Rescue Me: A Bad Boy Military Romance by Vesper Vaughn

You Dance” bleating out. Michael blocks me with his body and holds out his hand to Ella.
    She doesn’t look impressed, but she sees me over his shoulder and looks giddy at the opportunity to piss me off. She accepts his offer to dance and I’m left alone as people pair up around me. Then I see one of the church ladies who always bring me a casserole looking wistfully across the dance floor. I need a partner if I’m going to stay on the dance floor and hope to get in on the next song with Ella.
    “May I have this dance?” I ask Michelle, whose lightly wrinkled face lights up.
    “Of course, Luke!” she says, and I lead her out on the dance floor, taking her pudgy, ring-covered fingers into my hand. I maneuver her through the people to get as close as I can to Ella and Michael. Ella’s laughing at something he just said and I feel my stomach turn over.
    “You get a chance to dance with Ella yet?” Michelle asks me, staring where I am.
    “Not yet. I was a little late,” I say.
    “She was looking for you earlier tonight,” she says with grin. “Kept asking when you were going to get here. I wouldn’t give up hope just yet.”
    I spin her around with a smile. “When have you known me to give up on anything?”
    Michelle laughs. “I don’t know. That old house just might be the end of you. Plenty of people before you have tried to restore it and given up.”
    I shake my head. “Nah. It’s met its match in me. You just wait until it’s all done. I’ll host the biggest party this town’s ever seen.”
    Michelle laughs and we spend the rest of the song discussing my plans for my mansion. The music ends and Michelle pushes me away. “You go get your girl, son.”
    I run over to Ella and swoop her into my arms before she has a chance to protest. It’s another slow song, thank fuck. “Finally,” I say to her, smiling.
    She grimaces at me, but there’s fire behind her eyes. I can see it. “You were late,” she says. “I was starting to think you weren’t coming.”
    I pull her closer to me and she doesn’t protest. I like the way her warm body feels against mine. “A promise is a promise,” I say to her.
    “Like you promised me you wouldn’t join the military?”
    I bite my cheek. I was hoping to avoid this topic for as long as possible. “That was a long time ago, Ella.” But I see pain in her eyes and I know I’ve put it there. The thought of that makes me want to go find Michael and use him as a cathartic punching bag. There’s nothing left for me to do but change the subject. “How’d the paint look tonight? Did it dry yet?”
    Ella sighs and I’m glad we can avoid the painful shit for another few minutes at least. I know I can’t put it off forever, but I’m going to damn well try. “It’s still not dry. It’s all this humidity.”
    “It’ll happen. Just give it another day or two. You’ve gotta be patient.”
    She laughs. “Since when have I been patient?”
    “You got me there.” She’s relaxing in my arms and it feels like heaven to me. “You have an opening date yet?”
    “Saturday my supplies come. So I’m opening up shop on Monday,” she says. “The phone company comes tomorrow to hook everything up. I’m guessing I’ll have a steady influx of people right away.” She looks around at everyone. “Tanya’s been taking down a waiting list. It’s like this town’s been waiting for me to come back.”
    “The town’s not the only thing that’s been waiting for you,” I whisper to her.
    She turns bright red and opens her mouth with a smile. “I was hoping-“
    That’s when the blaring sirens go off around us, and a few people scream. Chills run down my body, and Ella freezes. The DJ cuts the music. “Everyone in the basement, nice and slow and orderly,” he says, but his voice is shaking.
    It’s tornado season in Central Texas.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
    ELLA
    I’m frozen in my tracks and it’s like the world has slowed down around me. I’m vaguely aware that my