by Lori Foster
He stretched his arms along the back of the swing to keep himself from launching into action, hoping like hell that Monty was as well trained as he thought. “I could hold your hand again and you can compare me with him if you need to. But given the way you didn’t even watch Chet drive away, I’m thinking it’s no contest.”
“Don’t be a smart-ass.” She worked her way up the flagstone walkway. The crutches made for slow going, but she was adept, strong, not even winded.
And unmistakably self-conscious. So he kept his eyes level with hers and simply took in the way her loose hair caught the moonlight.
“But I’m a wise smart-ass. Or would that be a smart wiseass?” He shrugged, deciding there was no better time than now to shift the tone of their relationship. “Regardless, there’s nothing developing between you and that guy. Which makes him a damn fool because you look smokin’ hot tonight.”
He let his eyes skim downward, lingering for just an instant on curves that called to his hands for a helluva lot more than support.
“Are you kidding?” She managed the two steps, then slid into the wide wicker chair. She set her crutches aside. “I’m wearing jeans and a tank top. I went to a barbecue, so I smell like smoke.”
“We can talk about how you look in that tank top if you really want.”
She crossed her arms over her breasts. “Don’t you need to go home? Decompress after your long trip?”
“I’m doing exactly what I’ve planned for months.”
“Which is?”
“I’m hitting on you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Ahhhh, because you haven’t been with a woman for a year and you figure I must be so desperate you won’t have to work for it.”
His smile faded. Anger snapped through him. “Don’t insult me or yourself.”
Sighing hard, she studied him, wariness radiating off her in waves. “What’s going on? Why are you back here tonight?”
“Do you really even have to ask that?” He shifted from the swing to sit on the arm of her wicker chair. He tucked a knuckle under her chin. “I’ve spent months wanting to be face-to-face with you, to confirm what I already know deep in my gut.”
Her throat moved in a slow swallow, but she didn’t pull away. “And that is?”
“That kissing you will be damn mind-blowing.” He lowered his mouth to hers.
He waited an instant for a protest….
Her lips parted under his. She grabbed his shirt in her fist and tugged him closer, pressed their mouths more firmly into a sensual seam. Hell yeah. His tongue swept her mouth. She tasted like honey barbecue and sweet tea. Although the way she kissed him back was anything but sweet. She was passion and some bite, as edgy and hungry as he was.
He stroked the nape of her neck, his thumbs brushing just under her ears. The purr in her throat, the way her head fell back, stoked his own desire higher. Her passionate response and sensitivity to his touch encouraged him.
The need to be closer pulsed through him. His hands glided down to cup her shoulders. He ached to touch more of her, but that would have to wait. Now wasn’t the time to rush. He finally had a no-kidding chance to be with her, and he refused to ruin that. He wanted more than a quick welcome-home lay.
He wanted Leah Russell—in his bed and in his life. He’d been planning how to romance her for months. Her paralysis complicated things, without question, but not in the way she might think. He wasn’t put off by the issue—only taken aback that she hadn’t told him.
“Go out on a date with me tomorrow.”
“I have to work.” She gripped his shoulders, holding him close.
“You also have to eat.”
“So?” She panted in hot gusts against his chest.
His hands roved along her back. “Dinner.”
“No dinner date.” She kissed the hollow at the base of his neck.
He sketched his mouth over the top of her head. “Then lunch. At the park behind your store.”
She tipped her face up to look at him, her eyes sad, not angry. “I said no date—”
“Picnic. Lunch. Low-key.”
He kissed away her “no” and then pulled back. Before temptation could root him here, he left, jogging down the walkway with Penny trotting alongside. For the first time in a year, he looked forward to something besides checking his email and logging onto Skype.
Chapter Three
Leah pressed the cookie cutter along a slab of dough for peanut butter treats shaped like dog bones, palm trees, squirrels and hearts. Once they were baked and cooled, she would frost them. Because she would be here in the store all day long. She wasn’t going anywhere—most especially not out to lunch with a man who kissed like sin.
She was certain he’d only been acting on impulse, caught up in the rush of homecoming. He couldn’t have been thinking straight. The phone would ring any time now with his excuse. A polite excuse, of course, because he was a nice guy. She knew and accepted he’d just been lonely while he was overseas.
All morning long, she’d told herself that, even if Brody showed up at the shop for lunch, she would turn him down again. And she would be polite too, because she was a nice person as well. She didn’t want to be witchy about it.
She’d held firm to her plans even as she’d picked out her favorite pink jeans with a whispery babydoll top—totally the wrong thing to wear for baking all morning. Now she was stuck wrapped in the biggest apron. Perspiring. Alternating between watching the front door and listening for the phone.
She peeled up cookies, transferring them onto a baking sheet and planning how she would politely tell him no when he showed up or control her disappointment if he called—
The chimes over the door jingled.
In walked Brody with Penny and a small cooler.
She tore a doughy heart in two. Damn it, damn it, damn it, her stomach tumbled and a fresh batch of sparks showered through her.
