Radish misses you.
Her shoulders scrunched in girly excitement. She thumbed a quick message back.Such a sweetie. No wonder she and Enrique get along so well.
When she pulled up in front of his house, he was tooling around with hunting gear in the garage. Radish watched him from her position sprawled across the floor. They both glanced up at her, and she couldn’t decide which one had the biggest grin.
This wasn’t permanent, but a warm welcome from a friend couldn’t be bad for her.
She swung out of her car with her bag over her shoulder. “Getting packed?”
“About done.” He tossed a camo duffel into the truck, dusted off his hands, and then pulled her in for a peck on the cheek. “Rest can wait. Tests good?”
“Passed one. Won’t know about the other until next week.”
“Feel good about it?”
“I’ll let you know when I find my brains to think about it again.”
His thumbs flicked over her ribs. “Looking for some stress relief?”
She leaned into him, inhaling the subtle hints of Old Spice. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“We’ll get to that,” he said on a chuckle. “Had a buddy over the other day. Said he wished his kitchen was clean as mine. Said he’d pay good.”
Anna perked up. Organizing for cash? “Really?”
“Yeah, but don’t you be getting any ideas about his drawers, you hear me?”
She laughed. “Yes, sir.”
“Now then.” He pulled her closer. “You’re looking right pretty tonight.”
And he was being right gentlemanly to say so, since there was no way it was true. She reached up to trace his ear. “You too.”
He inhaled sharply, and his eyes went dark.
“So you likethat.” It was probably the most useful thing she’d learned all week.
“Not all I like.”
Over her laughing protests, he swung her up over his shoulder, ordered Radish inside, and spent the next two hours making her brains completely unnecessary.
Monday morning,Anna fired up Rex then swung herself into the snack kitchen for coffee. Shirley turned from the sink and gave her a once-over.
Anna was humming.
“Good weekend?” Shirley asked. Her tone implied her real question.Get laid?
Anna stifled an irreverent smile. Not since Thursday. She’d spent the weekend studying, cleaning Walker’s fish bowl, and getting paid to organize one of Jackson’s old ROTC buddies’ kitchen. But on the drive in this morning, she’d realized something.
She liked her life. “It was. Yours?”
“Too much time at soccer games, but it was nice. Classes going well?”
The one speed bump. She was doing well, but she wasn’t enjoying them. She felt as if she were spitting out a bunch ofblah blah blahsevery time she took a quiz or test. But she was hitting the rightblah blahs, because she was passing this semester. “Very.”
“Good. I called Corporate and told them you’re qualified on the equipment. They want you to start running tests.”
Anna sucked in half of her bottom lip. This should’ve been good news. But— “Does Jules know?”
