“Why don’t you want to talk about it?”
She shifted, and he thought she was going to spin back around and face front. Even with her cap and sunglasses shielding half her face, he could tell by the set of her lips that she didn’t want to tell him anything.
About Germanyorher research.
“When I was in college, I dated a guy who tried to pass off one of my research papers as his own,” she finally said. “I dated another one who almost got me kicked out of school when he cheated off one of my tests. And I used to talk to my ex about my research. He’s a chemist, but we work with similar concepts and principles sometimes. He put out a paper about his theories on my research, and it got picked up by a couple magazines,and he’s been trying to convince the higher-ups that I should come work on his team in the chemistry department so our joint brains can improve on what I’ve already done.”
Lance’s grip tightened on his oar. He made himself unclench his jaw. “That’s a dickhead move.”
“My dean isn’t having it, and Ron’s got his knickers in a twist over being called a sexist pig and me not wanting to go to therapy with him. So half my lab time is getting eaten up in playing university politics and dodging my ex-husband.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. Now would be a nice time for a fish to jump in their canoe. A pumpkin to fly out of the sky and cannonball into the river. Hell, he would take coming face-to-face with a bear or a tiger for a distraction. Because he couldn’t stop himself from pondering a dangerous question.
“I don’t want to know,” he muttered to himself.
“Why I married a big ol’ geezer?” Kaci said. “He was probably just a dirty old man, but he treated me like he cared about my mind. He talked to me like I understood him instead of like I needed it told to me slow. I looked up to him. And then things just…happened. He got orders and offered me a ring so I’d go with him, and I was too young to realize I was just running away from one more place I didn’t fit in. I fit better with him, but I didn’t fit all the way. Not the way a wife should’ve.”
She wasn’t the type of woman who’d appreciate it, but he had an overwhelming desire to beat the shit out of her ex.
“He wanted kids,” she added quietly. “I don’t know if I want kids or not, but I didn’t want ’em with him.”
“You tell him that?”
“I took a blowtorch to his car and figuredthat was a good enough message.”
This woman was nuts. But he wasn’t entirely certain it was her fault. “This trip today isn’t a trap, is it?”
She smiled, but even he could tell it wasn’t a happy smile. “You’re one of the good guys. When we’re done, it’s gonna be my fault, and even I won’t be able to find a way to twist it otherwise.”
His heart flipped. “Kaci?—”
“You got planes to fly and bad guys to take down. I got kids to teach and engine efficiency to improve. We’re fun, but we both know we’re not forever.”
She was right, but he still wanted to tell her she was wrong.
He wasn’t in this forever. Hell, he was deploying soon. Getting out of Georgia, away from Gellings, justaway.
But he wasn’t as desperate to go. His life wasn’t suffocating him anymore, and heknew he’d still get out and see the world.
Sure, time was part of it. Time and distance from his broken engagement helped.
But the other part was Kaci. She wasn’t just a distraction. He couldn’t put into words exactly what she was—nor did he want to—but he knew it was something more.
She reached for the cooler between them. “Was that your stomach or mine? All this fresh air gives me an appetite. Jerky? Trail mix? Beer?”
He steered the canoe toward the riverbank. “You really pack fluffernutter sandwiches?”
“You know it.”
They pulled the canoe to shore under a canopy of pine and oak trees. Straggly bushes dotted the bank. Just a few feet farther in, they were in a semi-private alcove, listening to the river go by. Kaci unpacked a massive quilt for a picnic blanket, a stack of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches,chips, beef jerky, grapes and apples, and set out a second cooler with an assortment of microbrew beers in bottles.
Lance kicked off his shoes and stretched out on the quilt. Blue sky peeked through the trees. Leaves rustled in the breeze. A lock of Kaci’s hair had fallen out of her cap and across her cheek while she set their lunch out. “You come out here often?” he asked.
“Just once, this past spring. My Physics Club kids all got together for a day trip. They were disappointed I didn’t bring my potato gun.”
“Still waiting for you to pull out some firecrackers or a collapsible catapult.”
She shoved a beer at him. “Hush, you.”
