it isn’t there won’t make it go away.”
“Wanna bet?” she quipped, then walked to the open front door and stood beside it, clearly waiting for him to leave.
Ah, well, he thought. He headed for the doorway. As he stepped into the hall separating their apartments, he turned and laid one hand flat on the door before she could shut him out.
“I’m curious about something,” he said, letting his gaze slide over her features.
“What’s that?” She stood half-behind the door, using it as a shield.
“Is it all men you don’t trust?” he asked, and waited a beat before adding, “Or is it just me?”
One dark-brown eyebrow lifted slightly as she said, “It’s all men, Sergeant Haley…”
Well, good, he thought.
Then she added, “And especially you.”
Swell.
“I’m a very trustworthy guy,” he argued.
“And I should take your word for that, I suppose.”
“You could call my mother,” he offered with a grin.
Her lips twitched, but she shook her head. “Thanks. I’ll pass. Now, good night.”
Kathy closed the door and instinctively turned the lock. The snick it made as it clicked into place seemed overly loud to her in the sudden stillness. Then, going up on her toes, she put one eye to the peephole.
Brian backed up and stared right at her, as if he knew she was watching him. Winking, he said just loudly enough to be heard, “If you change your mind, my mom’s number is 555-7230.”
Two
The phone rang as soon as Brian entered his apartment. His mind still focusing on Kathy Tate, he crossed the room and absently noticed that the vertical blinds on the front windows were opened. Sunlight speared between the slats, laying prisonlike bars of pale-golden light across the floor. He shook that thought off, snatched up the receiver and said, “Hello?”
“Hi, Bri,” a throaty, female voice purred into his ear.
“Dana.” He tried not to wince. Even his mother hadn’t called him “Bri” since he was eight years old. But, he reminded himself firmly, he hadn’t objected to the nickname when he first started dating Dana Cavanaugh.
“I was wondering,” she went on, snapping Brian’s attention back where she wanted it, “if you’d like to come have dinner at my place tonight.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the closed door that led to the hallway, and beyond that to Kathy’s apartment. “Dinner?” he asked in an obvious-to-anyone-but-Dana stall. Idly he drew his fingertips through the layer of dust covering the small tabletop. Man, if he couldn’t bring himself to clean, he ought to hire someone to do it.
“C’mon Bri,” Dana implored and his eyelid twitched in response to the whine in her voice. “It’s been weeks since I’ve seen you.”
“Yeah, well.” A splinter of guilt poked at him. “I’ve been busy. Work’s piling up on base…” That sounded lame even to him. But what should he do? Admit to her that ever since meeting his new neighbor, he’d lost interest in the other women he knew? Hardly. The fact was almost too humiliating to admit to himself.
“Are you too busy to eat dinner now?” she asked.
He shifted slightly to take a look at his kitchen—a small, dark room where no pot bubbled on the stove. Across the hall, Kathy Tate was busy ignoring him, and soon he’d be contemplating which frozen entrée to zap in the microwave. So why was he even hesitating? A dinner invitation should sound to him like a gift from the gods.
After all, it wasn’t as if he was making any headway with Kathy. And why shouldn’t he have a nice dinner with a gorgeous woman rather than sit here alone regretting the fact that his legendary charm hadn’t succeeded in breaching Kathy’s defenses? Besides, he hadn’t gone anywhere but to the base in the past four weeks.
“Bri,” Dana asked, “are you still there?”
“Yeah,” he said, “I’m here.” Then before he could change his mind, he added, “And soon to be there.”
“Really?”
“Why not?” He forced a smile. “What are we having?”
She laughed, and the throaty sound that used to kick his hormones into high gear now seemed forced and just a bit theatrical.
“Let me surprise you,” she said.
All kinds of invitations were included in that one sentence, and it really irritated the hell out of him that he wasn’t filled with expectation. Was this some sort of weird cosmic justice? Was the perpetual ladies’ man destined to lose his heart to the one female who didn’t want it?
But even as he entertained that notion, he discarded it. Hearts were not involved here. And if, a few weeks later, he would look back on this moment and wonder how he could have been so stupid…well, he was blissfully in the dark now.
“I’ll be there in half an hour,” he said, and hung up. A quick shower and he’d be on his way. And hopefully an evening with the delectable Dana would push Kathy Tate out of his mind.
Fifteen minutes later, Kathy heard his door slam and braced herself for the sound of a brisk knock at her own door. Brian Haley apparently didn’t want to take “No, thanks” for an answer.
But his footsteps went off down the hall.
“Well,” she said aloud, and was glad there was no one to hear her, “that should teach you a little humility.” Without even thinking about it, Kathy walked across her apartment to look out the front windows.
Turning back the edge of the curtains with her fingertips, she looked down onto the residential street below. A group of kids riding their bikes in the late summer sun raced along the quiet street and disappeared, leaving echoed hoots of laughter in their wake. An ocean breeze rattled the leaves of the old poplar trees lining the sidewalks, and somewhere in the distance a lawn mower growled and dogs barked.
She stiffened when Brian hurried down the front steps and along the curving walkway. Following him with her gaze, Kathy didn’t miss his crisply ironed blue sport shirt and the tan khaki slacks. Looked like date clothes to her. “I’m glad to see rejection doesn’t keep him down for long.” She shook her head and went up on her toes to see him better. He moved quickly, like a man on a mission. “Anxious, isn’t he?” she muttered through gritted teeth.
So much for her theories about her own irresistibility. Not only wasn’t he pining from her lack of interest, he’d gone directly from flirting shamelessly with her to a date with someone else.
Unlocking the door of his black Jeep, he slid inside, fired the engine and was gone a moment or two later.
Only then did Kathy notice her grip tightened on the curtains, pressing dozens of
