by Hart, Taylor
There was no answer for a bit.
“I shouldn’t be talking about—”
He interrupted. “Do you want that?”
“What? No. But no one else understands,” she said quietly.
“You’re doing exactly what you should be doing.”
“I know.”
“I know you know, but you’re doubting yourself. Stop doing that.”
It made her smile. He sounded commander-ish. “Thanks.” Her voice cracked. “I just hope this is what God wants me to be doing.”
Another long pause ensued. She wondered if he even believed in God.
“Well, Kansas, why don’t you ask Him?”
“What?”
“Pray, silly.” He said the last word quietly. It made her smile. He had a soft side.
There was another moment of silence.
“I better go,” she said slowly. “I have to get up at five.” Why did she feel like she owed him an explanation? It was strange. This thing between them was completely new for her.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said casually.
Would she see him tomorrow? “Sounds good.”
“Night,” he said.
“Night.”
Chapter 11
Scar walked into the diner, nervous flutters pulsing through him. Would he be lying to say he’d gone right to sleep? Yes, the truth was that when he’d gotten off the phone, his mind had been going a million miles an hour, circling around this sweet girl who cared if she was doing what God wanted her to do with her life.
He’d been raised Catholic before his mother passed. He was fourteen at the time and never really practiced, blaming God for the whole fiasco. After some of his missions, he had gone to confession. Truthfully, it was the only thing that had helped with all the secrecy and the … he shuddered thinking about the hard things he’d had to do.
As he got to the host station, he gave Bob a half grin.
“Same seat today, sir?” Bob asked.
Scar nodded, and Bob moved him to the normal seat overlooking the ocean.
He couldn’t see Shayla. He sat and didn’t pick up the menu.
Bob was back with a glass of lemon water. “The usual?”
Scar looked around. “Where’s Shayla?”
The manager grinned. “She had car trouble today, so she had to deal with that.”
Scar hesitated only briefly, then stood. “When did she call in?” He hit Bob with one of his “tell me or die” looks.
Bob put his hands up. “About five-thirty.”
It was seven-thirty now, and Scar knew she had a class she couldn’t miss. He moved past Bob. “Rain check, Bob. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
* * *
Scar pulled up to her townhome and saw her beneath the car, a jack holding it up. It all looked very precarious and like the car would tumble down on top of her in one crushing blow. Parking, he bolted from his car and jogged to her. “Kansas, what are you doing?” he asked, bending to try to see.
Her feet stuck out from below the car. “What are you doing here?” she hollered.
He dropped down into a push-up position and stared at her. “I’m here to help you.”
She made a face. “I got it handled.”
He could see the oil pan was about to drop right on her. Forgetting about keeping himself clean, he edged his way beneath the car, catching the oil pan right as it started falling.
She looked at him, with oil smudged on her face, and let out a little amazed giggle. “You totally just saved me. Again.”
Liking the way she said saved more than he wanted to, he waved her away. “I thought you had a tire out. Why are you doing the oil?”
“I fixed the tire. Then I thought I should change the oil filter while I was under here.”
He sighed. “Ranch girls.” It was great that she wanted to do it by herself, but it was obvious she needed help. “Move, Kansas.”
At first, she glared at him, but then she sighed. “Are you sure? I can’t pay you.”
“Don’t you know that God helps good people?”
She gave him a quizzical look.
“Like you.”
With a furrowed brow, she scooted herself out. “You say it so angrily.”
Quickly, he finished changing the oil filter. It had been a long time since he’d done mechanical work on his cars, but he’d grown up fixing everything mechanical, so it came back fast.
When he came out, she looked him up and down, frowning. “How did you not get any on you?” she asked like he’d performed a rare magic trick.
“Talent, Kansas. Talent.” He flashed her a grin.
“Thank you,” she said softly, sincerely.
He couldn’t explain what it meant to him to have a woman truly appreciate such a simple thing he’d done. Just one look into her gorgeous green eyes told him this woman cared about whether or not God liked what she was doing with her life. She was heartbroken from being broken up with by her boyfriend. She was stunningly beautiful even when she clearly had no makeup on. At that moment, he wanted to pull her in and kiss her.
“Sorry,” she said awkwardly, and he realized her eyes were on his bicep.
He did the only thing he could think of to take the awkwardness away. He flexed. “Check me out, no problem.”
Letting out a nervous laugh, she gave him a little push. “Please.”
“We’ll see if you push me around.” He mock stormed over to her and picked her up, putting her over his shoulder.
She giggled and fought him. “Stop!”
“Thought you said you had brothers who tortured you. I guess they didn’t do it right if you can’t get out of this.”
She laughed harder and flailed.
He was having too much fun, even though he kind of felt like an idiot.
“Seriously, put me down!”
He had another idea. With her hoisted over his shoulder, he took off, heading toward the beach. “Let’s wash this oil off.”
She shrieked and laughed. “No! Stop!”
He went in like he was running the field for a touchdown, taking her all the way into the ocean and then thrusting her off of him.