Her fist clenched around the cool dough and she couldn’t even try to look away from the man candy in front of her. She’d thought last night that a computer screen couldn’t come close to doing justice to Brody Ward in the flesh—and he’d been mighty damn hot on the monitor in his uniform and survival gear. But in the full-out daylight, he was heart-stoppingly male.
Some guys seemed to deflate without the uniform. Brody, however, was still every bit larger than life, no matter what he wore.
His hemp sandals slapped the concrete floor as he made his way around displays. Penny sniffed a row of metal canisters full of all-natural chew strips and bones. Brody’s eyes roved her shop, from the wall of leashes and collars, to stacked dog beds and bags of food, all carefully chosen to stay within the budget they’d set. She and her mother had worked hard to build their business in a tough economy. Thankfully, people had soon realized a quality product made for a healthier pet, saving vet bills in the long run. It certainly hadn’t hurt business that their customers enjoyed the social scene—mingling in the park out back. The shelter fundraiser going on today was generating a steady flow of extra traffic.
But her eyes stayed locked on Brody. His perfectly sculpted mouth curled into a smile. She started to smile back in spite of herself.
Except… Huh? He was looking past her.
“Kay,” Brody called out, walking right by Leah. “I brought you lunch.”
Leah turned her chair around as Brody kept sauntering to the back of the store, toward her mom.
Holy cow, he had a nice butt. Why hadn’t she noticed that last night? His board shorts rode his narrow hips. His T-shirt stretched tautly along his shoulders, but stayed loose at his waist.
Her fists clenched on the wheels. No question, she wanted to explore that hard, honed body as thoroughly as she’d explored his thoughts for the past eleven months. “You brought lunch for my mother?”
He looked over his shoulder. “You said no when I asked you last night.”
Except he hadn’t sounded like he believed her then.
Her fists unfurled wit
h the delicious realization that he was flirting. “You’re playing with me.”
His eyes twinkled. “I want to play with you. But you have to want it, too.”
A customer by the doggy–ice cream freezer covered her grin—almost.
Leah wheeled closer. Monty’s nails clicked on the floor as he followed.
“Brody,” she whispered between her teeth, “not in front of the shoppers. Okay?”
He leaned one hip against the counter, so sensually at ease in his skin, it heated the store ten degrees. “Does that mean you’ll take your lunch break outside with me?”
“I thought you had lunch for my mom,” she teased right back.
“I do.” He set the cooler on the counter by the cash register and a bucket of dog bandannas. “I figure I owe her lunch if I’m going to take you away for a long break.”
He pulled out a paper sack and offered it to her mother, who wasn’t missing a second of the exchange as she put the finishing touches of yogurt icing on a granola birthday cake for a Great Dane turning one today.
Kay set aside the frosting gun and took the lunch sack. “What’s in here, warrior man?”
“Crab-cake sandwiches.” Brody closed the cooler again. “I was craving them like crazy for the last couple of months of the deployment.”
Her mom peeked inside the bag. “That beats the hell out of the PBJ I packed for myself this morning. And crab cakes are Leah’s favorite.”
Although he already knew that. She’d told him in a Skype session, late one night when she’d set her alarm to wake up to talk to him because of the time difference. He’d had the computer to himself, most everyone else out on missions. The flight doc had temporarily grounded him until he got over some kind of deep sinus infection that would have burst his eardrums in flight. Her house had been quiet and they’d talked and talked. She’d known he was lonely and that when he got home things would change. Would end. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from waking up for those calls, looking for the emails, keeping her phone connected to the internet so she would see when he was online.
The more she learned about him, the more she liked him. A lot.
She’d worked damn hard not to feel sorry for herself over the accident. But right now, she wanted so badly to stand up out of the chair and hook her arm in his, walk by his side to that park. Or dare him to race her, and give him a good run for his money.
That kiss last night had felt real. Intense. Honest. Could she trust him? Trust that? Chances were strong that he would lose interest now that he was home—even if she wasn’t in this chair.
But having her hopes dashed would hurt even more now than if his emails had dwindled while he was overseas. She couldn’t deny that. Her heart, her emotions were still raw from all that had happened to her, and he’d stepped into her life at a time when she was particularly vulnerable.
That was difficult to admit, especially for a woman who’d always prided herself on being as tough as nails. A marathon girl who never gave up.
She was still strong. Still resilient. But not quite as fearless.
Yet an old part of that hardiness pushed through and she found herself pulling off her apron. “You better have more than two of those sandwiches left, or you’re going hungry.”
The sight of Leah in hot-pink jeans and a shirt that shimmered over her breasts just about drove Brody to his knees. Then he cleared his brain enough to register what she’d said. He’d won. She would have lunch with him.
He resisted the urge to pump his fist in victory. Best to keep it low-key and get her outside before she changed her mind.
She wheeled beside him along the walkway. He would have offered to push, but the defiant tip of her chin as she’d set herself in motion warned him off. He’d settled for opening the back door—a gentlemanly thing to do regardless. He’d also made absolutely sure the traffic was clear or stopped before they crossed the narrow street to the waterside park.
Seeing her in the wheelchair today knocked him off balance again, but he’d done his best not to show it. It wasn’t the wheelchair itself, actually, but he was still reconciling the fact that she’d kept the information from him for the past eleven months.
