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That and the pool got narrower when people he considered dating found out he was bisexual. Twenty years ago, he would have understood people’s reluctance to date a bisexual man considering the mentality toward men being attracted to men and would have begrudgingly accepted it ten years ago. Yet there was still an ugly stigma around being a bisexual man, even as acceptance of gay men was becoming the norm.

“And need I remind you of the handful of men and women who immediately ‘lost’ my number or whatever, when they found out I was into men and women?” David asked.

Sara wrinkled her nose. “At least you were spared having to find out they were an asshole further down the line, right?”

“Not the point.”

“The point is you can’t keep using excuses to avoid it.”

“You are aware I have a full schedule, right? If I can’t take time off for a vacation, what makes you think I have time for a relationship?”

“You can make time. You just don’t want to.”

David sighed. “What was the point of this call again?”

“To check on you and to go full worrying sister on you.”

“Thank you. Between you and my receptionist, I’m quite well covered.”

Sara’s eyes lit up. “Oh, Christian? He’s cute.”

David’s eyes darted to his message icon, which had blipped with an unread notification. He could see where his sister’s delight was leading, and he was not ashamed to take a moment to leave the conversation before she tried to find a new avenue to harass him.

“Yes, Christian. Speaking of, he’s just messaged me, and I’m going to assume it has something to do with my job. So, if you’ll excuse me, I really should get going,” David said.

Sara smirked. “Have you really got a message from him, or are you just trying to get off the phone with me?”

David snorted. “The amazing thing about my job, dear sister, is that I am more than capable of multitasking. So I can do my job and use it as an excuse to escape this conversation.”

Sara laughed, waving a hand at him. “Fine, you can run, but you can’t hide.”

“Love you,” David said, ending the call.

Shaking his head, he opened Christian's message to see if he was right about it being important. Reading the contents, he realized his receptionist had put off his next appointment because the system had told him David was on a private call. Shaking his head, David replied, telling him to send his next appointment in and to alert him next time rather than putting it off.

He opened the files for the scheduled meeting. Out of the dozens of problems that cropped up every day, David was desperate to bring the current team of specialized soldiers back to full strength. Team Maelstrom desperately needed help and a team member to fill their ranks. As much as David despised having to shove a new member onto the team, only a few months after the men had lost one of their own in battle, his hands were tied.

When his door opened, David took a moment to arrange everything on his screen for ease of use. He already had a good idea of what he wanted to say to the Sergeant, but it never hurt to have notes on hand.

“Sergeant Rider,” David said by way of greeting.

The soldier snapped a salute. “General Winter.”

David looked up, immediately noticing how exhausted Sergeant Aidan Rider looked. The man had been thrown from the desert and then to the other side of the country in the same week. It was amazing that he could even stand up. His expression was impossible to read, but David watched as the man’s eyes swept the room quickly before resting on David’s face again, watching him, observing.

David waved a hand toward the chairs. “At ease. Make yourself comfortable.”

Maybe when this was over, he could get Christian to order some food along with finding some damn pain relievers. The man knew the best places to find good food, and David had yet to be disappointed.

CHRISTIAN

Humming to himself, Christian stepped from the elevator onto the second floor. The room, which served as his workplace and appointment waiting room, lit up as the sensors caught his movement. It wasn’t an ornate room, angled more toward comfort than anything else.

The plush couches against one wall and the soft chairs against the other were suitable for those who had to cool their heels. He didn’t imagine the natural wood-colored floors or the soft blue walls, did much to calm the nerves of those left to wait. It was a fact of life at Fort Dale, however, that those without an appointment had to wait, and sometimes, even those who did still had to cool their heels.

The only furniture that could be called fancy was the huge desk at the back. Christian wasn’t sure if General Winter had ordered a desk made of genuine marble or if it had a convincing veneer over a wooden one, but the effect was immediate. In the first few weeks, as General Winter’s personal assistant, the monstrous desk seemed to be some foreboding obelisk placed at the entrance to a cursed cave. It took up most of the back wall. Nearly everyone who came to the office found the desk came up to about chest height. Christian had to use a tall chair tolook over it, which was saying something since he wasn’t exactly short.

He rounded the desk and set his travel mug of coffee down. Being just past six am, the office was quiet. General Winter wouldn’t be in for another hour, which gave him plenty of time to do his prep work. The general had made several changes over the past few years to the fort's computer system. While the systems worked wonders to simplify almost everyone’s job, Christian still preferred the personal touch.