She yelled and splashed in the water. Coming up, she glared at him, but couldn’t cover the laugh bubbling from her lips.
Dang, she was glorious with all the water dripping off of her.
She shoved him, which didn’t matter.
He didn’t move, but gave her a cocky smile. “That’s how a quarterback gets it done.”
She laughed again and bent, splashing him. A huge splash.
But all he could do was stare at her, and she stopped splashing. The air between them sizzled with tension. For a few moments, they both stood there, staring into each other’s eyes.
Scar didn’t know how this had happened, but he was into this girl. Really into her. He needed to take a step back, though. She had just broken up with her boyfriend, and she was so young.
Narrowing her eyes, she put her chin into the air. “Are you going to kiss me or just brag over there?”
The nerve of this girl taunting him made him laugh. He’d been holding back because he didn’t want to go too fast for her. He could still tell he shouldn’t go too fast. Actually, he didn’t want to. Cocking an eyebrow, he said, “The question is, are you going to kiss me?”
A spark of fire lit in her eyes. He realized a challenge was exactly what this girl wanted. She stood right outside of kissing reach, staring up at him.
His heart raced. Every part of him felt alive, awake, ready for anything. He could smell something fruity wafting off her—a lemon scent, probably.
She closed the gap between them and gently put a hand on his face, leaning up.
Unable to not do anything else, he gave into this, snaking an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, but he didn’t kiss her. He waited.
Moving her hand behind his head, she gently brought his face down to hers.
Their lips met. Hers were soft and tasted like
mint gum.
Her other hand gripped his T-shirt. Every part of him reacted to her. He had to force himself to keep the kiss sweet and tender, because she was like sweet sorbet ice cream on a hot day that you tasted and then shoved the whole thing inside your mouth. The brain freeze wasn’t worth it, though. No, he didn’t want any sort of brain freeze with this woman.
She tugged back, and her face clouded. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I did that.”
He wasn’t letting her off the hook. “I can.” He pulled her closer, kissing her again, wanting to claim her.
She gave in, and he felt his world shift. Yes, he was being that cheesy. The feel of her body against his was incredible. Like the perfect mission completed. Like the perfect pass to the end zone.
Finally, she pulled back, staring into his eyes. Her breath tickled his throat. “You’re leaving, and I’m staying.”
It was funny at this moment that Scar wanted to blurt, I’ll stay. Just like that. Of course he didn’t, because she was right. He was just here temporarily. “You’re right. I’m leaving.”
Tugging free of him, she gave him a slow smile and turned and started walking out of the ocean. “I have to get to get cleaned up and get to class.”
He followed slowly, feeling like an idiot. Didn’t he have meetings this morning? Lunch with his brother later? But he was here, and he didn’t want this to end. He tromped after her faster, not quite catching up to her. “Wait, when—”
She hurried across the street and waved at him. “Call me for pillow talk.” Then she rushed up the stairs of her townhome and disappeared.
Chapter 12
What was Shayla doing? Kissing a hot former Navy SEAL? A pro football player? Who was she? Not to mention the fact he was only here temporarily.
She sat in her English class and listened to the professor discussing the requirements for their last paper, focusing on the timeless virtues of the Odyssey. Their last paper was picking a character in the book and doing an in-depth study on why the character’s flaws outweighed their strengths and how that was important in the hero story genre.
Her thoughts kept going back to Scar. To the soft kiss. To his hard muscles that held her. To the way he’d insisted on fixing her oil filter. When she’d come out to go to class, her car had been lifted off the jack and all the tools were neatly placed right next to her passenger side door.
A gentleman.
It felt weird to have a near stranger taking care of her. How he just came and helped her was crazy. Once again, she was distracted by thoughts of how his muscles felt against his shirt.
Her boyfriend, Jason, had been everything to her, but she couldn’t remember feeling all this chemistry between them. Had they ever had that? She didn’t know. For heaven’s sake, she’d kissed him for the first time in eight grade, so she didn’t remember feeling this.
She thought of Scar, of the power in his body, the toughness in his eyes. She wanted to know more about him. It dawned on her that she really didn’t know him at all. She wanted to know so much more. How had it happened that she’d been thrown together with this jerk of a guy from the diner? Good thing he’d ordered the wrong eggs. She smiled, thinking of telling him this.
After her class, she went to the library and tried to get the paper going. After two hours, she decided she couldn’t finish it. She was three pages into a ten-page paper, and she couldn’t focus on anything but Scar.
Walking quickly across campus, she looked forward to “pillow talk” tonight. Truly, she would love to have more time to talk to him and get to know him, but it was pointless, right? The underlying feeling she had was that he wasn’t in San Diego for long.
Taking a turn down an alley, she felt that weird feeling hit her in the center of her chest. It stunned her for a second. Then she sped up her walk, turning it into a jog. She had to get to the end of the alley. There weren’t any other people here. She sped up even more, but halted when she saw a guy who seemed to be locking a door. He was jiggling the doorknob with some keys. She was almost past when the guy turned and their eyes connected.
