to hear it.” The waitress arrived at their table and took Ryan’s order. She was a gorgeous Scottish redhead, tall with a body as luxurious as her hair. She waited for Ryan to notice but he was polite and otherwise unconcerned with the other woman. “I hope you don’t mind sticking around for a bit. It’s been a long time since I’ve had good company.”
“How do you know I’ll be good company?”
“Because you’re beautiful to look at and you speak your mind, making you interesting to talk to. It’s a rare but highly sought-after combination.”
He thought she was beautiful. When had she last heard that? She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear before finally looking up to meet his eyes. “I don’t know what to say to that.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Erin. That’s the benefit of having dinner with a stranger. You don’t owe me anything.”
“I think I owe you a lot,” she acknowledged.
“So tell me something about yourself and we’ll call it even.”
She thought of all the things she could tell him. She was a physician. She worked at the same hospital as her stepfather and ex-husband. She was recently divorced from the only man she had ever been in a serious relationship with. None of those topics she wanted to discuss. “I was born in Scotland.”
“You don’t sound Scottish.” He was smiling at her and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of warmth from him.
“We moved when I was one. This is my first time back.”
“Your father never brought you here when you were growing up?”
“No. My father died when I was ten.”
He reached across the table and rested his hand on hers. “I’m sorry.”
This was where she normally said “That’s okay” as casually as she could muster, but something about Ryan changed her response. “Thank you.”
His hand lingered on hers until the waitress returned with his dark draft beer. “So tell me something about yourself,” she said, genuinely interested in the man before her.
“What do you want to know?”
“Am I the first woman you have ever pulled off a hillside?”
“First, and hopefully last. What else?” He leaned back in his chair and looked completely relaxed with opening his life up to her questions.
“Where are you stationed?”
“I’ve been mainly in combat zones in the Middle East for the past five years.”
“Do you like it?”
“Combat?”
“Being in the military.”
“Yes. I originally joined to help pay for school but found myself drawn to the hard work ethic and structure. When I finished school I decided to stay for the challenge.”
“You like a challenge?” She was surprised to hear her own voice almost coy, teasing him.
“I’ve found that everything in life worth having you have to work for.” The smile that followed was enough to make her heart begin to race. Was he flirting with her? A second later a horrible thought flashed through her mind and in a moment it also left her mouth.
“Are you married?” She alternated her gaze between the look in his eyes during his response and an examination of his left hand, looking for any hint of an outline of a ring.
“No, never have been.” It seemed as if he was telling the truth, but would she know if he wasn’t? He didn’t seem at all disturbed by her question. “Are you?”
She thought about her new label, hating the way it made her relive all her mistakes every time the label was used. She took another sip of her cider and rested the glass back on the table before answering. “Divorced.”
“That bothers you.”
“You’re observant,” she acknowledged.
“I’ve built my career around paying attention to the subtle clues people give me.”
“Then you’re lucky. I’m so naive that I miss even the most obvious of signs people give me.”
“You don’t strike me as naive.”
“I’m not anymore.” Or that was her new resolve anyway. She still needed to prove it to herself.
“I get the feeling there is a story behind that.”
He was more than observant, he was perceptive and he was right. There was a long story behind the loss of her innocence, but not one that she felt like sharing—especially with Ryan. It had been years since she had been a stranger to anyone and she enjoyed the freedom of talking to someone who wasn’t privy to the backstory of her life. “Are you always this inquisitive with women you have barely met?”
“No. But considering how we met I think we’re already beyond the superficial, don’t you?”
It wasn’t his words that implied an intimacy between them. It was the way he was looking at her. She again took in the man sitting before her. He was as handsome as he was confident and, as silly as it felt, it felt as if he was on her side. She wasn’t sure which feature she found most attractive but attraction was definitely coursing through her body.
“Yes,” she answered. “What exactly are we doing here, Ryan?”
She was direct. He’d known that already but he still wasn’t prepared for her question, because he didn’t know the answer. He had thought about little other than her since they had last parted. Relief had been just one of the emotions he had felt when he’d seen her tonight. If it had only been relief he would have just been happy to see that she was all right and left her alone, but more than relief he felt a complete fascination with the woman he had spotted the moment he’d entered the restaurant.
She looked more mature and somehow more desirable than she had on the hillside. Gone was the young frightened girl and instead, walking past him, was a confident woman. Her blond hair appeared freshly washed and accented perfectly against the blue silk of her shirt. She once again wore heeled boots to add to her height and they clung to her legs in the same fashion as her flesh-hugging gray denim.
Once in the pub he waited for over an hour before he ventured to her table and now he was being asked point-blank about his intentions. Intentions he still didn’t even know or understand.
“I’m getting to know a person who has captured my attention and I hope you’re doing the same.”
He watched as her flush spread from the valley between her breasts that her shirt exposed upward toward her face. She reached this time for her iced water and he watched her bide her time before answering.
“You have definitely captured my attention. But I’m not sure about why we’re bothering to get to know each other.”
“You
