target with deadly force. “I’m a great guy, huh?”
She lifted her foot to his shoulder and shoved. “Don’t get your head all swelled up.”
“Nah, that’s the guy next door.” He jerked his thumb toward the wall.
“Ugh.” She tossed the rest of her pizza back on her plate. “Could’ve done without that image.”
He chuckled and there was a comfortable silence while he finished his slice and she hopped off the desk and grabbed a soda from his roommate’s minifridge. “Hey, Hughes?”
“Yeah?” She popped the top off the can.
“How come you’re not out having a good time tonight?”
“A good time? You mean, like, stand around waiting to see if there’s a guy desperate enough by closing time to ask me back to his place so he can get his rocks off, and if I’m lucky he might be good enough to make sure I get my rocks off, too? That kind of good time?”
“Geez, when you put it that way…” He grabbed the soda from her hand and took a swig while he narrowed his gaze on her. “You’d be kind of cute if you’d fix yourself up a little.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Gee, thanks.”
“I’m serious. Fix your hair, wear something nice and put on some makeup.”
Alex bristled. “Why would I ever want to do that? So I can get groped by hormonal cretins?” She was comfortable in her old T-shirts and jeans. Her hair was cut so short there wasn’t much she could do with it, even if she wanted to. The backward baseball cap hid it most of the time anyway. “I have to work twice as hard to get respect around here as it is. And besides, did it ever occur to you I don’t want or need a man in my life? My mother slaves away cooking and cleaning for my dad and brothers 365 and you think they appreciate or respect her? Hell, no. A husband and kids is nothing but an anchor weighing down a woman, keeping her from becoming who she was meant to be.”
McCabe held his palms up in surrender. “Okay, okay. I get it.”
Alex inhaled a calming breath. Wow, that diatribe had been building inside her a long time. And poor McCabe didn’t deserve all her built-up resentment. She let out her breath, feeling the anger leave with it. “Sorry for the rant.”
“Forget it.” He waved a hand. “So…you don’t ever want to get married and have kids?”
She shrugged and took a sip of her drink. “Married maybe. When I’m old. Not kids. How could I be a fighter pilot and be pregnant? Or go into combat?” She shook her head.
His lower lip pushed out as he nodded. “Gotta admit, never thought of that.”
Oh, those lips. Luanne, you lucky girl.
“What about you?” she asked. “I guess you and what’s-her-name want a bunch of rug rats?”
He leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head, “I’d like four. She says two and then we’ll see. I just want my kids to have everything I didn’t have growing up.”
“Four? Geez. I’ve got three brothers. You know how much laundry that’ll take?”
He shrugged. “I can help with that when I’m home.” He spread his hands out to his sides. “Besides, the world deserves to have these genes passed on.”
Alex couldn’t agree more. But she rolled her eyes. “You’re so full of it.”
He reached up and punched her arm. “That’s what you love about me, though, right?” He grinned.
Love about him? What was not to love? Her heart hurt, but she made herself smile. “Damn straight.”
“So, you gonna help me learn all these dates or what?” He grabbed another slice of pizza.
“Absolutely, Memphis. I got your back.”
United States Air Force Academy Chapel, July 2003
IF THERE WAS a place in the ceremony where the minister asked the congregation if anyone knew of any reason why the bride and groom shouldn’t get married, Alex decided she’d raise her hand.
Okay, so she probably wouldn’t.
But she wanted to.
Don’t do it, Mitch! She wanted to yell at him as she helped him straighten his tie. She finished and he turned to look in the mirror.
“Well, what do you think?” he asked, his gaze finding hers in the reflection.
He looked more handsome than a man had a right to in his dress uniform. She shrugged. “You clean up good.” She made herself smile. “Hey, McCabe?”
“Yeah?” He grabbed his black leather belt and scabbard and buckled it around his waist.
“You know, there’s no shame in changing your mind. Better now than after, right?”
He stopped fiddling with the buckle and gaped at her. “You’ve never liked Luanne.”
“I don’t even know Luanne.” Alex swallowed, but soldiered on. “It’s just so permanent. And you’re both so young.”
“Hughes. When you’re in love, you just know when it’s right. And this is right.” He took her by the shoulders. “Luanne and I want the same things. Kids, a home, family.”
Right. All those things she’d rashly told him she didn’t want years ago.
But geez, Mitch was both blind and deaf when it came to Luanne. Alex doubted the girl had thought about much past the hearts and flowers and romance. She’d insisted on a huge wedding with all the bells and whistles. The cake, the flowers, the dress. And of course her parents provided it all, except the traditional rehearsal dinner last night. Which Mitch couldn’t really afford. But he’d paid for her entire family, even distant relatives, to dine at the exclusive Penrose Room at the Broadmoor. Mitch was so hopelessly in love he wanted Luanne to have everything she wanted.
And that was what bothered Alex the most. This girl was a year younger than Mitch—only twenty-one, and she’d obviously, in Alex’s admittedly biased opinion, been spoiled. Whatever she wanted, she got. Or else.
Mitch let go of her shoulders and picked up his saber. “Hughes, I think I know what’s really going on here.”
Alex drew in a deep breath. “You do?”
Did he know? She thought she’d hidden her feelings so well. All through the Academy, she’d tried to convince herself it was just infatuation. Besides, she wanted a career and her independence.
Mitch nodded. “You’re afraid this is going to change our friendship. But it won’t. Luanne understands we’re just buddies.”
Friendship. She let out her breath. Right.
He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “And she knows guys need a night every once in a while to go out with their buddies for a beer and a
