wasn't as damaged and corrupt as he seemed.
As Joel stared into her soft green eyes, he decided that it was time to tell her about what had happened, to let her know just what kind of man her brother had been, and still had the potential to be. Joel firmly believed that with the right kind of help for his addictions, and with the support of his sister and friends, Zach had the ability to recover and be a man with integrity, honor, and a sense of right and wrong.
"He was a real good man, Lora," he said, his voice ringing with sincerity and truth. "And he was someone I was damn glad to have watching my back during our missions." Especially the one that nearly cost Joel his life.
"Tell me about it," she beckoned once again. She leaned against the counter behind her and crossed her arms over her chest. "Please?"
He exhaled a deep breath. Joel hated taking that particular trip down memory lane, but for Lora, he knew he'd do it.
With effort, he mentally put himself back into the situation and tried to make the story as succinct as possible.
"Our unit was on its way to conduct a search operation of a known terrorist ring in east Baghdad, when a young boy came running up to our Humvee, which is never a good sign. Three of us jumped off the vehicle, including Zach, to assess the situation and make sure the boy wasn't part of some suicide attack, and that's when one of the Humvees in our convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, followed by an immediate insurgent attack."
He combed his fingers through his now-short hair, which felt odd after months of dealing with the unruly, longer strands. "I was hit by a piece of shrapnel in my right thigh, and just as the guys in our unit started taking cover where they could, another blast went off nearby, which knocked me on my ass."
He watched as Lora pressed her fingers to her lips, her eyes wide with horror as she listened to his grim tale. "I ended up in the middle of the road, without any protection, and gunfire going off all around me from both sides," he went on as his hand absently rubbed at the scar on his thigh. "I tried to get up, but my right leg kept giving out on me, and just when I thought I was as good as dead, your brother ran back out into the open fire while the other guys covered him the best they could. He grabbed me beneath my arms and literally dragged me back behind one of the Humvees, where it was relatively safe."
"God, Joel," she said, her voice hoarse. "I had no idea."
Most American civilians never knew just how bad things could get in Iraq, that every day for someone in the military could be their last. Joel never took for granted just how lucky he'd been to get out of that attack alive.
"It could have been much worse," he said, eternally grateful that his injury hadn't been life threatening. "I could have died like a few other of our men did that day, and I have Zach to thank for saving me."
There was no doubt in Joel's mind that if it hadn't been for Zach's bravery and spontaneous rescue, he would have ended up dead, too. But it was that tight band-of-brothers mentality that always had men risking their own lives to save others. Like one of their guys who'd thrown himself on top of a grenade during another mission in order to save the entire group. That had been just one of the many devastating acts of courage that Joel and Zach and his other comrades had witnessed.
"That's the kind of shit we dealt with, Lora, every single day," he continued. "And it takes men who are loyal and you trust implicitly to watch your back and do the unthinkable if necessary. And that's exactly the kind of marine and man that Zach was."
"Then what happened to him, Joel?" Lora's gaze was troubled and her voice trembled when she spoke. "What made that loyal, trustworthy man turn on his own sister?"
Her emotional turmoil was nearly tangible, and it twisted in Joel's gut like a knife. In no way did Joel absolve Zach of the mistakes he'd made over the past few years with his life and his sister's, but he tried to make Lora understand things from a military perspective.