His Strings to Pull (In the Line of Duty)

by Cathryn Fox

  “Thanks, man,” Ving said. “So you’re cool with me going out with her?”

  Garrett cocked his head. “You’ll have to get her to say yes first.”

  “Yeah, and she’s not one to fall for any stupid pick-up lines, either,” Luke said. Both guys rounded on Luke. “What?” he asked, taking a small step back. When they continued to glare at him he lifted his hands, palms out. “All I’m saying is she’s too smart to fall for the lines. If you want to get the attention of a beautiful and intelligent girl like her, you’ll have to be a little more creative.”

  As Ving considered that and thought about how they met, a wicked idea formed in the back of his mind. Oh yeah, he knew just what he had to do to get her attention and coax a yes from her lips. And if things played out according to the half-cocked plan racing around his brain, he wouldn’t just get a date, he’d get to feel that sweet mouth of hers on his again too.

  2

  Jenny adjusted the strap on her bathing suit and strolled the length of the pool, reveling in the warmth of the morning sun shining down on her. As she watched a group of kids play in the shallow end, her thoughts drifted to her encounter with Ving yesterday.

  Ving Duncan

  Hot, hard, funny…married.

  Even though she knew she should put him out of her mind, her glance kept straying to the row of townhouses down the road from the community center. Yes, despite knowing he was taken, after their run-in yesterday she’d still found herself watching him walk home with his three children in tow. A movement on the sidewalk drew her attention. She turned and when she spotted Ving and his little ones coming her way, her heart raced. She quickly put her back to them, forcing her attention on her pool duties.

  Just then fellow lifeguard, Candace Simms, came up to her and nodded toward Ving. “Your hottie is back.”

  “My hottie?” Jenny asked, planting a hand on her hip in defense, even though she wished it was true. “He’s not my anything.”

  Candace wagged her eyebrows. “Yeah, well, you didn’t see the way he was looking at you yesterday.”

  Jenny’s heart leapt and, while she wanted to hear all the details, wanted to gossip like a smitten high school girl, she said, “He’s taken, Candace.”

  “Hmmmm,” she said, sneaking looks at him.

  “What?” Jenny asked, getting the sense that Candace knew something she didn’t.

  “Taken or not, he’s still nice to look at.”

  “That he is,” Jenny agreed, deciding to give her friend that much.

  As she chatted with Candace about the new summer schedule, Jenny watched Ving jump into the water and roughhouse with his kids. Despite her best efforts not to pay him any attention, her glance kept straying his way. A few minutes later he swam out to the deep end, and when he began thrashing, merely a few feet from her, Candace grabbed Jenny’s arm.

  “Shit,” she said. “He’s in trouble.”

  Acting purely on instincts, both Candace and Jenny jumped into the pool. Working together they pulled him out. Within seconds they had him laid out on the pool deck.

  “He needs mouth-to-mouth,” Candace said as she checked his vitals. “Hurry, Jenny.”

  Trusting her friend’s judgment, Jenny positioned his head and quickly pressed her mouth to his. But the second her lips closed over his, his hands circled around her back, pulling her on top of him.

  Wait…is he…?

  Coherent thought fled as he began to kiss her, and when she felt the rough pad of his thumb on the back of her neck, holding her tightly against him, lust prowled through her body.

  Oh Gawd…

  She burned as he devoured her with his mouth, need zinging through her veins at breakneck speed. His tongue slipped inside her mouth and tangled with hers, and her body responded with a shudder.

  “Eww, Ving that’s gross.”

  Jenny pulled back and drew in a fortifying breath when she found one of his little girls standing beside them. She looked back at Ving, who had a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

  “What…what do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

  “What am I doing?” he retaliated. “It’s more like what are you doing.” He gestured with a nod toward the water. “I was just splashing around, and the next thing I knew you had me on the ground with your lips on mine.”

