Jackson’s grin dropped off again, and his ears switched course until they glowed an unnatural pink. He stacked the last two cookies, leaving the top one slightly off-center. He eyed her, but she didn’t so much as twitch at the disorder.
Not that she didn’t want to.
“Three,” he finally said. “According to Uncle Sam, anyway. I only count one.”
It took a minute to process that, until she remembered Neil had mentioned some of the Air Force continuing professional development programs counted as master’s degrees when they were done in residence.
If that was the case, Jackson outranked Neil.
She wanted to laugh. How wasthatfor a rebound?
Jackson stacked the two cookies evenly. “Been thinking about that night you didn’t share any good fishing stories.”
“I’m boring.”
“I hear tell you’re pretty good with firecrackers.”
She looked up from watching his long fingers on the cookies. “You’ve been talking about me?”
“Mostly listening.” His dimples seemed extra-dimply tonight.
Her face was hotter than Jim-Bob’s parking lot, but she found a cheeky grin of her own. “So you got the briefing about getting on my bad side?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Yet he’d still asked her to coffee.
Better and better.
But just to make sure— “Do you want to get married?”
His eyes went wide and a strangled gasp escaped his lips. “No, ma’am.”
Kaci must’ve been right about his momma raising him right, because even though Anna heard about a hundredexpletives hanging in the air between them, they hadn’t come from his mouth.
Better and better had just become nearly perfect. She took a nonchalant sip of her chai, then gave him a sassy smile. “Me neither.”
He tugged on his collar. “You’re a right funny girl, Anna Grace.”
She methodically split her cookie into bite-size pieces. “Had to check. I didn’t enjoy getting divorced the first time, and I don’t plan to put myself in a position to go through anything like it again.” And that was as serious as she wanted to get with him. “But I think you’re cute.”
He rewarded her with one of those grins that made her very happy to be a single woman. “So you’re telling me my timing’s getting better.”
“It’s not getting worse. And I’ve obviously been a good influence, because your grammar’s getting better too.”
The slide of his leg against hers told her he took that as encouragement.
She didn’t mind a bit.
Fifteen minutes later, he walked her out to her car. “You okay to drive home?” he asked.
She nodded. “Much better now. Thanks.”
“Call any night you need a pick-me-up, you hear?” He brushed a kiss to her temple.
She tilted her head back to look up at him. She couldn’t resist it. Might as well indulge. Just because she wouldn’t get married again didn’t mean she had to stay celibate. Besides, he had an expiration date calledorders. That would be easy enough to walk away from. “Can I call for anything else?”
“Anytime, Anna Grace. Anytime.” He twirled her hair around his fingers, then dropped it and stepped back. “Drive safe.”
