Page 34 of High Velocity

“Interesting,” she muses. “So I grew up in a male-dominated environment, and you in a household of women.”

“Hmm. I’m thinking it benefited us both. You’re tough as nails and a force to be reckoned with, but still all woman. As for me, I picked up a few cooking skills and learned to put down the toilet seat, but I can guarantee you I’m all man.”

She smiles at that as she sits down in one of the lounge chairs.

“I can see you’re not lacking in confidence either,” she observes teasingly, but I detect a wistful edge to her voice.

“I wouldn’t say that,” I admit, leaning a hip against the deck railing.

In the spirit of getting to know each other—she’s been open with me, although I have yet to find out who this Ben is to her—it’s only fair I give her the same courtesy.

“Don’t get me wrong, I may have been a cocky bastard at one point, but all that self-assured bluster disappeared when I lost my leg. I wasn’t in a good place for quite some time,” I confess. “And even now, I’m still a work in progress.”

“Of course; losing a leg is a life-altering experience.”

“So is taking another person’s life, however justified,” I counter, shooting her a pointed look.

“I guess,” she concedes, shrugging her shoulders.

It’s quiet while I check on the fish and flip it over, but then Stephanie breaks the silence.

“You know, I consider myself a decent judge of character for the most part, but I think I may have missed the boat with you.”

“How so?”

“You always struck me as a man of few words—a bit of a grouch, if I’m honest—but I was wrong.”

That gets a chuckle from me.

“You’re not wrong, I’m actually surprising myself, but I think the difference is you. I’m finding you’re easy to talk to.”

She’s trying to hide her smile. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

I close the lid on the grill and approach her, leaning over her chair. I hook a finger under her chin and tilt her face up.

“Good. You should.”

Next, I close the distance and press a kiss to her mouth. Then another one as I watch her eyes flutter shut when I slip my tongue between her lips for a deeper taste.

Her soft sigh is oil to my fire, so I retreat before I take this kiss places I don’t want to rush into.

“You are much too tempting,” I confess, brushing the pad of my thumb over her plump bottom lip. “I didn’t think I wanted to get involved, but you broke through my resolve.”

The way the late afternoon sun catches her face makes her eyes appear lit from within as she looks up at me.

“I didn’t do anything.”

I gently shake my head.

“You exist, that’s enough.”

Stephanie

Dinner was delicious.

Jackson has serious cooking skills, and better yet, he enjoys using them. I’m not necessarily a slouch in the kitchen, but it’s nice not to have to be the one responsible for putting dinner on the table.

Since he did the bulk of the cooking, I claimed the task of cleaning up, He left to run home to pick up his dog. I’m not sure what it means that he’s bringing him back here, but he pointed out the dog needed some attention since he’d been cooped up since this morning. It appears Jackson wasn’t ready to call it a night yet.

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