It was the guy from the night at the sports bar. The creeper from the diner. The one who had grabbed her before Scar had stopped it.
He narrowed his eyes.
Turning around, she jetted back the way she had come. “Gotta meet my boyfriend,” she yelled out, feeling erratic and stupid. She kicked it up a notch. She didn’t stop, just got to the end of the alley, turned, and booked it back toward the library. The feeling of fight or flight was so strong she didn’t want to look back.
When she got to the library, she turned. No one there. Her heart hammered wildly as she rushed up the steps and went inside, making for the third floor where she’d found a good place to study quietly.
When she got there, she sucked in a few breaths, telling herself it meant nothing. He hadn’t been following her. He’d been coming out of a door in the alley. Still she couldn’t convince herself it was a coincidence.
Without knowing why she did it, she texted Scar. Just saw the weirdo from the other night at the sports bar.
Not even two seconds later, he texted back. Are you okay?
She breathed in and out slowly. Yes.
Where are you?
She could envision him, agitated with his muscles flexing. It made her feel better to have someone to tell, even though she didn’t want to be a weakling. Why had she told him? At the community library on campus. I’m fine.
After a couple of seconds, he replied. I’m coming.
She felt like an idiot, but knowing he was on his way did help her feel calmer.
Only twenty minutes later, she saw Scar coming through the library. She stood, every part of her feeling lighter. When he saw her, he pulled her in for a hug.
“I’m sorry. It was probably nothing,” she said, feeling stupid.
He stared into her eyes. “What happened?”
She related to him what happened.
Scar looked like he wanted to rip someone’s head off. She knew he could do it, too. “Where was he?”
Gathering up her stuff and her courage, she took him back to the door the guy where she had seen the guy.
Scar looked around, kicking the debris in the alley, looking like a cop. Actually, like a Navy SEAL on a mission. Swerving his eyes back to her, he asked, “Do you have any idea what his name is or what he does?”
“No. I shouldn’t have even brought you here.”
He stepped closer and took her hand. “I’m glad you did.”
Regret washed over her. “Scar, you’re not staying in San Diego.”
“I’m here right now.” He pulled her into him, hugging her. She was lost in the scent his cologne. It smelled like the ocean, which would sound utterly ridiculous if she said it out loud. Not to mention the fact that she and Jason had only been broken up a month ago and it had not been her decision.
Releasing her, he asked, “What time are you done here?”
It annoyed her that he appeared to care about her so much. It bugged her even more that she liked it. “I’ve already taken up your day with my oil filter and now this.”
He winked at her. “I’ve got it handled.”
She sighed. “I should finish my last paper. It’s due in two days.”
“Can you be done for today?” he asked, looking so sincere.
She wanted to say yes, but it unnerved her that she felt so attracted to him. She knew she didn’t want to get too close to him. Hadn’t she had enough heartbreak? “I should stay and get a couple of more pages done.”
He hesitated and looked at her lips, then back to her eyes. Her heart pounded and she thought he might kiss her, but he pulled his hand back, tapping on his phone. “I have a couple of things to handle too. I’ll call you later for pillow talk.”
It felt personal, the way he said it and the way his eyes twinkled.
“Okay.” She pulled away, hauling her backpack over her shoulder and rushing away.
“Wait.”
/> She looked up and once again was taken aback by her attraction to him. His blond hair fell into his eyes. His tan skin and the scar on his face made him look like amazing. He was beautiful.
“I’ll walk you back,” he said.
When they got to the library, she turned and was about to wave goodbye when his arms slipped around her waist and pulled her in. His lips kind of slammed into hers.
It caught her off guard, and she laughed against his lips.
His hands were firm on her back, pulling her closer. He took her by surprise again, deepening the kiss.
It was like one of those moments in a movie when the girl goes weak in the knees and puts up her foot in complete … what? Bliss? All sorts of warmth rushed through her at the way this man held her like he already owned her.
Just as quickly, he pulled back and gave her a peck on the cheek, his sharp eyes already evaluating her reaction.
Shayla couldn’t help but laugh. “I told you we can’t do this.”
“I heard you.” He smirked.
She shook her head, unable to deny the power of this attraction between them.
Scar sighed. “Are you going to eat at some point tonight? Can I take you out?”
She didn’t know what to do. “No, I don’t …” She trailed off.
He kept her hand inside of his. “Look, the truth is that I’m dying for a home-cooked meal. Would you mind if I bought a couple of things and made dinner for us at your house?”
“What?” She was confused. He wanted to cook for her?
“I try to eat clean, and it’s hard when you’re going out every meal, so it would be a favor to me.” His puppy eyes blinked dramatically.
She laughed, unable to say no. Picking up her keys, she pulled the house one off. “Fine, cook, but I’m doing the dishes. Don’t even try to argue.”
He didn’t respond right away. She thought he might kiss her again, but he only cocked an eyebrow as he took her key. “Can you be home at seven?”
“Okay.” She put up a hand. “I don’t have a lot of food. Sorry.”