“I thought you already did this after your divorce,” Tara said while Kaci grabbed another pumpkin and started cutting the top off. “Didn’t you say something about a blowtorch? Or was that in one of my books?”
“This ain’t about him. It’s about military men in general.”
“It’s a conundrum. They’re so hot in books, but such jerks in real life.”
“Amen, sister.” Kaci actually loved military men—for the most part, they were honorable and strong and handsome, just like her daddy had been. But there was so much about them she just couldn’t swallow anymore.
“You gonna tell me what happened today, or should I guess? No, wait. Can I guess? Please?”
She fought against a smile and lost. In addition to being an underemployed former military wife, Tara wrote romance novels in her spare time. “Go on,” Kaci said. “I could use a good laugh.”
“The pumpkin-chucking contest was actually a recruiting event for a black-ops mission requiring a team of redneck engineers, and they didn’t pick you?”
“Hush your mouth. You know I would’ve been first on that list.”
Tara laughed. “There were vampires?”
“You can do better than that, sugar.”
“Werewolves?”
“Getting closer.”
“Ol’ Grandpappy showed up with your secret love child.”
When Tara had discovered Kaci’s ex was thirteen years her senior, she’d given him the nickname. For that alone, Kaci would claim her for life. “Nope.”
“Oooh, wait. Did Mr. Kiss-and-Run show up?”
Her shoulders hitched. She forced herself to snort in what she hoped was disbelief while she stuffed her pumpkin with an old pair of uniform socks she’d found in a box of notes from her grad student days.
“Hedid! Kaci! You need to spill. Right this instant.”
Kaci plopped the pumpkin into Ichabod, checked the catapult’s settings, then gestured for Tara to stay clear. “Firing.”
She pulled the release mechanism, and Ichabod tossed that pumpkin like yesterday’s gravy.
Watching that gourd fly off and disappear into the night sent a thrill through her veins almost as heady as if she’d been riding a rocket herself, though infinitely less terrifying.
Which was exactly what had sent her to that bar a month ago, looking for a distraction for her life.
What should’ve been the highlight of her career so far—being asked to headline a conference on efficient combustion at one of the largest physics symposiums in the world—had her shaking in terror.
Because going to the symposium in Germany meant she had to fly.
“Is he a werewolf?” Tara said. “Is that why he had to run away? Because he was about to shift into wolf form? No, wait. He hasto take a wife so he can inherit his family business, so he’s engaged, but he doesn’t actually love her. Or—oh. Oh, no. He’s dying, and only a kiss from his true love will save him, so he goes bar-hopping every night to try to find her, but his time’s running out, and?—”
“His team beat my girls,” she said.
Tara flashed her light in Kaci’s eyes. “Seriously? It was the guy from the bar?”
Kaci ducked out of the light. She grabbed another pumpkin and went to work hacking a hole around the stem.
“I heard a team from the base won,” Tara said.
Kaci nodded.
“He’s military? Stationed here?”
