I chuckled. “My life would be rather miserable if I didn’t.”
He leaned forward slightly, his eyes glued to mine. “Do you want any of your own one day?”
I blinked up at him over my menu. “Excuse me?”
“How many do you want?”
“Lives?” I laughed weakly.
“Kids.” He folded his hands like one of my old college professors, the one who had liked to make us do mock interviews during our freshman year. “How many kids do you want to have?”
“I…” I looked at Madison, but she looked as though she were stuck between smothering a laugh and blushing profusely.
She was dead. I was going to kill her and write my name in her blood.
When I didn’t answer immediately as I was plotting her demise, he tried again. “I just wanted to know if you—”
“Actually,” Adam, the blond one, gave his friend a not-so-subtle kick beneath the table, “before we get too far in, would anyone like a drink? My treat.”
I wasn’t a drinker in general, but this time, I didn’t hesitate to order a glass of wine. If Tanner’s studious gaze, which still hadn’t abated despite his friend’s kick, was any sign of the evening to come, I was going to need it.
“Jessie,” Madison said, a little too loudly, “is going to be starting her master’s degree soon. So she’s spending the summer earning a little extra money.”
“What are you doing?” Adam asked, casually draping an arm around Madison’s shoulders.
“Tutoring.” I smiled, taking a sip of my wine. Okay, that was a slight understatement. A big understatement. But I was too tired to explain to the world that I was here to escape. “What are your AFSEs?”
“Ah, so you speak Air Force lingo?” Adam looked impressed.
I laughed. “I’ve learned enough from my students to make basic conversation and order dinner.”
“That’s impressive.” Tanner was studying me with that intense tilt of his head again. “Military terms are often confusing to civilians.”
“So what do you two do?” I took another quick sip of my wine.
“We’re security forces.” Tanner sat taller in his seat, his chin lifting slightly and his eyes brightening.
I finished off my glass and stared at it morosely.
“Jessie?” Madison said with a nervous laugh, “do you need to—”
“Get some water?” I hopped off the bench. “Yes. Yes, I do.” Without waiting to hear her answer, I grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the water station.
“Maddie, are you nuts?” I whisper yelled.
“What?” She played with her purse’s zipper.
“They’re Security Forces! One little slip here, and we’re going to get traffic tickets any time we even think of driving on base.”
Madison rolled her eyes. “How often do you actually drive on base?”
“That’s not the point. The point is that you have set me up with someone who is very interested in…in procreation. With me, I might add!”
Madison avoided my gaze. “He’s in the military.” She shrugged. “They move a lot. He’s probably trying to find someone before they send him away again.” Then she smirked. “You complained that Sam Newman wasn’t forward enough. This guy meets your scruples and raises them.”
“This,” I gave her my best glower, “is why I don’t date airmen.”
“Would you get your water?” She scowled back. “They’re waiting on us.”
