“Is that seat for me?”
How had he missed seeing Natalie approach? He lowered the phone long enough to say, “It sure is.”
Time to hang up. “Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Sounds good.” There was another pause. “And, Tino, if the real reason you’re bailing on us is female, I’m all for it.”
Not about to encourage his brother’s matchmaking efforts, Tino kept his response to a simple goodbye, but he was pretty sure his brother was laughing when he hung up. No doubt he’d get the third degree on Monday, but he’d deal with it then.
Meanwhile, he shoved the phone back in his pocket and scooted his chair over a little to give Natalie more room to maneuver. She put her tray down next to his and sat down with a sigh. “Boy, it feels good to get off my feet for a while. I’ve been on the run since about five thirty this morning.”
“How long have you been working on this particular project?”
“About a year and a half now.” She popped the top on her drink and took a quick sip. “That’s including the planning stages, though. The actual work started about three months ago when we had a professional contractor gut the kitchen and rebuild it pretty much from the ground up. After that, the entire place was wired for Wi-Fi, and the phone system was upgraded. Next up is the computer lab. We plan to offer adult training classes at low cost as well as making the lab open to students in the area to use.”
Then she grimaced. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on and on about it.”
When was the last time he’d been that excited about anything at all? Maybe never. Rather than pursue that depressing thought, he told her, “Don’t apologize. I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t interested. I will say that you were smart to let the pros take on the hard stuff. It might cost more to begin with, but at least you know it’s all being done right.”
Natalie glanced around the room. “I really appreciate everyone’s willingness to pitch in and help, but there’s a limit to what can be done with volunteer labor.”
Her dimples made an appearance. “But enough about me. So, how about you, Mr. Gianelli? What do you do when you’re not saving damsels from marauding buckets of paint?”
He had just taken a big bite of pizza, which gave him a few seconds to decide how much he wanted to share. “Up until a few weeks ago, I was in the army.”
Before she could ask for details, he added, “I served in the military police with multiple tours in the Middle East.”
Maybe she sensed he really didn’t want to elaborate on the topic, because she changed the subject. “I don’t know about you, but I want to hit the dessert table before all the good stuff is gone. A lot of it is homemade.”
As they stood up, he asked, “Did you make any of it?”
One of the women sitting on his other side immediately snickered. “I hope not.”
Even though Natalie joined in the resulting laughter, Tino winced. “Sorry, did I touch on a sore subject?”
Natalie’s smile didn’t fade at all. “Not at all. Even if I can’t bake as well as Rosalie, I have other talents.”
The other woman nodded in agreement. “That’s true enough. None of this would have gotten done without our Natalie riding herd on this project.”
“Now, Brenda, you’re going to have me blushing.” She turned her attention back to Tino. “I might be mistaken, but it looks like my friend Rosalie is serving up a couple of her blackberry pies. I’m telling you straight up, they are to die for. I won’t be happy if I don’t score a piece. I consider it my reward for working hard this morning.”
Then she charged off across the room, leaving Tino to follow in her wake. A piece of pie would be nice but watching Natalie’s cute ass in those form-fitting jeans as she made a beeline straight for the dessert table was definitely a sweet reward all on its own.
He’d noticed she’d scrubbed that streak of paint off her cheek and also tried to tame her hair since he’d last seen her. That was too bad. He would like to see it loose and tumbling around her shoulders. Or better yet, spread out on his pillow. He caught himself flexing his fingers, imagining what it would be like to tangle them in her soft curls as the two of them got to know each other a whole lot better.
Natalie picked up two plates that already held generous pieces of blackberry pie. As she handed one to him, she performed introductions. “Tino Gianelli, this is my friend Rosalie Earle.”
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Earle.”
From the considering look her friend gave him, she must have picked up on the direction his thoughts had taken regarding Natalie. He did his best to look innocent. That had never worked well with his adoptive mother, and Tino suspected this woman had that same scary ability to see past the bullshit.
She glanced at Natalie and then back at him, her expression cautiously friendly. “You’re the new guy, the one with the impressive skill set that she was admiring earlier.”
He pretended not to notice Natalie’s reaction, although he suspected that at least Rosalie wasn’t talking about how well he could patch drywall. “This is my first time here, and Natalie has gone out of her way to make me feel welcome. I’m not sure whether it’s because I know how to patch drywall or because I let her play with one of my power tools.”
Rosalie’s eyes flashed wide and her laugh rang out across the room. “Well, you are a brave man.”
For some reason Tino felt compelled to defend Natalie. “She did great.”
“Well, you should have been here the time she—”
Natalie cut her friend off mid-sentence. “Rosalie, I warned him that there’d been an incident. Now we need to eat our pie. It’s almost time to go back to work.”
Tino smiled at Rosalie again before following Natalie back to their seats. “I’m looking forward to trying your pie.”
As he walked away, Rosalie called after him. “I hope we see you again soon, Tino.”
He hadn’t made his mind up if he would come back. He’d enjoyed the experience more than he’d expected to, but since leaving the army, he hadn’t been in the mood to commit to anything farther away than getting through the day at hand. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t mind spending a little more time with Natalie Kennigan. Of course, no one said hanging out here at the community center was the only way he could enjoy her company.
The other people were already drifting back to work, but Natalie seemed willing to linger a little longer over their pie. As soon as he sat down, she set down her fork and looked at him. “I will tell you all the sordid details about the unfortunate incident if you’d like. It appears my so-called friend is determined to bring up the subject.”
He took a bite of pie before answering. “Two things—first, you’re right about the pie. It’s delicious. Second, you don’t have to share the details, sordid or otherwise. I think a relationship should have a little mystery to it.”
Natalie tilted her head a little to one side and studied him for a few seconds. “And we’re going to have a relationship?”
“That depends.” He indulged himself with another bite of pie and the fun of leaving her hanging a little longer.
“On what?”
“On whether or not you want to go to dinner and a movie with me. Say, next Friday night.”
This time it was Natalie who used her friend’s dessert to buy herself a little time. Finally, she nodded. “I’ve already got another…obligation for Friday. But if you can make it Thursday night, you’ve got a deal.”
Did that obligation involve another man? It wasn’t as if he had any right to ask. “That works for me. Any preference where we go?”
Natalie’s blue eyes glittered, and her dimples played peek-a-boo as she finished the last bite of her pie. “Surprise me.”
A soldier, even an ex-soldier, knew what to do when given a mission. He considered the lay of the land, the objective to be achieved, the weapons he could bring to bear, and finally, the opponent he planned to engage. Oh, yeah, this was going to be fun.
“A surprise it is, then. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
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Always for You: Jack (Sergeant Joe's Boys #1) Page 27