by Em Petrova
A soft smile brushed her lips, and the Texas breeze stirred the leaves on the trees around them, as well as the ends of her hair. He held his hand at his side to keep from reaching out and touching her hair. Back in the day, he’d often wondered if it was as soft as it looked, and now… Well, he was getting a little hard again at the thought of putting his hands on her.
“All right, dinner it is.” She glanced down at her attire of leggings and plaid top that had also been driving him crazy all day. “I’m not exactly dressed for going out.”
“Me neither. I know the perfect place. I’ll drive.” He twitched his head toward his truck. Together, they walked over to where he was parked, and he opened the door for her.
She looked at the distance between the ground and the open door.
“Do you need a boost?”
She laughed, that tinkling sound penetrating his mind again. “I got it.” With a spring, she was in the truck and settled in the seat. He paused a second before closing the door and circling the truck to jump behind the wheel.
“Tell me about your classroom. What do you teach?” He slanted a look at her as he pulled into the street.
It was the right question to ask. She started talking in an excited tone, her hands drawing in the air, and he could see how passionate she was about her job. Since he felt the same about his, he appreciated her even more.
The discussion lasted till he bumped into the parking lot of a little pizza joint. “I hope this is okay.”
“I’ve heard of this place. Some of the teachers come here Friday nights. I guess it’s all you can eat wings and beer. This restaurant wasn’t here when I lived here before.”
“Yeah, I missed out on it too. But I imagine it’s quite the hangout for Rose Middle Schoolers. C’mon. I’ll buy you something not remotely gourmet.”
The way her lips quirked into a smile had his chest tightening with anticipation. It was something he felt each time he got a call from his captain. But this was different. A more pleasant type of anticipation, and he couldn’t help but compare it to opening presents on Christmas Day when he was a kid.
Inside he gestured to a private corner table, and she nodded. He followed, keeping his gaze off the sway of her hips.
As soon as they seated themselves, a waitress bopped over to the table. She took their drink orders and gave them menus. When she’d walked away, Cav was finally able to settle in and study the woman across from him.
Pretty in a girl-next-door kind of way. Those deep brown eyes of hers held secrets, though—he was sure of it. Maybe in time she’d tell him why sometimes a sad light came into them.
She flipped open her menu and perused it. “What are you thinking of having?”
He could barely focus on the menu when he was starting to realize what he was really hungry for… a beautiful dark-eyed woman with an ass he wanted to cradle in his big hands.
But she wasn’t some young bimbo he’d picked up at a bar. Actually, now that he thought about it, he didn’t know why he always chose girls who were college-aged or fresh out of college.
He knew full well what to expect from those women. Typically, they were so involved in getting degrees or finding their places in the world that they didn’t ask for more from him. And that was just fine.
But Arielle was no twenty-one-year-old who didn’t know what direction she’d turn next. That had its own brand of hotness stamped on it.
She closed the menu, mind made up.
He smiled. “What did you decide on?”
“I’m having the chicken salad served in a pizza crust bowl.”
“What exactly is a pizza crust bowl?”
She reached across the table and tapped the photo of it on his menu.
“Looks good. Now for something totally unhealthy for me.” He pressed his finger over a platter including a sub and fries.
When she chuckled, he stared into her eyes. Yeah, she was the same girl he’d known all those years ago.
“I can’t believe I ran into you today,” she said as if reading his mind.
“I got lucky,” he said without removing his gaze from hers.
She shifted in her seat, and a soft pink flush covered her cheeks. At that moment, the waitress returned, saving him from making a fool of himself or scaring Arielle away by telling her how beautiful she was.
After placing their orders, they were left alone again. This time, Arielle questioned him.
“So I told you what I do besides work. What about you? What do you do in your downtime?”
The fact that she didn’t ask about his job was a bit of a relief. He wasn’t able to talk about his special ops unit, mostly because Operation Freedom Flag wasn’t a division known to the general public.
Her question was also telling in a lot of ways. She was keeping things light—not probing very deep.
That only led him to believe she was more guarded than most of the women he dated. Usually, their first question was, “What do you do?” Which led to a lot of hemming and hawing and ended in him making some funny remark to shift the focus from things he couldn’t discuss. Hell, half the time he wasn’t willing to tell them either.
“On my days off, I get massages, kick back with a beer and sometimes I meet up with buddies at this bowling joint.”
She laughed. “I can’t see you bowling. You were always the football guy.”
“Still like to toss the ball around with the guys, but bowling is a little more unexpected as far as hobbies go, and somehow that means no pressure.”
“That’s the point of downtime.”
They continued to talk about the town and all the changes that had taken place since they’d left Rose. Eating added to the relaxed atmosphere of the date, but he was feeling more and more keyed up.
It was obvious that she wasn’t just any girl he took out to dinner. Arielle was much deeper than those casual dates.
When they finished and he paid the bill, they strolled back out to the truck. He was hesitant to end the day he’d just spent with her.
“You mentioned driving country roads.” He jerked his thumb toward the truck. “You wanna?”