  “But I thought you were… Candace said…” When he gave her a lopsided grin, her words dissolved like honey in hot water. God, did he have to be so adorable. “But why would you…you’re married.”

  He shook his head. “No I’m not.”

  She looked up to see his little girl staring at her. “You have kids.”

  “Kids? What are you talking about? I don’t even like kids.” He winked at the girl and she giggled and ran off. “Heck, I didn’t even like myself when I was a kid.”

  “But I thought—”

  “I’m the babysitter. Do you think they would they call me Ving if I was their dad?”

  Jenny considered that for a moment. “I guess not.”

  “So I’m not married with kids, does that mean you’ll go out with me now?”

  “What?” she asked and looked around at all the people still staring at them. When she caught the way Candace was smirking at her, understanding dawned. She shook her head, incredulous; hardly able to believe that Candace was in on this. “You orchestrated this whole thing just to ask me out.”

  “And to kiss you.”

  Despite herself, Jenny laughed. Honestly, even though what he did was inappropriate and dangerous—and had taken her attention off the kids—she couldn’t help but feel a bit flattered. No man had ever gone to such measures to get her attention before.

  “I don’t even know you,” Jenny said.

  “I’ve rescue kissed you, you’ve rescue kissed me. What more do you want to know?”

  She narrowed her eyes and planted one hand on her hip. “How do I really know you’re not married and these kids aren’t yours?”

  “Well, Jenny,” he said. “You could always ask your brother, Garrett.”

  Her head came back with a start, not only because he knew her name but he also knew her brother. “Wait, you know Garrett?”

  “Yeah, we served together.”

  “You did?”

  He nodded. “And yesterday at the training compound, I told him I wanted to ask you out and he gave me his blessings.”

  “His blessings?” She laughed, and wondered if he came from a religious family. “Sounds like you were asking for my hand in marriage.”

  He arched a brow, and once again gifted her with that sexy grin that turned her knees to pudding. “All in good time, but first I have to prove to you how awesome I am.”

  “Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?” When she shook her head, loving how funny and easy he was to be with, a wayward strand of hair fell forward. He reached out and tucked it behind her ear. Her entire body came alive at his touch. She looked deep into his eyes, noting the thoughtful way he looked at her. While most military men she knew were players, out with a different girl every night, Ving had a real kindness, a genuine honesty about him.

  Then again, her track record had proved she was a terrible judge of character.

  “So what do you say? Can I pick you up at seven?”

  “No, you can’t.” When the smile fell from his face and he gave her a look that was so lost, so dejected, she said, “I work a split shift today and won’t be ready until eight.”

  * * *

  Ving drove around Jenny’s neighborhood, one eye on the road, the other on the dashboard clock. Jesus, whoever said time was linear had no idea what they were talking about because tonight each minute felt more like ten.

  He passed by her place again, but he was so goddamn excited to see her, he’d pulled into her driveway, despite being ten minutes early, and jammed his truck into Park. He grabbed the bouquet of flowers he’d picked up earlier and rushed up the long walkway leading to her condo.

  He knocked and waited for a seco
nd. Just as he was about to knock again, the door flung open and he came face to face with a pretty blonde girl covered in tattoos and piercings.

  “You must be Ving,” she said, her gaze dropping to the flowers.

  “I am, and you are?”

  She crinkled her nose. “What kind of name is Ving anyway? Is it short for something?”

  Before he could answer, Jenny came up behind her. “I see you met my nosey roommate, Samantha.”

  Samantha rolled her eyes. “It’s Sam. She just calls me that to piss me off.”

  “Hi, Sam,” Ving said. When he looked past her shoulders to see Jenny, her long dark hair falling loose around her shoulders, her smile so warm and welcoming, it was all he could do to remember how to breathe.

  Her blue eyes glistened when they met his. “Such a gentleman.”

  “What?” he asked, so lost in her that his brain wasn’t functioning at full capacity.

  “The flowers.”

  “Oh, right, they’re for you.” He handed her the flowers and she sniffed them. “Daisies, my favorite. Let me guess, Garrett told you.”

