Above All Else: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Easy Team Book 2) (6 page)

Chapter
Six
Xander

              Sipping my coffee, I watched her as she ate her toast. I wasn’t going to have her fainting and whacking her head on the ground or anywhere else again.

              Since last night, she seemed to have calmed down a bit. Although clearly reluctant about being in Wyoming, she seemed to have accepted it for the time being. And that meant less chasing for me.

             
Thank god for small mercies.

              She looked ridiculously fresh and adorable for the morning. Her soft auburn hair was thrown up into a bun. Her skin had a dewiness to it that made her glow and she looked so goddamn good sitting in one of my old shirts. Even in shirts and sweats, this girl was a looker.

              “So, now what?” she asked, taking a sip of coffee. She looked at me questioningly over the rim of her mug.

              “Now what, what?” I asked, although I knew what she meant.

              She rolled her eyes at me, making me grin. She knew I was playing dumb. “Now that we’re here, what do we do? Do we just sit on the porch and stare at trees?”

              I put down my mug and clapped my hands together, rubbing my palms, itching to get to work on my ranch. I said, “Nope. Not a lot of staring time on ranches, especially ranches that get abandoned for months at a time by a roving owner. First we’re going to town. And then we’ll get to work.”

              “Town?” She perked up a little at the word. “What town? I didn’t see any town on our way in.”

              “There’s a town ten miles west of here,” I said. “We’ll go there and grab some supplies for the ranch and some clothes for you.”

              She still had no clothes to her name except whatever I could rummage for her in the house. But everything was much too big for her to wear on a daily basis, working.

              Her eyes lit up a little with guarded hope. “You have stores here,” she said in a voice that sounded like skepticism drenched in wariness.

              I nodded and said in a country twang, “And running water and this new fangled thing called ‘lectrickity!”

              Sofia rolled her oceanic eyes and I wondered if I’d ever get sick of seeing her reluctantly amused expressions. She seemed so guarded about actually being amused or smiling, as if she had to always hold back and protect herself.

              It made me wonder what a genuine smile from her would look like.

              “Well, I have to say,” she started slowly, picking up her second piece of toast, “it’ll be nice to get some proper decent clothes finally.”

              I grinned. “I know just the place to get them.”

***

              “What…What is this?” Sofia asked with very thinly veiled confusion and hesitation.

              “A thrift store,” I responded happily.

              Sofia stood frozen at the entrance of Jeannie’s Fashion Closet, the town’s thrift store and also the largest clothing store. The town of Simone was a small and close-knit community of only about 2500 people. They never really need anything more than farming and handwork equipment. Fashion was always on the lowest rung so a thrift store more than happily filled their needs.

              But it was clear by Sofia’s expression she had never been inside a thrift store. Probably never even seen one. And I enjoyed watching her expression of confusion morph into one of horror then shock then anger as she glared at me for not warning her ahead of time.

              I smiled back at her, unrepentantly.

              “I thought you said you knew just the place to get me some proper decent clothes,” Sofia said.

              “I did,” I insisted, playing dumb and grinning at her. “Here we are! World’s best thrift store, by far!”

              “These clothes look used,” Sofia said, eyeing a rack of jeans, not daring to touch them.

              “They are,” I answered simply, enjoying her reactions.

              She whirled on me in horror. “This store is filled with
used
clothes?” she asked, her mouth agape. “Used by who?”

              I shrugged. “By everyone. Anyone can donate. But in a town small as this, I’m betting everyone’s worn the clothes in here at least once. Jeannie’s not kidding calling this a closet. It really is for a lot of people.”

              Sofia shuddered, imagining herself wearing clothes an unknown stranger had worn.

              “I want to go to a real store,” she demanded. “With clothes nobody has worn!”

              I shrugged. “I’m sorry, babe. This is it for Simone. So try and find something you can walk around in, huh? Some jeans are a good start.”

              “Is that you, Xander?” a voice called out from the back of the store.

              I looked up and smiled at the older woman. “Yes, Miss Jeannie, it’s me,” I said.

              Jeannie, a woman in her early fifties and quite stout, hurried over to envelope me in a large hug. She wore bright plastic earrings and bright eye shadow. Nothing about Jeannie was subtle, including her affections.

              “When did you get back into town?” she asked, squeezing my arms as she craned her head to look up at me. Not giving me a chance to answer, she steamrollered on, “Look at your face! You’ve lost weight, haven’t you? I’ll bring over a casserole later this week. And who’s this? Your girlfriend? So pretty! Why don’t you introduce us? I’m Jeannie. You let me know if there’s anything you need help with! When did you meet her, Xander? What a looker! Now, what are you looking for today, dear?”

              Sofia stared at Jeannie in stunned silence, clearly not sure what to say or which question to answer. More used to Jeannie’s normal blocks of questions, I wrapped an around Sofia’s shoulders, pulling her in close.

              “That’s right, Jeannie,” I said smiling. “This here’s my girl, Sofia.” I ignored Sofia as she whipped her head up at me to glare in offended silence. But before she could protest, I continued. “And she needs some clothes. Unfortunately, all her luggage got lost on the way out here and she needs something she can wear around the ranch.”

              Jeannie clapped her hands together. “Oh would you look at the pair that you two make! And I’m so sorry, dear, about your luggage. I swear, airlines these days make it their business to be as incompetent as possible. But don’t you worry. Old Jeannie has you covered here. Now with a little thing like you, we should head over here to find some of the slimmer cut jeans for you. And I bet I can guess your size! Oh but of course I won’t say it out loud in front of a boy!”