She tipped her head to the side, as if sizing him up, trying to figure out what he was really asking. “Look, Cav. I have to come clean with you.”
His heart dropped. She was about to admit to having a boyfriend, wasn’t she?
“All the things I do to stay busy… it’s become a habit to keep my schedule tied up so I barely have time to think.”
“Why?”
“My husband died—two years ago.”
Fuck. That was the source of the pain in the depths of her eyes. A protective tenderness welled inside him, and he took a step forward.
“I’m so sorry to hear that, Arielle.”
She nodded. “I’ve worked through a lot of the grief and I feel I’m in a much better, healthier place. Moving here helped even more. But I haven’t figured out how to let go of over-scheduling myself. See, it was something a therapist suggested. Stay busy. It keeps you from getting into dark places in your thoughts.”
“I get that.” Hadn’t his shrink just prescribed the same damn thing by recommending he come volunteer at the park? “So…” He kicked at the gravel at their feet. “Are you telling me you really hate gourmet cooking and you’re longing to just veg in front of the TV?”
She tossed back her head on a laugh that had his balls clenching and his fists curling with the urge to cup her face and taste the happiness on her lips.
“Arielle, would you go out with me again?”
Laugh dying, she stared up at him, a strange combination of confusion pinching her brows and a smile still twisting the corner of her mouth.
“Drinks. Down there.” He pointed down the street to the small pub on the corner.
She nodded. “Monday evening?”
He hoped to hell he didn’t get called out before then and bail on her. “Perfect. Seven-thirty.”
Shit—he couldn’t wait that long to see h
er again.
“Actually… what do you say about meeting up there,” he pointed, “for coffee tomorrow morning too? Do you have Sunday plans?”
A pretty blush coated her cheeks, and her smile was back full force. “I’d say I’ll see you at seven a.m.”
Chapter Three
Arielle didn’t typically spend so much time primping, not even for a day of work. A few twists of the curling iron on the ends of her hair and a coating of mascara and lip gloss did the trick any other day.
Except she didn’t meet sexy men for coffee those days either.
She’d changed her top twice and nearly ditched her pencil skirt too, but she didn’t have time for more nonsense. With a long, appraising look in the mirror, she wondered if she came off as just a teacher or like a woman who was eager for sharing coffee with a man like Cav.
Wait—did she want to give that impression?
A small shiver of excitement washed over her, and she dashed on a few dabs of pale lipstick, grabbed her handbag and went out to her car.
The small home she rented was set on one of the back streets of Rose, nestled in a quiet neighborhood. It would take her three minutes tops to reach the coffee shop, and she’d be there long before seven.
Did she want to seem that eager to Cav? On the other hand, she wasn’t a woman who played games. Too old for it, too mature and too seasoned by life to let opportunities pass without grabbing hold with both hands. Darren’s loss had taught her not to allow chances to slip away.
So when she parked in front of the coffee shop, she figured she’d go inside and wait for Cav.
As she stepped out of her car and looked up, her breath caught.
Cav was standing five feet away.
God, he looked good enough to eat, in black cargo pants and a black T-shirt hugging his chest like a second skin. Her mind did a double-backflip into some very deep and dirty waters. He grinned—and then winced.
Looking closer, she noticed a bruise darkening his cheekbone. Quickly, she slammed her car door and walked up to him. “What happened to you?” She lifted a hand toward his cheek but stopped short of touching him.
“Walked into something that didn’t move.” His gaze penetrated her so deep that she had to look away or show her entire soul to the man.
Blinking rapidly at the sudden notion, she centered her attention on his broad chest. That was even worse, because now she was imagining how hard he must feel, like steel encased in warm velvet.
“Are you ready for some coffee?” she managed to ask, dispelling the awkwardness of the moment.
“Been ready all morning.” The way he drawled it, all Texas honey, had her nerves jangling again.
Then he placed a hand on the small of her back to lead her to the entrance of the coffee shop. With each step she took, she melted so much that her knees felt weak and shaky by the time she reached the door.
He opened it for her, and they moved to the counter to place their orders. She ordered her usual latte, but Cav was no-nonsense black coffee.
He waved to the menu written on the chalkboard on the wall. “Would you like a bagel or croissant?”
She couldn’t eat even if she was hungry. Her stomach was still flipping each time she looked at him in that black T-shirt. Shaking her head, she raised her coffee. “This is fine.”
He peeled off some bills and paid the girl behind the register, who either seemed to be struggling with the early morning shift or she was dazed at his appearance. Cav didn’t give her a second glance but gestured toward a table near the back of the shop, which was empty on Sundays until the post-church rush.
Arielle nodded and moved toward it. Seconds later, she was seated with her coffee and a beautiful—and bruised—man before her.
“What really happened to the cheek?” she asked, skating her gaze over the bruise that seemed to be spreading in the few minutes that had passed.
When he smiled, she didn’t notice the bruise anymore, just the crinkles around his eyes. “Boring story. Like I said, I walked into something that didn’t move. It’s fine.”
Taking that as his final word on the matter, she dropped the subject.
He took a sip of his coffee. “Man, I needed that.”
