in a bad part of town and gone into the army to escape. Once there, she’d been tapped for covert ops—the kind that had her doing anything necessary to ferret out secrets and then escape.
She’d had sex with men she barely knew in the name of getting the job done, and sometimes, afterward, she’d killed them. Hardly Kent’s dream date.
Now, watching him, she told herself to turn away. That he could never understand and being rejected by him would hurt a whole lot more than any bullet. Yet despite knowing she was making a huge mistake, she couldn’t help walking a little faster.
She caught up with him at the corner.
“Hi,” she said, moving next to him.
He turned and saw her. His surprise was almost comical—or it would have been if she hadn’t cared so much.
“Consuelo. I didn’t see you. Are you here for the festival?”
“Yes.” Despite her pounding heart, she managed a smile. “Don’t I strike you as the festival type?”
“Sure, and women love this one. There’s a parade later, and the Máa-zib ceremonial dance. At the end, a man gets his heart cut out.”
“Are there a line of women volunteering men who have annoyed them?”
He chuckled. “Probably.” His humor faded. “Can I help you with something?”
She swore silently. Obviously he’d noticed her withdrawal the last time they’d spoken. He’d probably thought she was blowing him off.
She knew how men saw her—they liked the curves and thought she was pretty. Confidence was appealing and she moved with a combination of grace and power. All the result of thousands of hours of training and ops. She’d had plenty of invitations and knew how to shut them down without a second thought.
But Kent was different. He was an ordinary man living in a regular world. If she had to guess, she would assume he figured she was telling him she wasn’t interested.
“Consuelo?”
Right. Because he’d asked a question.
“Do you have a second?” she asked.
“Sure. Reese is hanging out with his friends today. I’ve got time. What’s up?”
There was a bench around the corner on Fourth, close to the square of upscale boutiques. She led the way, thinking no one would be sitting there right now.
She was right and she settled on one end, then angled toward him. He sat down and waited.
“I’m sorry about before. How I acted when we were talking.”
She drew in a breath. She’d never believed in being honest in a relationship. In her mind, telling the truth only led to more questions, and at some point, because of what she did for a living, she would be forced to lie. Only she wasn’t in that line of work anymore and she was tired of having to be someone else.
She liked Kent. She’d liked him from the first moment she’d seen him, earlier that summer. She’d learned to trust her gut and it told her he was worth the effort.
“You intimidated me a little.” She swallowed. “A lot,” she amended. “When you talked about the kind of math you taught. Plus, the whole college thing. You’re smart and educated and I’m not.” She forced herself not to duck her head. “I got my GED, but that’s it.”
Emotions chased across his face. He was easy to read. Disbelief followed by confusion followed by what seemed like hope.
“I teach math at a high school,” he told her. “I’m not a senior scientist at JPL.”
She was pretty sure JPL was some jet engine–space business, maybe in Southern California. “I’m not sure why that makes a difference,” she said.
“Most people don’t think teaching high school math is that big a deal.”
“I’m not most people.”
“That’s obvious.”
His voice was gentle and slightly admiring, so she guessed he meant the comment as a compliment.
“I can’t do algebra,” she admitted.
“Yeah, and you could so kick my ass.” He leaned toward her. “Seriously? I intimidate you?”
“Why is that so hard to believe?”
“Have you looked in the mirror?”
As soon as he said the words, his expression tightened. As if he regretted them.
She glanced down at the dress she’d put on. A dress! So humiliating and girlie. But she’d worn it deliberately, and she’d left her hair down after curling it. All in the hopes she would see Kent.
“I don’t come from a great neighborhood,” she told him. “I’ve spent my career in the military. I’m as good with a firearm as any sniper and I can open most combination locks in less than a minute.”
His eyes widened. “Okay. That’s impressive.”
“Maybe from the outside, but I’m nothing like you. You have a great family and a regular job. You’re a nice guy.”
“Nice guy. Great.” He turned away.
She touched his arm. “No. Nice is good. Nice is the goal.” She paused. “I thought, if you want, maybe we could get to know each other.”
Relief filled his eyes. “Yeah? Sure. That would be great.” He grinned. “What do you want to know? You’ve already heard about my family. Ford would have told you stuff.” He frowned. “Whatever he said about me when I was a kid isn’t true. You have to believe me on that.”
She laughed, relaxing just a little. “He hasn’t said anything bad.”
“I know that’s not true.” He leaned back on the bench and stretched out his arm along the back. His fingers were only a few inches from her shoulders. Were he anyone else, she would assume he was trying to touch her or make a move. She had a feeling Kent didn’t operate that way.
“What do you think about Fool’s Gold?” he asked.
“I like it a lot. I wasn’t sure at first. I’ve never been anywhere like this.”
“It’s not Afghanistan.”
“How did you know I’d been to Afghanistan?” she asked.
“I didn’t. I thought I was making a joke. Why, were you there?”
She shook her head. “I can’t say.”
He studied her for a second. “Okay. Let’s talk about this town. Festivals, tourists. Not very exciting.”
“I like that. I’m ready for calm and quiet.” She tilted her head. “Ford mentioned you’d
