Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother novel Chapter 175

Chapter 175: Penny

It’s been a little while since we got to Asher’s parents‘ house, long enough for my pulse to settle but not long enough to make the nerves go away entirely. I’ve never been in his world like this. Domestic. Quiet.

Real.

And now we’re in the kitchen, and he’s cooking.

I stand near the edge of the counter, arms swinging slightly as I watch him move with an ease that’s unfair for someone who spent the last several years in combat zones. He shouldn’t look this comfortable sautéing vegetables. It messes with my head.

He’s making grilled lemon herb chicken, something with garlic and rosemary, and the smell alone is enough to ruin me. On the stove, wild rice simmers with what looks like bits of mushroom and caramelized onion, and on a tray, asparagus and red bell peppers roast slowly, sizzling when he opens the oven to check on them.

Everything looks like it belongs in some health–food magazine. He doesn’t use a single measuring spoon, and yet somehow it’s all perfectly portioned. Figures.

Meanwhile, I’ve been tasked with peeling sweet potatoes, but I got distracted halfway through the first one and now I’m just… watching him. Again.

God, he’s beautiful. Not just handsome, but strong and solid and focused. His jaw ticks slightly when he concentrates, and his forearms flex when he squeezes a lemon over the chicken. His shirt is a little loose,

sleeves rolled to the elbows, but the lines of him are still unmistakable. Raw. Scarred. Stupidly hot.

I break the silence before my brain combusts. “You’re being really showy right now, you know that?”

He glances over his shoulder. “What?”

“This,” I gesture with the half–peeled potato. “You’re trying to impress me. Admit it.”

He smirks. “You think this is impressive?”

“Uh, yeah. You just diced an onion without crying. That’s, like, black magic.”

He chuckles, low and warm, and goes back to stirring. “You’re just easy to impress.”

“I really am,” I agree. “Next thing you know, you’ll fold a fitted sheet properly and I’ll marry you on the spot.”

“Noted,” he says, and something about the way he says it makes my cheeks heat up.

I try to distract myself by rambling. And when I say rambling, I mean a full–on monologue. I don’t n know what I’m talking about. Something about a ballet costume I once had that ripped mid–performance, or maybe that time I mistook toothpaste for acne cream and burned my chin.

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Chapter 175: Penny

He just listens, turning off burners, arranging plates, rinsing utensils with one hand while flipping chicken with the other. His coordination should be illegal.

Eventually, he turns, walks toward me with this look–like he’s been listening, but also like he’s absolutely done listening–and suddenly his hands are on my waist.

“Do you ever stop talking?” he mutters.

“Nope,” I grin. “In fact–here’s a question for you.”

He groans as he lifts me and sets me gently on the counter beside the sink, standing between my knees now, and I pretend not to notice the way his closeness scrambles my thoughts,

“Would you rather wrestle a bear with nothing but a spatula… or go on a blind date chosen by your mom?

He blinks. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Why is that even a question?”

“Because it’s a classic. Answer wisely.”

He thinks, eyes narrowing like he’s genuinely strategizing. “The bear. I don’t want to go on a blind date with anyone.”

“Oh,” I say, losing absolutely every single brain cell. “You know, a bear would break the spatula.”

He snorts. And then–he laughs. Like, a real one. The sound wraps around me like sunlight through storm clouds and I forget what I was even teasing him about.

God, that laugh.

“You’re ridiculous,” he says, stepping back toward the stove.

“You’re welcome.”

The food’s done now. He plates it with a kind of careful grace–mine first, then his. I hop off the counter and follow him to the kitchen table, heart full and warm and fluttering in ways I don’t know how to

handle.

We eat. And it’s so good.

“Oh my God,” I moan. “Marry me. Immediately.”

“That good?”

“This is the best meal I’ve had in a long time.”

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Chapter 175: Penny

He chuckles and takes another bite, chewing slowly. “It’s been good to cook again.”

I stop mid–bite. “You didn’t in the Navy?”

“I mean, yeah. Sometimes. But most of the time it was an on–the–go thing.”

“Damn.” I say, “did you have thing like, I don’t know, pizza?”

He shrugs. “Once, maybe. But mostly we ate whatever we could find or make. Freeze–dried stuff. MREs.”

Max would’ve fainted hearing that.

I chew a little slower after that. Like it means more now.

I take another sip of water, let the quiet linger for a beat before asking, “So… what’ll you do? If you don’t go back to the Navy?”

He pauses. Wipes his hands on a dishtowel. Then leans back in his chair and looks out the window like he’s still half deciding.

“There are programs. For vets. Some of them let you train new recruits. Others are more… security based. Private sector. Dangerous stuff, but doable. I’ve thought about working with new guys, or even just helping out at vet centers. Mentorships. There’s this outdoor retreat thing too, for recovering soldiers. Wilderness stuff.”

I blink. “All of that sounds… kind of amazing.”

“It’s not bad,” he shrugs. “I haven’t picked anything yet.”

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