Here And Now (American Valor 2) Read Online Free PDF

he and Rachel would have to sit down like two responsible adults and hash things out between them. And when he asked his oh-so-helpful father for his advice on the situation, his old man suggested Lucky made sure their conversation did not take place in a parking lot. “Otherwise, she might just finish what she started.”
    Duke was still laughing at his own joke twenty minutes later.
    Come Friday evening Lucky arrived early to work, stood outside the hospital entrance, and waited. Fifteen minutes before their shift began, Rachel’s large pickup truck rumbled into the parking lot. When she spotted an open space at the end of the row, she jumped up and over the adjacent median as she whipped it into the empty slot.
    She really was a terrible driver. Or maybe she was just terrible at parking. Either way, it looked like his dad was right and it was a damn good thing Lucky was standing near the building instead of waiting for her out in the lot.
    He watched as she made her way across the parking lot, pulling and twisting her hair back from her face and securing it with an elastic band. Only as she crossed the service road that circled the building did she notice him standing there. Almost immediately she reverted to her avoidance ways, bowing her head and focusing her attention on her fingers as they fiddled with her car keys. As she stepped up onto the sidewalk, she raised her head just enough to offer a polite smile, much like one given to perfect strangers.
    One of his best friends from regiment had a go-to saying in situations like this. He could almost imagine what Calder “Bull” Magnusson would say to him. “The best way out is always through. Walking on eggshells doesn’t help things.”
    The best way out is always through.
    Lucky took a deep breath, and just as she was about to pass him by, he called her name, reaching out a hand toward her in the hopes she’d stop. “Can we talk a minute?”
    She glanced at her watch, at the entrance doors, and then back to him. “We only a have a few minutes before our shift begins and I’d rather not be late.”
    She took another step forward and this time he was close enough to touch her. “Then maybe we can talk afterward? Go for a coffee? Breakfast?”
    Rachel looked down where his hand rested on her forearm and then met his eyes. “I have a boyfriend.”
    As if that somehow explained everything.
    The automatic doors slid open in front of her and she hurried inside, her steps longer, faster now. But he was taller, his legs longer. Not to mention he was determined to get them both past this road bump, even if he had to drag her over it kicking and screaming. He followed her through the doors and darted past her, then turned around to face her, walking backward as he spoke.
    “Bring your boyfriend along if you like.”
    Her eyes widened and she drew to a halt. Obviously she didn’t expect that.
    “I’m not asking you out on a date,” he quickly added. “I just want to talk things out. Hopefully make it where things aren’t so tense between us. So if you’d prefer to have him there, that’s fine with me.”
    She just stood there, wide-eyed like a deer in headlights. But after a moment the wariness in her eyes disappeared and one corner of her mouth lifted just the slightest bit. “I’d rather not. Invite him, I mean.”
    “Okay, then. Great,” he said, finding it impossible not to smile. “I’ll meet you outside after our shift is over.”
    He stepped aside and gave her space to go on without him. Already a weight had lifted from his shoulders, and hopefully, by this time tomorrow, his college classes would return to the top of his list of worst places to be.
    J UST LIKE HE said, Lucky was waiting for her outside after their shift ended. Since “lunch” had consisted of a pack of peanut butter on cheese crackers and a Diet Coke from the vending machine, she jumped on his offer of breakfast. Even if the last thing she was hungry for at the moment was