“If I can’t make a great taco, they’ll kick me out of here.” Then she batted her eyelashes at him.
He laughed. It was a meal, what would it hurt? And they had helped each other out. She’d shown she was a good sport.
“All right. You’re on.” He wasn’t sure he could recall the last time he’d smiled this much, and he was hungry.
As she headed to her car in her short shorts and football jersey, he put his items up on the checkout counter and smirked.
What he needed more than anything was peace and quiet, to focus on being a helicopter pilot and instructor. He’d been given a great opportunity for someone his age and he didn’t want to screw it up by losing his drive.
That woman was trouble.
Damn if he didn’t want to find out what kind.
* * *
WHAT WAS I THINKING?
Mari tossed her groceries into the fridge, which was in the garage. That’s where she’d set up her temporary kitchen while hers was under construction. How was she going to cook a meal for a man like him on her tiny hot plate? And where exactly was she going to serve it?
She tapped a finger against her chin. The inside of her house was chaos. A construction zone with no end in sight. She sighed. She didn’t have time to worry about that now. She had to plan dinner.
One hour at a time she reminded herself. It was how she lived her life now. Otherwise it was too overwhelming.
Inspiration hit. Her back deck. It was clean and she had a great fire pit to keep her and Brody warm. The hot tub hadn’t been installed yet, but there was a decent table and chairs. She rolled her eyes; she wouldn’t have used the hot tub with her to-die-for neighbor anyway.
Don’t go there.
So handsome. So built. No. Not even a possibility. She needed him for one thing and one thing only—and it was not to satisfy her lust-fueled thoughts. Although feeling those manly muscles around her shoulders—and those abs.
Those abs. He must work out every stinkin’ day. She shook her head as if to erase the image.
Nope. Not going there. She had a plan, or at least the beginnings of one, and it did not include having sex with the neighbor. No matter how terrific he might be.
No. Really. Stop thinking about him that way. Mere moments ago he’d had to extricate himself from the clutches of his boss’s daughter. The last thing he wanted was Mari trying to seduce him. But it had been so long. So very long since she’d even felt the urge to—
Tacos. She had to get the tacos started.
She switched on the hot place, got out a frying pan and crumbled the hamburger meat into it. After adding some spices and a bit of minced garlic, she started chopping vegetables and shredding cheese.
This meal was the least she could do for her white knight of a neighbor. When he’d appeared out of nowhere and pretended to be her boyfriend, she’d almost collapsed with gratefulness.
The ex, Gary, had left a soul-crushing mark on her, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever trust another man. He’d made her believe they had a future together, and then he’d come home one night and said she was boring. That he’d had an affair at a conference and it helped him realize he wasn’t as into her as he thought he was.
Whatever. The cheating jerk acted like everything was her fault.
“You’re too vanilla, Mari,” Gary had said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been this bored in bed. I shouldn’t have cheated on you, but after that one night at the convention I knew what I was missing. And then I couldn’t help myself. You’re just not it for me.”
Queasiness hit, as it did whenever she remembered his words. He could have shot her and left her for dead that day and she wouldn’t have been more surprised.
It wasn’t the first time a romance of hers had gone down in flames. She’d dated her fair share of Garys, but she’d thought this one was different. Even if their ideas on design clashed, and he didn’t like Mexican food and he demanded the towels be folded in halves, when she liked them another way. Who didn’t go for a three-quarter fold? It always looked nice on the towel rack.
That should have been my first clue. Still, it didn’t keep her ex’s words from churning through her head in a hateful litany. All right, fine, so she wasn’t an expert when it came to sex, and she’d had to fake the majority of her orgasms with Gary.
Oh, who am I kidding? I faked them all. But she didn’t imagine she was boring in bed.
Now Gary was with a model? And she didn’t even know what bygones meant. But she was probably great in bed, which evidently was Gary’s primary criteria when it came to the woman he wanted to marry. Engaged. Already.
Ugh.
She rolled her shoulders, trying to ease the tension, and took a couple deep breaths. It’s what she did to release the nerves.
I’m definitely better off without him. That fact didn’t keep the loneliness at bay, however; and all the good guys in Corpus Christi seemed to be taken or unavailable. Even the hot, sexy Marine from across the street was too good to be true. He had women like the redhead throwing herself at him and there he was turning her down. How could Mari compete with that? Not to mention, what if she did sleep with him and he thought she was boring?
Why are you even thinking about sleeping with him?
Come on. How could she not? Those biceps and that smile. When he’d thanked her ex at the grocery store for giving her up, her heart had skipped a beat. She had to remind herself he was too good to be true.
But it felt wonderful to have him in her corner. And that fish face Gary had made, that was the best.
No, it wouldn’t do at all for her to think about Brody as anything more than a nice neighbor.
Although he might be able to assist her with the one thing she needed most.
She’d seen him in uniform a couple of times and he was breathtaking. After he’d carried in her flooring that day, she kept meaning to take him cookies or maybe bake him a pie. But without a real kitchen it wasn’t easy.
She stirred the meat and then returned to chopping.
Her cell rang and she checked it. Mom again. She swiped the screen, making the phone silent. She didn’t have time for this. And she knew it was only her parents checking in. They were still worried about her breakup with Gary even though it had been months ago.
Her ex’s expression when he’d taken in Brody had been hilarious. As if the idea had never occurred to him that she could attract someone like the Marine.
Even if she couldn’t, she sort of loved the fact that now Gary would think she’d traded up, silly or not.
Brody...he was all man. Those biceps under his black T-shirt could not be denied. And when she’d leaned against him, those abs she’d touched were washboard-hard. That was the third time she’d thought about his abs.
No.
