“You had no idea?”
“None. We’d talked a couple of days before and I had no clue anything was wrong. We even talked about what part of Tampa we wanted to look for a house.”
“What an asshole.”
She huffed out a laugh. “Yeah.”
He shifted and she raised her head from his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and tucked her close, resting his chin on her head.
“What did you do?”
“I seven-day opted.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“When someone gets an assignment notification, they have seven days to either agree to take the assignment or to turn it down.”
“And you turned it down. What happens then?”
“I didn’t owe the Air Force any more time, so I was out in six months. While I was going through the transition assistance classes, I took the small business track and got the idea for the bookstore. When I was talking to Elba about it, she mentioned the store next to her was for rent and things went really fast from that point.”
“Let me get this straight—you got divorced, got out of the military, and started a business all in six months?”
“Yeah.” It did sound drastic when he laid it out like that. As if she was some bitter, spurned woman going off the deep end.
His hand grasped the back of her head and he tilted it back to stare down at her. “You’re amazing.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes. You are. And I’m glad your husband is an asshole.”
She bit back a smile and then remembered he hadn’t been there when she’d woken up.
“What?” His eyes searched his face.
“I wondered what had happened when you weren’t here when I woke up. I thought you’d left, left.”
“Like wham-bam, thank you, ma’am?”
She pressed her lips together when he used the exact words she’d thought. “Something like that.”
“Been a while since I’ve slept next to someone.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s my issue. I didn’t want to disturb you so I went to let the dog out and feed her.”
She nodded. It made sense, but after rehashing everything that had happened with Mark, it was too easy to assume the worst.
“You winced when we cleaned up last night. I wanted to give you a little bit of time to recover.”
“Do they teach you mind reading along with voodoo in the police academy?”
“You have very expressive eyes.”
Turning her so she was caged against the counter, he guided her head back and pressed his mouth to hers. His tongue traced the seam of her lips and she welcomed him while he invaded her and took possession of her mouth.
Her robe opened and his fingers traced the slit of her pussy. She moaned into his mouth and shifted her weight, parting her legs to allow him easier access. Arousal raced through her like a spark through a firecracker factory.
