Soft Place to Fall (Navy Book 4)

Chapter 20

Carmen led the way to the elevator in Davis's apartment. The first impression of his building was that of walking into a massive warehouse, and that wasn't far off from the truth. The building's original use was a textile factory, but after it had gone out of business a developer had purchased the building and turned it into high end apartments. Davis had one of two apartments on the top floor.

When the elevator stopped and opened directly into the apartment, Kitty and Amber couldn't hold back their little gasps of surprise. It was a massive space with a wall of windows and plenty of skylights. In the center sat a living room like space and to the left of it was a kitchen with a dining table separating the spaces, to the right was a wall of dressing tables that separated an office and bedroom space from the living area. It had taken Carmen several visits before she had learned about the rooftop garden.

Laura immediately noted their arrival and walked towards them, her frosty expression firmly in place as she greeted the new arrivals. "Carmen, Will, I hope you don't mind, but when you mentioned bringing additional guests Davis got it in his head to make it a party."

Carmen glanced around the room and noted Kelly with a handsome young man and more of Davis's family. His brother Rainer and his wife Alice, Mason and Cassie, and his sister Lizzy and her husband Brian Alexander rounded out the party.

Nodding, Carmen turned to introduce Will's sister and friend, who only got a passing nod from Laura before she moved away from them and back towards the kitchen.

"Carmen," Rainer greeted as he approached, placing a kiss on her cheek as he reached her.

"Rainer," she greeted in return. "This is Will Pruitt, his sister Kitty, and her friend Amber." She turned to the others in her party. "This is Rainer Stevens."

Rainer nodded to the girls and held out his hand to Will. "Rounder, how long has it been? Five six years?"

"At least, it's good to see you again Rainer." Will shook his hand, his smile looked sincere enough, but it seemed a bit strained to Carmen.

The girl's eye kept sneaking over to Mason, and Carmen excused herself from the men to introduce the girls to Mason and Cassie. She hated to leave, knowing that she might miss something important, and she was curious to know how Will knew Rainer. She knew that Davis had spent time with Josh and Kellan, had he spent time with Will as well, and why had he called him Rounder?

After she introduced the girls, she left them staring at Mason in an awestruck wonder as she made her way to the open hatch in the back corner of the apartment that led to the rooftop garden. She still had to get her head around the conversation that had happened in the car. She hadn't given herself time to absorb the fact that Will was still a SEAL or that he had been held prisoner.

Was that how he had gotten those scars on his back? Her heart stopped at the fact, and she wished she could take that pain from him, help him somehow. She had to admit to herself that it had taken her less than a week, less than a moment, to fall in love with Will Pruitt. Maybe by admitting it she would be able to deal with it.

She had thought herself in love before but it had never felt like this. In the past, her relationships had always been happy and welcome, her relationship with Will was anything but that. She wanted to kiss him and hit him simultaneously. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before. She had also never been jealous in the past, and she was insanely jealous of anyone Will looked at or touched.

Carmen jumped as she felt someone brush up behind her, by her body's reaction she knew it was Will, and she reached up to play with her necklace around her neck to keep from reaching for him.

"Thank you," he said as he placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"What for?" She closed her eyes and had to clear her throat before she could speak.

"For being so nice to Kitty, for trying to make her feel better in the car, and for asking Laura to invite Mason."

"I don't know what you're talking about.," she insisted weakly. She may have mentioned to Laura, half-heartedly, that Will's sister was impressed that Will had met Mason but that was all.

"Why do you try so hard to hide your soft side from everyone?" He placed his hands on her arms and rubbed them, she couldn't help but lean back into him.

"Why did Rainer call you Rounder?" she asked, in an attempt to change the subject.

"For every question I answer, you have to answer one too." He spun her around to look at him. Carmen's eyes met his, debating how badly she wanted to have this conversation. She knew it would start with easy questions and escalate to harder ones, and there were some she had no interest in answering.

He waited patiently for her to make her decision and when she nodded, he returned the nod as if to convince himself that agreeing to have the conversation was a good idea.

"My nick name on the teams is Rounder."

"Why?" she asked, unable to hide her confusion.

"Because I'm known for my ability to make it around to all of the bars in an area in one night."

"Picking up women no doubt," she huffed.

"Is that another question?"

She shook her head taking a deep breath waiting for him to ask his questions.

"Why do you hide your softer side?" he asked again.

Carmen could answer that one, it was fairly easy. "I have been taken advantage of too many times to let myself be a target."

"Why were you so nice to my sister and why did you reveal so much of yourself to her? That's not like you either."

This was a harder question. "I like your sister..."

"And," he encouraged.

She bit her lip looking away. If she answered the next question it would reveal too much. She had done it for him. To take the attention off of him and to put it on herself. "I think we're even and that's a good place to stop." She suggested as she stepped away.

Carmen could feel the frustration as it rolled off of him. "You don't give anything away, do you?"

"I have to take care of myself. I learned a long time ago that no one was going to do it for me. The less people know, the less they can use against me in the end." She shrugged, knowing it sounded sad, but her life was sad.

He reached for her, pulling her close, looking searchingly into her eyes as if trying to gauge how serious she was. "You lived on the streets?" his voice broke a little in obvious concern, but this was another question that she didn't want to answer.

"You were held prisoner?" she asked.

She watched his jaw grow hard as he looked down at her. She could tell he was having some kind of inner struggle and she thought he was on the verge of admitting something.

"Will, Carmen," They heard from behind them and they both turned around to see Kitty with a grin on her face as she took their photo. It had to look like an intimate moment, it was an intimate moment, but it was broken as Kitty danced towards them.

"Thank you so much. This is so awesome, no one is going to believe me when I go home,"she squealed as she gave Will a kiss and Carmen a quick hug before disappearing back down the stairs.

"I guess your brothers will have the proof that they need to believe you," Carmen said as she stepped away from him.

He didn't say anything as a sad smile touched his lips. "They're not the only ones," he said cryptically before he motioned for her to proceed him back into the apartment.

Carmen ignored the comment.