“They have great coffee here.” She sipped her latte.
When she set it on the tabletop, she found Cav watching her. The weight of that look had her burning in a blink, like someone had lit a match inside her.
These feelings were brand new to her—she had no experience with lusting after guys. She and her late husband had fallen in love slowly. Maybe it was knowing Cav before that automatically put a certain amount of trust into his hands.
If he ever touched her, she trusted he’d satisfy her in every possible way…
And damn, she was lonelier than she admitted even to herself.
“Tell me your plans for the day.” While his presence pumped up her libido and had her thinking insane things, he was confident and casual in a way that put her at ease too—exactly the way an old friend should.
She wrapped her fingers around her mug, embracing the warmth of the porcelain. “A few of the guys are returning to the park to polish off the mowing and trimming. Thanks to everyone’s help, it’s a wrap. So today I have papers to grade and I still need to cook that meal before the ingredients go bad. Don’t want the cilantro wilting in the refrigerator. I have to run out and shop for a gift too, because I forgot—”
Her words were cut short as Cav reached across the table and plucked the coffee from her hands. “I think you could use a tea. You’re high-strung enough without caffeine.”
She blinked at him, feeling like a teenager after a boy she liked picked on her. “I’ll take that back, thank you very much.” She drew the latte back into her hands and brought it to her lips. It was still a bit too warm, but she took two healthy swallows just to contradict him.
“Arielle…” He drawled out her name with a heavy look that pinned her to the chair. “You have two options.”
Judging from his expression, his options would not be along the realm of normal. She wet her lower lip, and he traced the movement.
Leaning across the table, he said, “Either you drink the coffee…”
Her heart pounded. Dirty images ran through her mind. “Or?”
“Or you use all that energy you’ve got to make out with me.”
Her jaw dropped.
She was right—not at all what she’d expected to hear. And nothing she ever thought she’d react to.
Under the table, she pressed her thighs together.
She bit down on her lower lip. “I could take the tea, but coffee or tea, making out with you would not relax me.”
He looked as though he wanted to speak but held back.
“Are we even at the make-out point yet? We only had pizza and fixed up a park together.” She wiggled in her seat, suddenly burning at his words.
“I had a bad crush on you back in the day, Arielle. Did you know that?”
She shook her head. “You’re lying.”
“On my honor.” He raised a hand in a pledge. “How do you think I remembered you? Your eyes haunted me so many nights. Even long after I left Rose, I thought of you and how pretty you were. Now… you’re not pretty anymore. You’re beautiful.”
Sweet-talking was her thing. She’d resisted many a man in college or from military men on base who didn’t know she was married. But coming from Cav, she felt her nipples pinch into hard pebbles and a heavy ache to slip into her core.
“And if we do make out?” She wet her dry lips.
He issued a low growl and leaned across the table. Voice pitched low, he said, “I’m willing to bet I can get you out of your clothes and relaxed faster than you can drink that coffee.”
She had no memory of her decision, only heard the sound of her mug gliding across the tabletop as she pushed it aside and stood.
He arched a brow.
“You aren’t the only one with a crush.” She hadn’t been touched
by a man in so long, she almost forgot the breathless sensation she was experiencing right now. On top of that, Sarah was in the back of her mind, encouraging her to grab onto the opportunity, don’t let Cav slip away.
“Arielle?” he said quietly. He was asking her if she was sure, in his roundabout way.
“Show me what you can do.”
She could not believe those words had fallen from her lips. Who was this woman she’d become? Certainly not the prim teacher who had spent the past two years learning ten new hobbies just to have options.
Cav tossed her a crooked smile that only riled her more. Did he know she’d respond this way? Damn him, he probably got any woman he wanted just by quirking those hard lips.
Somehow, knowing this didn’t dissuade her. She still wanted him bad enough to throw out all common sense and let her gut instinct take over. And the pool of want low in her belly was telling her loud and clear to grab him by the hand and get him to her place as quick as possible.
When he moved to his feet, he groaned as his phone buzzed. “Son of a… Shit timing as always, boss,” he muttered to himself, and then he looked up into her eyes. “Sorry, I have to take this.” He brought his cell to his ear. He didn’t even say hello, just listened for what seemed like a solid minute while Arielle stood there, her decision quickly becoming a mistake.
It would be easy to allow the disruption to make a choice for her. But there was still that burning need to contend with, and no battery-operated-boyfriend could ever quench the fire in her.
Cav’s gaze found hers as he spoke into the phone. “All right. I’ll be there in a little bit.” He ended the call and stuffed his cell deep in his pocket.
Smiling at her, he said, “Sorry about that.”
“Work?”
He nodded.
Her stomach fluttered with nerves, which wasn’t helped one bit by the look in his eyes and the intensity of the moment. Every second seemed loaded, fueled with some invisible energy that muddled her senses and made her think of wrapping her thighs around Cav’s strong hips.
He came around the table. His hand was on her spine again as he led her from the shop.
She’d barely taken a step onto the sidewalk before he was lifting her, spinning her so her back was pressed up against the building, his lips hovered over hers.
