Page 23 of Bad Girls Don't Marry Marines (Rock Canyon, Idaho 3)

Val couldn’t believe it. She just stood there, dumbstruck, as Justin helped Sweet Pea back into his carrier and zipped the canvas bag without a fuss.

“There you go, buddy.” Justin picked up the carrier and gave Val a raised eyebrow. “What?”

“How the heck did you do that?” she asked as she took the bag from him and stuck it into a cage for good measure. “And more to the point, what are you doing here?”

“Most animals like me, but I’ve always had a way with cats.” She turned around in time to catch his shrug. “As to the other, I was in the neighborhood and wanted to check on your sister.”

“Oh,” Val said, disappointment settling in her stomach like a block of cement, bringing her down.

Why are you upset? He’s all wrong for you, remember?

“She’s fine. Hating life, but fine,” she said, wishing she could stop her confused feelings. It was like whenever she was near Justin, he chipped at her wall of self-preservation and threw her into chaos.

“That’s good.” He came around the grooming table until he stood in front of her, his hand reaching out to hers. “And you? Tired?”

Her heart jumped at the unexpected warmth of his palm, surprising since the high today was supposed to be around seventeen degrees and he wasn’t wearing gloves.

“No, I’m not tired,” she whispered.

“So listen, I have tickets to Craig Morgan, and I was thinking maybe you might want to go with me? It’s not for a few weeks, and before you say no, it’s not a date,” he said, the corners of his mouth kicking up. “I just need you to go with me so no one hits on me.”

“Why wouldn’t you want some hot girl batting her eyes at you?” she asked, leaning against the grooming table, curious to see where he was going with this.

“’Cause I’m holding out for someone else,” he said, linking his fingers through hers and squeezing her hand.

Now why did he have to go and say something like that? The air around them crackled, and she licked h

er lips, watching his eyes darken to the color of Jack Daniel’s.

“Well, hey there.”

Val sighed at the sound of her sister’s smug voice coming from the doorway and pulled her hand from Justin’s. She gave her sister a strained smile when she saw her curious expression.

“Hey, Ellie, you remember Justin? He brought you home last night.”

Val groaned inwardly when Ellie gave Justin her bedroom eyes. “Oh, my hero, huh?” Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she didn’t even look at Val as she said, “I was just coming down to let you know Dad called. Again.”

“Thanks. I’ll call him later,” Val said, gritting her teeth at her sister’s obvious interest in Justin. With her morning raccoon eyes gone, Ellie looked like she’d just stepped out of a fashion mag, and Val almost reached up to check for lumps in her own high ponytail.

But Justin only gave Ellie a polite smile and said, “I’m glad you’re feeling better. It sounded like you were going to be sick for a while when I left, but it looks like you’ll recover.”

Val covered her mouth to smother a laugh as her sister gasped. Ellie obviously didn’t like that he might have heard her puking her guts out.

Justin caught her gaze, his eyes filled with humor. The fact that he’d obviously known what her sister was up to yet hadn’t played into it made Val’s walls crumble a little more.

“I should let you get back to work, but I wanted to give you my number.” He handed her a white card with his name and number scrawled on the back, and Val took it, sticking it in her pocket. “Just in case you ever have kitty problems again.”

“Thank you,” she said, laughing.

“No problem.” Justin shoved his hands in his pockets. “And you can get back to me on the whole concert thing.”

“I will,” she said, ignoring her sister’s wide-eyed curiosity.

“Good.” He nodded at her, gave her sister a polite good-bye, and turned to leave. Ellie hardly moved to let him pass, but he just shouldered by.

Val was so irritated with her, she wanted to grab her sister’s long brown hair and give it a tug or two. “God, do you have to be so obvious?”

After watching him leave, Ellie hissed, “Holy hell, that man wants you.”

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