of
two ways. Being cool probably wasn’t going to work so she settled
back against her chair and laughed.
“ Yeah, Jed, I think you’re
good looking.”
“ Good. Because I think
you’re hot.” Then he wiggled his eyebrows, pulling a giggle out of
her.
“ Yeah?”
“ Now that we have that out
of the way…why don’t you tell me all about your day?”
She settled back, happy to be on a
subject that didn’t make her nervous.
* * * *
Bran was frowning at his cereal the
next morning when Tess finally ambled out of her room. She wore a
t-shirt and shorts. Damn, when did her legs get so long? She had
always been a tall woman, but now, those legs were no longer the
toothpicks they’d been in high school. Lean with just enough muscle
to make them shapely, he could just imagine how it would feel to
have them wrapped…
Whoa, Johnson. What the hell is
wrong with you? He shook his head trying to forget what he’d
just been thinking. It was way out of line. Instead, he frowned
harder at Tess.
“ So, I see you finally got
out of bed.”
She looked at him, then down at his
cereal. “You just got up yourself, Bran. I know you can’t wait to
eat in the morning.”
Dammit . Having a woman who knew
him so well wasn’t advantageous for him. Bran knew it was horrible,
but he usually liked to keep things on the surface with women. He
wasn’t around for the long haul…and it also gave him a little edge.
With Tess, he didn’t have that.
“ Okay, I did, but I drove
a long ways yesterday.”
She rolled her eyes and walked into
the kitchen. “And I stayed out late last night with Jed. Suck it
up, Marine.”
“ Yeah, about
that.”
“ Yes?” she asked as she
started her k-cup to brew.
“ I didn’t know you dated
so much.”
She looked at him. “Not that I date a
lot, but I guess…compared to high school and the academy, I do date
more. Probably not much more than anyone else our age,
though.”
He grunted and decided it was better
not to touch on the topics of high school and Annapolis. Those
seemed to be some kind of sore subjects with her.
She pulled out some creamer and poured
it into her coffee.
“ So, what are your plans
today?” She slipped onto the stool next to his. Their shoulders
brushed as he drew in the just-showered scent of her. He could
smell the herbal soap on her skin…and it made him sweat.
Damn.
“ Bran?” she asked when he
didn’t answer.
He released a breath he hadn’t
realized he’d been holding and rolled his shoulders. “Not
sure.”
“ Shouldn’t your answer
have something to do with looking for a house?”
“ Kicking me out,
Keller?”
She shrugged. “I like my
space.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. It
irritated him that she seemed to have this whole other life now. At
one time, they had been thick as thieves. Now, they seemed a bit
awkward and it felt like she didn’t want to spend time with
him.
And the fact that this felt a little
bit like jealousy didn’t sit well with him either.
“ You’re off
today?”
“ Yep. One of the joys of
swapping shifts. I get three days off. I had planned on hitting the
beach.”
“ It’s supposed to rain. So
you can help me find a place.”
“ Yeah, exactly what I
need. Traipsing around in the rain with you sounds like a lovely
day.”
He frowned. Bran normally liked her
sarcastic tone, but for some reason, it rubbed him the wrong way
this time. He was sure it had anything to do with the fact that he
was still tired from the trip and hadn’t slept the night
before.
“ I’ll spring for
lunch.”
She slanted him a look. “No fast food
burgers.”
“ You used to live off
those.”
“ I haven’t been in a fast
food restaurant for three years, except the food court at the
exchange.”
“ Okay. But, no
lobster.”
She patted him on the cheek. It was
totally normal that when she looked at him with her hand on his
face, his heart jerked a little bit, right?
“ You pilots are always