His Strings to Pull Read Free Page B

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