Page 45 of The Stone Family Warrior

She pointed to the board. “This endeavor is creative.”

He shrugged. “It’snecessary.”

“But it’s creative.”

For a moment, they held each other’s gaze, and Trent wanted to kiss her.

“Tell me more about you and … Will.”

She frowned. “Okay, it was a little over a year we’d been dating before Will asked me to marry him, and I was even surprised when he did?”

That was crazy talk to him. “Why?”

Her cheeks turned a vivid red. “I don’t want to tell you,” she whined, pushing his shoulder.

“Tell me,” he said. It was strange, but he wanted to know about this man who had captured her heart.

“Because we hadn’t even kissed yet.”

“What? A year?” He let out a little laugh. “Ah, okay, what? Did the dude not want to kiss you?”

“I honestly don’t know why I’m telling you this.”

Unable to resist this woman and how cute and vulnerable she looked, he pulled her close to him, putting his hand on her hips. “Because,” he said, leaning into her neck and gently kissing her skin, “I definitely wouldn’t have waited a year to kiss you.”

She hesitated, briefly closing her eyes. “Trent, just … don’t.”

“Sorry.” What was he doing, trying to kiss her while she talked about her dead husband?

“It’s fine.” She met his gaze. “I mean, what can I say? I’ve thought about kissing you on and off for what feels like forever.”

He sucked in a long breath. “You’re not helping me think about not kissing you.”

“But … I wasn’t initially attracted to him physically. It was more of an emotional attachment; he was my best friend.” She sighed. “That’s probably why I never really thought about him cheating on me until his mistress showed up at the funeral.”

He froze. Land mine tripped. “What?” His vision went red, and the pansy’s face flashed into his mind’s eye. “He cheated on you?”

She hedged. “He cheated on me.”

None of his SEAL preparations had prepared him for how he should react to something like this. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured, squeezing her hand.

She sniffed and then shifted away. “It’s fine. I mean, it’s been over a year since … everything. I should be fine, right?”

His heart ached for her. He’d known about losing them, but he couldn’t imagine losing a wife and child, then finding out the wife had cheated on him. “You should take as much time as you need.”

She jerked up to face him. “You think so?”

He nodded. “I’m such an idiot. I had no idea.”

“How could you?”

They spent a minute in comfortable silence.

They needed a distraction. “Do you want to see some of my parents’ journals and help me figure this out?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He unlocked the safe and pulled out his father’s journals; there were only three. “Here are Dad’s.” He grabbed his mother’s pile, all seven of them. “Here are Mom’s.”

She picked up one of his father’s and then turned to him. “Let’s read this one, but first …”

He met her gaze. “Yeah?”

She carefully closed the distance between them and placed her hands on his shoulders. “What if I do want to kiss you? Would that be okay?”

Trent leaned in. “Are you sure?”

“Kiss me, babe slayer.”

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