Lindsay McKenna - Wolf Haven

“Eat what you can,” Gray urged her gently. “In time, your PTSD symptoms will start to lessen, and you’ll be a little more hungry.” He saw the stressed look on her face as she stared at all the food on her plate.

“It hasn’t been that long,” Sky admitted, picking up the fork and knife, cutting into the juicy chicken breast. “I have good days and bad days.”

“That’s to be expected. You’re in the primary healing phase right now.” Gray wanted to change topics, give Sky something to look forward to. “We’re going to be riding a half a day, starting tomorrow morning,” he said. “Iris wants me to take you around the ranch and start getting you acquainted with the property.”

Maybe that would urge Sky to eat. When her eyes widened, he felt himself go hot with longing. Much to his chagrin, he felt himself growing hard. What a helluva situation. Gray forced control over himself. His desire for her wasn’t smart under the circumstances, yet this was the first time since losing Julia that he was actually interested in another woman sexually. Hell, this was going to be tougher than he’d anticipated being around Sky. After her ordeal, she wouldn’t be thinking about him in that way. Not at all.

“Seriously? Horseback riding?” Her heart opened with excitement.

“Yep,” Gray said, noticing she was beginning to eat. “You need to get the layout of the ranch. Then we’ll be back by lunch, and I’ll give you the grand tour of the wildlife center I run.”

“This sounds like a dream,” Sky said softly.

You’re a dream. But Gray kept the comment to himself, forcing himself to pay attention to his dinner and not Sky. Her cheeks had become infused with a pink color. Her eyes were such dark blue pools. Gray felt as if he could drown in them. And in her. His body was going crazy, and he wasn’t thinking clearly around Sky. Why?

“I think you’ve got the best job in the world,” Sky said. “You work with animals.”

He smiled a little, hearing the breathy quality of her voice. “My mother is a world expert of wolves. She’s got a degree in wildlife biology. I was raised around wolves and all kinds of other North American animals while growing up. She’s the one who suggested I try out for the job a year ago. I was lucky enough to get it.”

“What a charmed childhood,” she sighed.

“I was very lucky,” Gray agreed. He watched her begin to relax. The tension disappeared from the skin across her broad cheekbones, her Native American heritage on display. He found himself like a thief, wanting to absorb her into him. Sky’s blue eyes were slightly tilted, giving her an exotic or mysterious look. “What about you, Sky? Tell me about your parents.”

“My mother stays at home. She has a small cottage business and creates one-of-a-kind gorgeous elk-and deerskin bags. She beads them.” Sky turned pensive. “She taught me to bead when I was about ten years old. She makes incredibly intricate flower designs.”

“And your father?” Gray saw her enthusiasm wane a little.

“My father was in the Marine Corps for four years. When he got out, he went to cooking school for four years and became a chef. Then he came back here to Wyoming and met my mom.”

“I’ll bet he was proud of your Navy service.”

Shrugging, Sky picked at her salad. “I guess.”

“Was he unhappy you didn’t join the Marine Corps instead?” There was a lot of challenge and testing between the Navy and the Corps.

“No, not really.”

Gray frowned. “You look sad, Sky.”

“I must be really easy to read.” She cut him a glance. When his mouth curved faintly, all she could think about in that moment was gently touching that full lower lip of his and exploring it with her index finger. Gray had a beautiful mouth. And her instinct told her he would be a good kisser.

“SEAL intuition at work,” Gray teased, wanting to keep her relaxed and open. “Was I wrong?”

Shaking her head, Sky muttered, “No.”

“I imagine your parents were beside themselves when they found out you’d been captured.” He saw her brows dip, her fork suspended in midair for a moment.

“Yes, I found out later after they transferred me back stateside, and I could talk to them via phone, that they had been sick with worry.”

“Were they able to come out and visit you while you were recovering in the hospital?” Gray had been wounded before and knew how boring and lonely it was to be in a hospital half a globe away from his family.

“I—I didn’t encourage them to come and see me at Balboa Naval Hospital.” She gave a small shrug. “I was an emotional basket case, Gray. I just wasn’t myself... I felt so out of control.”

Sky was closing up on him. Though he wanted to reach out and touch her, give her some care, Gray forced his hands to remain right where they were. Time to switch topics. “The first time I got wounded,” Gray confided quietly, “I woke up and found myself at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.”

“Gunshot wound?” Sky winced inwardly when he nodded. Gray seemed so strong and vital, as if nothing could harm him. Yet as she saw the darker brown in his eyes, she began to understand that when he was emotionally upset about something, that color was more prominent.

“Yeah.” Gray finished off his chicken breast and the rest of the rice. Pushing the plate aside, he said, “I was with a good team. Kell Ballard was the lead petty officer. We were going in to rescue an American doctor who’d gotten kidnapped by the Taliban. It was a night mission, and I took a bullet to the left arm during the op. Kell saved my life. I was bleeding like a stuck hog from a torn artery, and he got a tourniquet around my arm. I don’t remember much after that, passing out.”

Taking in a slow, ragged breath, Sky understood those types of wounds. “I saw my fair share of them at Bagram.” She lifted her gaze and held his turbulent-looking eyes. “Do you have any residual issues from the wound?”

“No, not enough to get me medically discharged from the Navy,” he admitted.

“Did you like being a SEAL?”

“I liked being a shooter, and I was good at what I did.” He didn’t want to go any further with his life as a SEAL. Gray patted his thigh. “Later, I took another bullet. It took out fifty percent of my femur in the area where it struck. Even though I healed up, my leg was never going to be as strong as before and take the weight and beating it could before. My days with the SEALs were over at that point.”

“I’m so sorry,” Sky whispered, seeing the sadness in his eyes. “SEALs are special. They’re a tight group of men. I’m sure your platoon were like brothers to you.”

“They still are,” Gray said, always feeling the loss. “We stay in touch with one another to this day.”

Sky began to eat again. “So, you’ve been out for just a year? After being discharged, you got the job here?”

It was his turn to feel under a microscope. Gray clasped his hands on the table. “I got out three years ago.” Hoping to avoid more questions, he added, “I took a contractor’s job down in Peru for a little while. After that, I came home to Wyoming. My mother had been working with Iris Mason on the wildlife-center concept. She suggested me to run the facility for Iris, and the rest is history.”

Sky sensed trepidation and grief around Gray. It was mirrored deep in his eyes. Nothing obvious. But there was a heaviness, much like a deep, untended wound in him. “Were you worried about finding a job when you got discharged? I know I was.”

“Like every vet, yes, I was. I was worried about my money I’d saved drying up while I tried to find something. If I hadn’t had my mother’s lead on this job, I’m not sure how long it would have taken to find work. Did you have the same problem?”