              Jeannie giggled like a schoolgirl and grabbed Sofia’s hand, firmly pulling her along down the thick racks of clothing. Sofia turned back to me with a desperate look but I just nodded and waved as I heard Jeannie ask, “Is there a particular color you like? I just got in a bunch of green flannel shirts that I think will bring out your eyes beautifully. And in this place, you’ll need some good flannel.”

              I probably shouldn’t have said she was my girlfriend. After all, who knew when she’d leave? She could very well leave tomorrow and then it’d be an awkward explanation the next time I was in town, explaining why my girlfriend had suddenly disappeared.

              But I couldn’t help it. It had been a gut response. And staring after her, I didn’t regret one word.

              As I was walking out, I heard Sofia ask, “Do you have any clothes that aren’t used or worn?”

              Jeannie’s peals of laughter ushered me out of the store as she responded, “Oh honey! Xander sure knows how to pick ‘em! What a funny little girl you are! Now, here’s the flannel that I was talking about—”

              I couldn’t help grinning as I walked over to the hardware store.              

***

              After taking about two hours at the hardware store, I strolled back over to Jeannie’s to pick up Sofia.

              As I entered the store, I saw Jeannie suddenly scramble towards me, a big grin wreathing her face. There was something different about her face, I noticed, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Somehow, her features looked a little more pulled together and…I dunno…smoother.

              I furrowed my brows as I stared down at her as she looked up at me expectantly.              

              “Now don’t you move from here!” she said, gripping my arms and placing me directly in front of one of the dressing rooms. “Don’t you move! We’ve made quite the wardrobe makeover and we want to make sure you get a good look at your new country girl!”

              My lips twitched imagining Sofia as a “country girl.” I remembered the magazines showcasing the evening dresses she had worn to red carpet events or movie premieres. The girl had literally grown up in a palace. I couldn’t think of anyone less “country.”

              Until Jeannie pulled back the curtains.

              From behind the curtains, stepped out Sofia. She wore fitted jeans that had a soft wear to them. She had on sturdy little black boots and on top, a loose green flannel that not only brought out her eyes but also flattered her hair. Her long, loose copper blonde hair fell in tantalizing waves over her shoulders, somehow looking brighter and softer against the green. Her skin looked like fresh cream and her blue eyes nearly glowed.

              No, she didn’t look like the red carpet diva. She didn’t look like a princess. But she didn’t look like a country girl, either. She never seemed to fit exactly one description. There was so much to her that she seemed to defy descriptions or labels.

              She was just…Sofia.

              Jeannie grinned, pleased. “Oh would you look at that, Sofia! You made your man’s jaw drop! Now
that’s
always a good sign!”

              Sofia blushed at Jeannie’s words but looked up at me, a little shyly, as if making sure I was indeed pleased with the look.

              Not wanting her to doubt it, I said, “You look…amazing.”

              Sofia’s cheeks pinkened beautifully.

              Jeannie shoved me out of my reverie by pushing two giant shopping bags brimming with clothes at me. “Do your lady a favor and carry those out for her,” she said, winking at me.

              Jeannie grabbed Sofia’s arm and led her out to the front door. “Now you come back in the summer, you hear? We get some lovely summer dresses around that time and I also do the hemming around here so if you see anything, you let me know! I’ll make sure to alter it to your size!”

              I thought Sofia would cringe back at the familiar touches like she had in entering the shop but I was surprised to see her pat Jeannie’s arm as she said, “And you let me know if you want anymore make up tips. It would be hard to top the natural beauty that you are,” Jeannie giggled madly like a schoolgirl at the compliment, “but I think that you would look amazing in some chocolate brown eye shadow. Really would give your eyes some beautiful depth.”

              That was when it hit me. Sofia had retouched Jeannie’s make up. Jeannie was still wearing her loud blue eye shadow but instead of it looking garish, it somehow had become more subtle and cleaner looking. Sofia had somehow managed to soften the older woman’s face so that she looked as gentle and as sweet as she actually was.

              And what a difference it made! Holy shit, make up really was magic.

              Jeannie waved us off, thanking Sofia for all her tips and help, saying she couldn’t wait to go show her friends all her new make up tricks.

              I took Sofia down the street to Petey’s, the local diner. As soon as we entered, we were bombarded with hellos. It was a small town and everyone knew everyone and if they didn’t know you, they would get to know you.

              “Xander, back again!”

              “Xander, the usual, right?”

              “Look at that tan there, Xan! Haven’t been sneaking off to the Bahamas again, have you?”

              “Who’s the pretty girl?”

              As soon as we sat down in a booth, a waitress stepped up to take our order. She looked over Sofia curiously. “Hi,” she said to Sofia. “I’m Angelica. I’ll be your waitress.”

              Angelica, who I had known since she was ten, ignored me completely as she stared at the newcomer.

              I cleared my throat. Angelica gave me a passing glance and said, “Oh, hey, Xan.”

              I raised a brow, a little annoyed at her lack of attentiveness. I saw Sofia’s lips twitch in amusement at the casual dismissal I was receiving compared to the deferential and curious stares she was receiving.

             
Well, we can’t have that, now can we?

              “Angelica, have you met my girlfriend, Sofia?” I asked, raising a brow at Sofia.
Let’s share that attention.

              Angelica’s eyes widened in surprise. The sixteen year old stared at Sofia. “Wow, Xander finally brought home a girl!” she said in a voice that sounds like the event was something of a miracle, irking me.