Page 10 of You Complicate Me

Everything was a lot simpler for her when she thought he was just a good-looking, smug jerk who took pleasure in making her uncomfortable. The fact that he was a nice guy who just happened to look like a god was a little more than Grace could handle.

Grace grabbed the ketchup and created a little moat around her fries and onion rings. “So, you’ve heard all about me. What about you?”

“What do you want to know?”

His tone could only be described as cautious. If they were in a deposition, she’d say he was hiding something. She decided to lob him a softball question instead of leading with her wicked curve. “How did you become an air marshal?”

He shrugged. “Job options are somewhat limited for a guy fresh out of the Marines with no college degree and a questionable skill set.”

“That’s an interesting word choice. What is a questionable skill set, exactly?”

“The things I’ve been good at in my life, you can’t make money on legally.”

She paused with a fry halfway to her mouth. Did he mean…?

He chuckled. “Get your mind out of the gutter, angel. I wasn’t talking about sex.”

“Oh.” Well, that was vaguely disappointing.

“But now that you mention it…” he trailed off, winking at her before taking a bite of his sandwich.

Grace popped the fry in her mouth so he wouldn’t see her with a slack jaw. Again.

“Seriously, though,” Nick continued, “I was a sniper. There’s not much market for that here in the States.”

She chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “I find that hard to believe. Marine snipers are some of the best in the world. I’m sure SWAT teams would fist-fight over you.”

“Maybe before this,” he said dryly, tapping the scar on his temple with his index finger. “Now? Not so much. I lost a little peripheral vision in the explosion, which means I wouldn’t make a good sniper.”

“Oh. Sorry,” she muttered. She felt awful. This was the second time she’d brought up his injury.

“It’s OK,” he said, snatching one of her fries before she could object. “My overall vision is still good, and my marksmanship is better than most.” He shrugged. “I like my job. I get to travel to places I’d never be able to otherwise afford. Meet the most interesting people.”

Nick grinned at her again. He really needed to stop doing that, Grace decided. If she got any hotter, she was bound to set off the sprinklers in the building.

“What about you?” he asked. “What made you want to become a lawyer?”

She broke an onion ring in half and dragged it through the ketchup moat. “When I was in the third grade, my teacher told me that Christopher Columbus discovered America.”

His brow furrowed as he stirred his soup. “And that made you want to be a lawyer?”

She frowned at him. “Do you want to hear this story or not, Mr. Impatient Pants?”

He chuckled quietly. “Sorry. Continue. Please.”

“So my question to her was, how could Christopher Columbus have discovered America when there were already people living here?”

He smiled. “That’s a great question. What was her answer?”

“She told me to stop being sassy and made me stand in the corner for the rest of the class.”

He shook his head and winced. “I’m betting she regretted that.”

“You know it. I went directly to the library after school and checked out every book I could find about Christopher Columbus. It didn’t take long to find out that Vikings had landed on American soil long before Columbus.” She popped the onion ring in her mouth and chewed it up before continuing. “So even if it was possible to ‘discover’ something that already belonged to someone else, Christopher Columbus certainly hadn’t been the first.”

“And I’m guessing you laid this all out for your teacher.”

“Yep. And not only did she admit she was wrong, but I made her apologize for sticking me in the corner. It was my first victory, and let me tell you, it felt good.” Grace shook her head, grinning. “I’ve been arguing ever since. Becoming a lawyer was the most natural career move in the world for me.”

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