“Sounds good,” I say, grabbing a beer out of the fridge and opening it up.

“Are you going to join in?” Her voice is hopeful.

“That’s okay, right?” For a second I wonder if she was telling me so that I’d try to find something else to do, but she sounded like she was inviting me.

“Yes.” Her voice is high-pitched, like she’s nervous, and then she clears her throat. “Yeah. That’d be really nice.”

The sun is setting, and the way the light falls into the kitchen makes it glow. Maggie is by the stove cooking, and for a moment I just stare at her.

She’s young. Too young for me. But something about her makes me feel like she’s older. I shouldn’t feel this pull to her, but I find myself wanting to be around her as much as I can. When I’m in the same room as her, I feel happy. She’s this walking ball of joy that I don’t want to step away from.

“Sunshine,” I whisper, and she turns to look at me.

“What did you say?” She smiles in confusion as she stirs the vegetables.

“Your nickname.” She’s like pure sunshine with her warmth and glow, and I’m just a planet revolving around her. She pulls me to her like gravity, and I can’t seem to walk away.

“Hmm. Sunshine. I guess that’s not so bad. I’ve got blonde hair.” She shrugs and goes back to what she’s doing.

I put my beer down and clear my throat. “I’m gonna go check my emails. I’ll be right back.”

I don’t wait for her answer as I walk out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I practically run to my room and shut the door, locking it and then leaning back against it as I close my eyes. What is wrong with me? This is the daughter of the man who is like a father to me. She’s sixteen years old. Why am I having all these feelings of attraction? God, this is so wrong and so fucked up on so many levels.

It hits me that I’ve been laughing and playing with her today, and she’s been giving it back. I’ve basically been flirting with her, and she didn’t seem the least bit upset about it. Jesus, I’ve got to get this under control. She’s a girl.

I rub my face with my hands, and I hear the front door open. Major’s voice rings out as he says hello to Maggie. I’ve got to go down there and face him. I need to get my shit together. I can’t let some sixteen-year-old girl trip me up like this. Jesus, you’d think I’d never had someone smile at me before.

As I take some calming breaths, I convince myself that she’s just being nice and I’m being nice, too. We can do this. It can be brotherly and sisterly. We can hang out and I can forget about all the things that are running through my mind.

Like how she’s close to being seventeen.

Chapter 5

Maggie

“Now turn and pull.” I do as Eli says, pulling him as hard and fast as I can. I take him down to the ground, flat on his back. I stand over him triumphantly, my hands on my hips. He has a smile on his face as he stares up at me.

“You catch on quick.” He smiles even bigger. I can tell he’s proud of me. We’ve been working on self-defense in the garage after Eli gets finished working out and doing some light physical therapy on his leg. He doesn’t even have a limp anymore when he walks. The scar on his face is no longer red and angry. He’s almost fully healed, and I worry that he might be thinking about moving out soon. I push the sour thought away, not wanting to think about it.

I playfully put my foot on his chest as I stand over him. “I can’t help it if being out of the Marines is softening you up. Little bitty thing like me can take you down now,” I tease.

“You’re gonna get it, sunshine.” He grabs my ankle before I can react, pulling me down onto the mat. The movement causes me to fall on top of him. He starts tickling me everywhere, and I try to get away. I’m squirming all around, but laughter overtakes me.

“I give, I give,” I say through laughter. My face starts to hurt from smiling so much. “You’re the worst,” I say rolling onto my back, completely giving up.

“You love me,” he teases, and I look over at him and give him a small smile. My hearts skips a beat because I do love him.

The last three weeks have been wonderful. In these weeks I have fallen for him. Hard. Even if he only sees me as a little-sister type as he walks by me and pulls my ponytail, or teases me about my choice of TV shows. I can’t stop the feelings I’m having. At first I thought maybe I had a silly schoolgirl crush, but each day my feelings grow deeper and deeper. I don’t love him like the way he’s teasing.

He fits here with Dad and me. The three of us work together. I’m dreading when he might start to date. It’s a thought that lingers in the back of my head. I’ve been going to work with Eli almost every day. I love it there, but there’s always some woman trying to get his attention.

One is a nurse, Sherry. She’s after him. I’ve even seen her text him a few times. I wonder if Eli gave her his number because of work or something else. I’ve never seen him flirt back. It drives me crazy thinking about him belonging to another woman. He’s mine. I knew it from the first few hours of knowing him, and I’m sure if I told anyone what I’m feeling, they’d say I was crazy. But I don’t care.

Rolling to my side, I reach out and touch the scar running down his cheek, thinking about how I always want to kiss it. How I want him to tell me his story, but I know he won’t. Something about the way he is with me lets me know he wouldn’t want that darkness touching me. I don’t care about that. I just want to know everything about Eli. All of it. What brought him here to me.