Once and For All: An American Valor Novel by Cheryl Etchison Page A

and eggs and bacon and thought she’d love nothing more than a slice of cold pizza. It was the little freedoms like that she missed. Not that her mother would have stopped her from eating what she wanted, but in the end the guilt she would’ve endured wasn’t worth the price of admission.
    Bree shuffled across the cold ceramic tile floor to the refrigerator only to learn Danny wasn’t kidding when he said there wasn’t anything in the place to eat. She would’ve sworn there was some Kung Pao left over, but no containers were to be found now. That left her with Red Bull, Tabasco, a bottle of yellow mustard, and jar of bread-and-butter pickles. Sliced.
    Her gaze drifted to the pink pastry box.
    There’s always cake.
    Bree closed the refrigerator door and opened the freezer. Even less in there. In the cabinets she found coffee, boxes of protein bars, steel-cut oats, and an open bag of sunflower seeds. Um, no.
    Her stomach grumbled. It knew there was cake in the immediate vicinity and would not be denied.
    Bree took the pink box from the refrigerator and a plastic fork from the drawer. The first bite was heaven, just as she remembered. The second, even better. The third bite to reaffirm her earlier evaluation was correct. The fourth because, “Damn, that’s good.” And the pink fondant rose met its fate for simply being in the way of bite five.
    Oh, hell.
    She’d made a mess of the pretty cake. If Danny got a look at it he’d know in an instant she’d been in it. Time for a new strategy. Just a few more bites to even it out.
    Without warning the front door opened wide and in walked Danny, hot and sweaty and absolutely breathtaking. The gray T-shirt he wore stretched tautly across his shoulders and chest, the fabric darkened with sweat and clinging to his form like a second skin.
    He sure didn’t look like this ten years ago.
    She shoved the largest chunk of Italian Créme yet past her lips, if only to keep herself from drooling.
    “Good morning,” he said with a smile, wide and bright. “And here I was worried about there not being anything to eat and hurried back to take you out for breakfast. We can do that if you’re still hungry.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him, carefully licking the crumbs from her lips after she finished off her mouthful of cake. “That was just a snack,” she muttered, closing the pastry box.
    “Okay, then.” Danny chuckled. “Just give me a few minutes to hop in the shower and we’ll go.”
    A FTER A LEISURELY breakfast, Danny gave Bree the nickel tour of Savannah, beginning with Hunter Army Airfield where he and Michael were stationed. From there they headed downtown, past the historic squares and brick-paved streets until they reached the river. As the tourists began to emerge from their hotels and the traffic picked up, he changed gears and headed for the shopping center near home.
    They weren’t in any rush and the store was empty for the most part, so he and Bree took their time shopping, going up and down each aisle. Until they turned into one aisle where it appeared two rowdy boys were arguing over boxes of cereal.
    Oh, shit. He recognized those two kids.
    “Anything you want down this aisle?” he asked.
    Bree wrinkled up her nose. “Not a big fan of cereal.”
    Worked for him. He made a U-turn with the cart to go back the way they came when suddenly another cart was blocking their exit. And his best friend was pushing it.
    Fuck.
    So much for telling people in his own time.
    “And here I was wondering if you were back from your dad’s yet.” The smug look on Ben’s face was as if he’d just caught Danny with his hand in the cookie jar.
    “Got back just last night.”
    “Have a good trip?”
    Asshole. He was looking at Bree like she was a late-night hookup that ran over until morning. No point in beating around the bush; he only hoped Bree was ready for this. Feeling more than a little protective, he took a step closer toward her, taking her left hand in his. Ben