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ALLISON

I t takes Allison longer than usual to get through security and baggage check due to all the people hurrying to catch their early morning flights. A long line has already formed at her gate. She puts her phone in airplane mode, continuing to ignore the messages she hasn’t read yet. A man pushes against her back rudely when she allows a small gap to form between her and the woman in front of her. Allison frowns over her shoulder at the man, but he just returns the scowl. She resists rolling her eyes, barely.

Boarding the plane, Allison finds her seat without any difficulty, but struggles to get her bag into the overhead compartment. At last, she gets it inside but pinches her finger when shutting the door. Grumbling a curse, she flops into her seat. The worry that’s been riding her since she left her apartment hasn’t gone away. She has double checked her things. She has her phone, charger, wallet, and she’d had her ticket information with her, but she knows she’s forgotten something important.

Thump! Allison’s seat jolts forward as something hits the back of her seat hard. Thump! Thump! She looks over her shoulder, sagging in defeat when she sees the reason her seat is bucking like an untamed bronco. A rowdy, four-year-old boy is entertaining himself by kicking the back of her seat. Thump!

“Stop that!” the woman seated next to the boy exclaims. “I’m so sorry,” she says to Allison. “He doesn’t like flying and gets restless.” Allison nods, feigning a smile she doesn’t feel, and turns to face forward. It’s going to be a long flight. So much for catching a nap.

Hours of being kicked in the back later, her plane lands at BNA, the international airport in Nashville, Tennessee. Allison, feeling worse than ever, grabs her carry-on bag from the overhead bin and gets in line to leave the plane. Once inside the airport, she heads to baggage claim for her suitcase where a nice long line has already formed.

Finally, she spies her suitcase. “Excuse me,” she murmurs, elbowing her way forward. Grabbing her bag, Allison heads to the exit, looking for a car rental station. The nagging sensation continues to plague her, but for the life of her, she can’t remember what she’s forgotten. She shoves it away, again, to focus on renting a car.

Exiting the building, Allison pauses to check her phone app for directions to the car rental. She makes an effort to keep an eye on things happening around her. She doesn’t want to end up like those in the story she’s working on. Looking up, her eyes land on a devilishly handsome man holding a sign with her name on it. WTF? Who is this guy? How does he know my name? Are there two Allison Simpsons?

Worm

Russell a.k.a. ‘Worm’ Chapman navigates his way through the heavy traffic surrounding Nashville, Tennessee’s international airport. He is driving on autopilot, his mind on his mom and sisters instead of his current assignment. He snorts at the thought. This isn’t really an assignment, but he’s treating it like one.

In reality, it’s a request from a good friend. A request he couldn’t deny. Worm and Curtis Wallace have been teammates for several years. Both are members of an elite special forces team known as Marine Raiders. They have been through a lot over the years, both at home and abroad on deployments. Worm considers every man on his team to be more than a colleague or friend. They are brothers in all ways but blood relation.

Worm checks his watch. Allison’s flight should have landed by now. He is waiting just outside baggage claim where she should be exiting. Emma, Wallace’s soon-to-be-bride, had texted him Allison’s flight information. She’d also said Allison hasn’t read or replied to Emma’s text about him picking her up from the airport.

Putting his borrowed SUV in park, he grabs the sign Emma had insisted he bring with him from the passenger seat and exits the vehicle. He moves to where others are waiting for passengers to emerge. He waits as patiently as possible for his charge to emerge, but patience isn’t his strong suit lately.

Worm’s mind wanders to his mom while he waits. Is she able to work today? He’d called her early this morning before he’d left the resort. He hadn’t wanted to wake her if she’d been sleeping, but she needed to be up, getting ready for her day. Fuck! He hates that he has to treat her like she is the child and not the parent, but since his father had died unexpectedly last year, their roles have reversed.

Before, she had called or texted him daily, asking if he needed anything or just to chat about the family and ask him about his teammates. Now, she never calls or texts unless he does first. Even when she replies to him, it’s like pulling teeth to get answers out of her. He sighs with frustration. It’s been a year since his dad had died in a fatal collision early one foggy morning. There had been a multi-car pile-up on the interstate, taking not only his father’s life but four other unfortunate souls as well.

Worm had called Leigh, his oldest sister, a couple days ago before he’d left for this trip. He’d been prepared to head home for the week and only show up for the wedding if his family had needed him, but Leigh had assured him everything was going well—much better than it had been for a while.

He is hopeful his mom is getting herself together, but he will believe it when he sees it. He can’t keep from worrying. Worm had been very concerned in the days and weeks after his dad’s funeral. At first, she’d been in denial, but once she’d accepted dad was gone, he had feared she would do something to hurt herself. More than once she’d made the comment she wanted to join his dad.

She’d been a zombie for months, just going through the motions, on the days she’d actually get up. Most of the time, though, she’d laid in her bed, lost in her grief. Worm had sat and held her while she cried for hours. Seeing his mom’s devastation at losing his dad had taken a toll on him. He’d felt so helpless. It had been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do, which is saying a lot considering his job on the team. He never wanted to feel that way.

Eventually, he’d gotten his mom in to see a therapist, and she’d made small improvements to the point it had been safe for him to return to active duty. He hadn’t been sure he could continue on the team if things had kept going like they had been. He has used every day of his leave time since his father’s passing to take care of them, but it hasn’t felt like he is doing enough.

Leigh has taken on much of the burden of keeping the family together in his absence, which doesn’t seem fair to him. She might be eighteen, but she’s just a kid. She should be worrying about her prom dress, not picking up Amber from basketball practice and Sadie from band rehearsal while worrying about cooking dinner for everyone.

A woman squeals in delight next to him, startling him. He moves into a defensive stance, before noticing the woman rushing forward to embrace an older couple who have just exited the airport. A breath escapes him, and he relaxes his tense muscles only to have them tighten up again when he spies the woman he’s supposed to be picking up.

Despite looking a bit rumpled from her long flight, Allison Simpson is even more beautiful in person. His heart races at the sight of her. The picture Emma had texted him didn’t do her justice. Her brown hair is in a messy bun, which is drooping to one side showing off the column of her neck. His lips twitch wondering if her skin is as delectable as it looks.

Her large breasts bounce with each step drawing Worm’s eyes to her chest. The woman is definitely built in the tits department. He’s always been a boob man. His eyes travel over the length of her. She isn’t very tall, but would likely be the perfect height to fit under his chin perfectly. His brow creases. Where did that thought come from?

In an attempt to push unwanted thoughts from his mind, he continues to assess her. She walks with purpose, her head up, taking in her surroundings. She pauses, looking at her phone briefly before looking side to side and behind before glancing back down at her device. He’s glad she has situational awareness, but it also causes him concern. Has something happened that caused her to be so alert?

He thinks back to his conversation with Emma and Wallace about Allison, but nothing comes to mind. In his experience most women don’t pay attention to their surroundings which makes them vulnerable to assault. He’s worked hard to teach situational awareness to his little sisters, even though they roll their eyes and argue with him about it.

Suddenly remembering the sign in his hand, he lifts it to catch Allison’s attention. She is looking up again. Her eyes move over him, then pop back. Her eyes narrow, then widen with shock. Her hips sway as she fast walks closer to him, dragging a large, hot pink suitcase behind her.