  “Nope,” he said. “You just seemed like a daisy kind of girl.”

  She cocked her head, and gave him a skeptical look as she narrowed her big blue eyes. “Really?”

  “Really,” he said. “Scout’s honor.”

  “You were a scout?”

  “I was a lot of things.”

  She laughed. “I bet you were.” She looked at the flowers again. “You did good, Ving. These are really pretty.”

  “You two know I’m still here, right?” Sam cut in. When neither of them acknowledged her presence and kept staring at each other, Sam rolled her eyes. “Jesus, get a room already.” She took the flowers. “These need water.” She turned to leave but not before she mumbled something about them needing a good cold dousing too.

  After she left, Ving let his glance move over Jenny’s summery dress. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thank you.” She looked at his khakis and dress shirt. “You clean up pretty nice yourself.”

  “Ready?” he asked. She nodded and he slipped his arm around her waist, anxious to get to know her better. Twenty minutes later, they sat across from each other on a blanket at the park, the sun setting in the horizon.

  Ving laid out the food the neighbor’s kids had helped him prepare and uncorked a bottle of wine. When he caught Jenny grinning at him, he narrowed his eyes. “What?”

  She waved her hand over the food. “I didn’t expect this. I figured we’d be sitting in some fancy restaurant.”

  “Sorry to disappoint—”

  “I never said I was disappointed.”

  “Good. And I have a confession. It was Marley’s idea.” He grinned. “I think her mom lets her watch too many romantic comedies. She’s going to grow up with far too many expectations,” he said, chuckling.

  “Marley?”

  “One of the little girls I was babysitting. Marley is the oldest girl, Kate is the youngest. Andy is the one who knocked you into the pool.”

  “Do you babysit often?”

  “Their mom is a nurse and a single mom. She’s a shift worker and money is tight, so I do what I can to help out.”

  “That’s very sweet of you.”

  “Not really. I actually just use them to pick up chicks. Girls dig a guy with kids, you know.”

  Jenny laughed. “It’s puppies guys use, not children.”

  “Shit.” He shook his head. “I always get that mixed up. I guess now I have to get a puppy.”

  “I’m sure Garrett can help you out with that. He and a bunch of the guys are training shelter dogs to help bomb-hunting soldiers on American soil. From what Garrett said, there are many unexploded bombs across the country left over from former training camps during the wars.” He sat there listening to her, then she narrowed her eyes. “Wait you already know all this, don’t you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you let me go on and on anyways?”

  “I like listening to you talk.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You talk for a while.”

  “Okay, well, I’ve signed on to help the guys. I even made a trip to the shelter this morning.”

  “You did?”

  “Of course.”

  She glanced around the park, then said quietly, “You know. I think you might be too good to be true.”

  He pitched his voice low and sidled closer. “I can be bad,” he murmured, only half teasing.

  She grinned, took a sip of her wine, then exhaled slowly. “I like this. I like it a lot, Ving.”

  “I like you a lot,” Ving said.

  “You don’t even know me.”

  “I know enough.”

  She pursed her lips and stared at him. “Maybe I don’t.”

  “Okay, what do you want to know?” he asked, holding out a container of grapes to her. She popped one into her mouth and her eyes narrowed as she chewed. “What kind of name is Ving, anyway? Is it short for something?”

  He laughed. “Now you sound like your roommate.” He took a sip of his wine. “Speaking of your roommate, you two seem…”

  “Different?”

  “Yeah.”

  “We’re not so different.”

  “She’s full of piercings and tattoos.”

  Jenny gave him a wry look. “Who says I’m not?”

  “I saw you in your bathing suit, remember?”

  She arched a brow. “It was a one-piece.”

  “So you’re saying I’m going to find all kind of interesting things when I see you in a two-piece?” As he visualized it a tremor moved through him, because he knew he’d find all kinds of interesting things, indeed.

