“I’m not a guest, Egan. I’m here to work.”
His laughter bounced off the walls. “Yeah, sure.”
“Rough day?” She took the glass and poured more wine then stepped out onto the balcony, needing the cool air to put out the fire in her body.
“This certainly isn’t what I’m used to,” he said when he joined her. With the entire balcony available he chose to stand next to her, leaning over the top rail and staring into the darkness like a man who had the world on his shoulders. “You know, quiet and peaceful during a job. No smoke. No sound of gunfire.”
“You miss it, don’t you?”
He met her gaze, holding it in a soft, warm cradle of blue depths. “There are a lot of things I miss.” The huskiness in his voice jetted straight to her inner thighs.
Refusing to walk into that trap, she chose to turn the conversation into a different direction. “Finley likes having you home. She gets so excited before your visits, especially when you took her to the zoo.” She held out the glass and he accepted it.
“I like being close to her. I wasn’t complaining about the quiet. It’s different, especially at night. Hearing explosions and gunfire became the norm. Here, in the States, it’s about getting into a groove. Reminding myself that it’s okay to sleep without the fear of being shot.” He swiped his palm down his tired face. “I’m one of the lucky ones, that is if you can call it luck. I survived.”
“Still having trouble sleeping?”
“Yeah.” He stared into the sky.
A part of her wanted to comfort him, like she would when they were married. “That’s why you’re here with me. You always did like to talk when you couldn’t sleep.”
“That wasn’t the only thing I liked to do when I couldn’t get any shut eye. Best therapy ever,” he teased.
Feeling the flush crawl up her neck into her cheeks, she turned away from his warm, searching gaze. “We both know that can’t happen.”
“I get it, but for theory’s sake, why not? Is there someone else that might be pissed if we did?” He shifted so that his hip leaned against the wrought iron rail.
Staring into the distance, she gave her head a small shake. “No, I’m not going there.”
“Why? You opened the can of worms when you mentioned you had a date. How’d it go? Was he Mr. Right?”
Now she regretted bringing up that fact considering the blind date turned out to be a complete disaster. “We’re not doing this, Egan.”
“We used to talk about sex all the time.”
“So it went from date talk to sex. You certainly do move fast.”
“I’ve been told that a few times before.” His grin reached right into the center of her bones and tickled her marrow.
“We’re divorced. We’re not allowed to cross those boundaries any longer.”
“Can’t you give up all the rules?”
“We’re two different people. I like stability.”
“So, is there someone else?” he pursued the conversation. “That is if I can believe there’s nothing between you and Langley. I’m still not quite sure there.”
Snapping her gaze on him, she moaned in irritation. “Let’s not rehash this again. There’s no one. What about you? Now that you’re home is there someone benefiting from that huge step?”
“Outside of Fin? Nope.” He gave a slight shrug. “That’s the last headache I need.” He took a long drink then handed the glass back. His eyes seemed to invisibly caress her cheeks, her neck and the dip into the robe. “You look great by the way. The single life looks good on you. I guess losing two hundred pounds of a Special Ops soldier and his shit helped.” He wagged his brow.
If only he knew she hadn’t gotten rid of him completely.
Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she shrugged. “You look more like the man I first met.” Without a thought, she smoothed her hand down the arm of his jacket. Feeling the heat that emitted from him, she jerked her hand back.
“Remember how we’d do this? Sit outside, drinking beer, talking about our dreams. Now you have wine tastes and I’m, well…just that same ol’ country boy. Damn, that life seems like forever ago.”
“For a man who doesn’t like wine you sure are doing a good job at putting it away,” she pointed out.
“A man’s got to do what he’s got to do in dire circumstances.”
“Anyway, a lot has happened since we were that couple.” She leaned back, propping her elbows on the rail.
He slipped off his jacket and laid it over the wicker chair. “Finley asked for a pony for her birthday.”
“You didn’t tell her you would get one, did you? The back yard barely fits a swing set, let alone a pony.”
He laughed. “Yes. I told her she could have one.”
She groaned. “Egan, you’re lying…you better be. Where would I put it?”
“Relax, sweetheart. I just bought some acreage with a small cabin. It’s not anything fancy, but it has an amazing view and great potential. Fin doesn’t know yet but when this job is over, I’m going to take her up in the mountain and show her. Hopefully, I’ll have her a pony by then, maybe even a couple of horses too. Every little girl deserves a pony, right?”
“I-I don’t know what to say. You bought a place? You’re not living in that tiny trailer behind your family’s bar any longer?”
“Why do you act so surprised? Is it that unbelievable that I’d want to put down some roots? I couldn’t stay in that trailer all my life. Fin needed room to run and play where she wasn’t being kept
