NowImust be hallucinating, because did he just winkat me?
No. Impossible.
He must’ve gotten dust in his eye.
“Well, son, we’re here inviting the lovely Sam to dinner this weekend. You’ll drive her, won’t you? You and the girls will be coming anyway, and there’s no sense in taking two cars what with gas prices, not to mention the ozone deterioration and pollution and whatnot.” Connor waves his hand around like any of this means anything right now.
“Uh, sure?—”
“No, he doesn’t?—”
Mary hauls me and the giant basket in for a quick hug, then turns and does the same to her son, all in a whirl of cutting us off and having her way. “We’ll see you both on Friday. Welcome, welcome, Sam dear!”
Connor twiddles his fingers at me like… like I don’t even know, and then they practically screech away in their car I hardly noticed until they made their getaway.
Grant and I are left in their literal dust. I look around, wondering what just happened.
It’s his huffed laugh that brings me back to the moment and the man standing in front of me.
The extremely good-looking uniformed officer standing there shaking his head with the flicker of a smile on his face accentuating the stunning genes he possesses. It’s the closest to a smile I’ve seen from him directed in my vicinity yet and, yeah, it packs a punch.
And by a punch, I mean an alarming crush of heat bursting in my belly and sending awareness to every nerve ending.
Which is not great.
“Wow. They’re intense.” I have to break the silencebetween us before I do something weird like reach out and run a hand along the curve of his jaw.
Completely inappropriate and not a thing I’d ever do, but the little vision that just flashed through my brain made it seem real nice.
Must be that full-out grin; it short-circuited something in my very rational brain.
“Yep. Wild ride with those two.” His face is soft with what I read as affection until something switches in an instant when his gaze returns to me. “Did you need something?”
I look to one side, then the other, trying to follow. “Need something?”
“Yeah.”
“Uh, no. I answered the door for your parents.” Irritation swells in me that he’s turning this into something I’ve done wrong. Seriously? Didn’t I live enough of my life dealing with emotional men who can’t get a handle on their moods? Why did I have to move in next door to one, too? “I’ll get out of your hair.”
I turn and march back inside, hauling Mary’s gigantic basket o’ goodies along with me.
For a second there, I fell into the trap of him. Shiny blue eyes and chiseled jaw and crisp uniform looking all sexy and capable. That hint of a smile, the clear affection for his parents… Fortunately, he reminds me exactly who he is, or at least who he’s not, when he opens his mouth for more than a few seconds.
We aren’t about to be friends, or even neighborly. He’ll tolerate me, and I’ll stay the heck out of his way.
Could get a little tricky with the whole family dinner invitation, but I’ll figure that out in the next five days.
CHAPTER TEN
Grant
The audacity of my parents to perform their little meet and greet with Sam, let alone invite her to our family dinner, has not left my head.
Neither is the maddening reality I’m faced with, which is that I cannot stop thinking about the woman. But it has to be the Patriot Ridge mess we’re sorting through.
Or, rather, the news that they are still operating. Their dear leader has been released on some kind of sketchy plea bargain I haven’t had the time to follow up on, and I have this feeling something’s coming.
Granted, I have a history of battling a sense of impending doom. After moving home due to my spectacular failure to keep the girls cared for and do my job while active military, my family came to the rescue in an all-hands-on-deck way I’ll never forget and never be able to repay. And once we got into a routine and I’d startedsleeping a few hours a night consistently, my mom forced me to go to therapy.