  “Maybe.” She crossed her legs and nibbled on a piece of cheese. God, she looked so sweet and inviting it was all he could do not to lean in for a kiss. She chased the cheese with a sip of wine, then said. “Sam and I go way back. I was a teen when my father died, and I went through a rebellious stage. I hung out with the wrong people, did the wrong things. Sam was part of that crowd, and was just as lost as I was.”

  Ving put his hand on hers and gave a squeeze. “I’m sorry about your dad. Garrett has never talked much about him.”

  “We all grieve in different ways.” She took another sip of wine and Ving refilled her glass. “Anyway, if it wasn’t for my mom, and not giving up on Sam or me, who knows where we’d be today. She enrolled Sam in art classes, and now she makes and sells her own jewelry. It was swimming lessons for me. Now I’m a lifeguard and give lessons. I really love it.”

  “Your mom sounds terrific.”

  “She is. How about your folks? Are you close?”

  “We are. They live in Tallulah, Louisiana, and I visit as much as I can. Now that I’m out of the army I’ll be able to see them more.”

  “What did you do in the army?”

  “Apache pilot.”

  “Really, wow, I’m impressed.”

  He grinned. “As you should be.”

  She whacked him and when he feigned hurt she rolled her eyes. “So I guess it is true.”

  “What true?”

  “That all pilots have God complexes.”

  “Funny, I heard the same thing about lifeguards.”

  “Hey,” she said, her laugh dissolving. But he wasn’t sure if it was because of his teasing or the fact that he had shifted to sit beside her, their legs touching, the heat of her body messing with him in mind-fucking ways.

  “This is…nice.” She leaned back on her elbows and looked up at the dark sky. “I’ve never been on a picnic date before.” She turned to face him and her hair fell over her shoulders. “You’re just full of contradictions, aren’t you?”

  “Meaning?”

  “You’re just different from most guys. Like I said, I’m beginning to believe you’re too good to be true.”

  He dropped down onto his back, rolled onto his side, and flattened his hand over her stomach. “And like I said, I can be bad. If that’s what
the lady wants.”

  She looked back up at the sky. “I…uh… It’s getting late. The park will be closing soon.”

  He moved closer and his cock thickened against her leg. He felt a quiver move through her. “I’m not ready for this night to end, Jenny,” he whispered.

  She angled her head to see him, went quiet, thoughtful for a moment, then said, “Let’s go.”

  “Where?”

  “I’ll only tell you if you tell me what Ving is short for.”

  “Forget it,” he said. “The only time that will cross anyone’s lips is when the priest says it on my wedding day.”

  “We’ll see. I’ll get it out of you yet.”

  3

  “Take a left here,” Jenny said, pointing to the community center’s parking lot.

  Ving narrowed his eyes and shot her a confused look when he saw she was taking him to the pool. “You want to go swimming?”

  “I think Sam was right. We could use a good dousing in cold water.”

  He laughed, and without a hint of embarrassment, adjusted his khaki shorts. “I guess you noticed how much I like you.”

  She looked at him, and her entire body warmed. “I like you too, Ving.”

  He slammed his truck into Park and turned to her. Shifting closer, he touched her hair, the backs of his fingers brushing along her cheek. His dark gaze moved over her face as he wound a loose strand around his finger. His voice dropped an octave when he said, “I’m glad to hear that.”

  “It’s strange. I just met you, but I feel like I’ve known you forever.” She looked out the windshield at the empty parking lot, hardly able to believe how fast she was falling for the guy. “It’s all happening so quickly and to be honest, I feel like I’m skydiving without a parachute.”

  “Don’t worry. If you fall, I’ll catch you.” He gave her a wink, and she guessed he was referring to her spill in the pool.

  “I kind of think you would.”

  “I would.” His glance moved over her face, and she found herself leaning in to him, craving his closeness. “Do you believe in love at first sight?” he asked.

  She considered it for a moment. “No, I don’t think so.”