However, it didn’t piss him off enough to leave. He needed to know if the intriguing woman he’d met online really existed. Or was that a lie, too? A persona she’d put on for amusement?
That pinched his pride—and deeper.
He adjusted his hold on the two leashes and the cooler.
The park was packed with people and other dogs. Signs declared it was the shelter adoption event Kay had told him about, with a mobile vet unit set up doing discount rabies vaccinations and microchips. Nearly everyone waved at Leah—and those who didn’t stared at the two of them with outright curiosity.
A lady wearing a polo shirt with the shelter’s logo strode over to them quickly. “Leah, Penny,” she said, running her hand along the collie. “And is this Penny’s ‘dad’? I’m Tasha, the—”
Brody took her hand. “The shelter director. I can’t thank you enough for helping me find a foster home for Penny.”
“Our pleasure to see things work out so happily for this sweet girl.” She ruffled Penny’s ears and smiled at Leah. “I’ve got to run. We’re slammed, which is good, but I just wanted to say hello and welcome home.”
Turning away, she left them to their picnic.
He set the cooler down on a park bench. “You’re a popular lady.”
“This is my circle. My turf, so to speak.” Stopping, she set the brakes. “What else did you miss while you were overseas? Other than food?”
Sex? Definitely not a polite answer. He looped the dog leashes around the end of the bench. “Simple stuff, mostly. Watching football in my recliner. Coaching a Little League team.”
She winced.
Damn.
She had to miss sports. Hadn’t she said she was a runner?
He passed her a sandwich and tried again. “I missed fishing.”
Her eyes lit up. “You fish? How did we not talk about that before? Seems like we spoke of everything else.”
“How could we not have talked about it when I live on a houseboat?” He opened two sodas and took out another sandwich for himself, more focused on watching her face and remembering the feel of her mouth, her hands.
“I guess we do still have some surprises to learn about each other after all.”
He suspected she could surprise him for a long time…indefinitely. “Tell me more about what kind of fishing you like.”
“From the dock or deep sea. Either one.” She’d already polished off half her sandwich. She hadn’t been kidding about liking seafood. “I have a freezer full of catches.”
“Well, my freezer is very empty. What do you say we go fishing together tomorrow, since the shop’s closed on Sundays?” He waited for her answer and didn’t even try to deny that hearing her say yes was important to him.
She finished the rest of her sandwich before answering. “Fishing. You and I?”
“I’m on mandatory vacation after my deployment. They make us take time off to give us a chance to decompress. I can’t think of a better way to do that than fishing and hanging out with you.”
The wind lifted her caramel-blond ponytail, her eyes so wary. He wanted the unreserved, computer Leah back. Damn it, she hadn’t been a figment of his imagination.
“Brody, surely you have friends or family to see, someone other than me.”
“My buddies are all going on vacation with their families. And if I had any relatives worth visiting, do you think I would have had to resort to asking a stranger to watch my dog?”
The shutters fell away from her eyes in a flash. Her hand rested on his arm. “That had to hurt when your dad didn’t come through for you.”
“It pissed me off.”
She ducked her head toward him, the wind blowing her ponytail lightly against his neck.
“Lots of people mask hurt with anger.”
His defe
nses went up. “Therapy is free for veterans, so I don’t need to get it from my friends.”
“My apologies.” She straightened.
Already he missed the feel of her hair brushing him, making him imagine what it would be like to have her hair tangled up in his hands while he kissed her again.
While he made love to her for the first time.
“Leah, I don’t want your apologies or sympathy.”
“What do you want from me?”
His hand slid behind her neck. “This.”
To hell with restraint today. He slanted his mouth over hers.
A kiss in the park was safe. Right? It couldn’t get out of control with so many people around.
Leah rested her hand against Brody’s chest, the well-washed cotton warmed from his body, his heartbeat speeding up under her fingertips. That heat spread through her all too quickly, even as their mouths stayed closed, the press of his lips to hers carrying a different sort of intimacy. The kind that relayed a growing familiarity in connecting any time. Anywhere.
Suddenly the kiss didn’t feel so safe after all. Taking things to this level could be infinitely more dangerous than an impulsive, out-of-control moment.
She eased back an inch, her breath and heart racing. “Why did you do that?”
“Because I wanted to kiss you again,” he said simply. “I’ve thought about it since the first time we Skyped. You were so earnest about giving me the opportunity to talk to Penny—and you had her show off the new trick you’d taught her. She even had that silly bow on her head.”
Her fingers drew circles on his chest, taking in the flex of muscles under her touch. “It wasn’t silly.”
“We can agree to disagree.” He kissed the tip of her nose and sat back on the bench, taking his Coke from on top of the cooler.
“Disagree about the bow.”
“Okay, the bow. But that’s not the point here. Did that little side road in the conversation give you enough time to think about whether or not we’re going to spend the day fishing tomorrow?”
“Brody—”
“Stop right there.” He pressed a finger to her mouth.
“Stop what?” Her lips tingled from his kiss and the light tracing of his fingertip. She nipped him. “I haven’t said anything.”
