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We sit down to dinner a few minutes later, Lexi, her sister, and I. The baby is already asleep. I fleetingly wonder if there’s a chance of Lexi going home with me but from the yawns that she’s trying to hide, I guess not.
“So you’re a soldier, huh?” Vanessa says.
“Yes, I was in Afghanistan for the last two years,” I tell her.
“Thank you for your service,” she says.
“I should say the same. Lexi told me you’re a nurse,” I say and change the topic. I don’t know what to say when people thank me for my service.
“It’s not the same,” Vanessa says. “Are you back for good?”
She asks me one question after another. I feel as if I’m being drilled after committing a misdemeanor.
“Vanessa, let our guest be,” Lexi finally says.
Vanessa shrugs but doesn’t seem to care that she went too far with the questions. After that she’s quiet, leaving me and Lexi to do the majority of the talking. The meal is tasty and by the end of it, I feel relaxed and my problems have shrunk in intensity.
The ladies refuse my offer of washing up. After thanking them profusely I take my leave. Lexi walks me to the car. To my surprise, she hugs me.
“Thanks for a lovely evening. It was unexpected,” she says with feeling and a little shame bubbles into my chest.
I try to ignore the sweetness of the lemon scent that clings to her and how soft and enticing her body feels in my arms. She doesn’t step away after the hug. She tilts her face up to me in a clear invitation. I bring my mouth down and kiss her hungrily.
I kiss her like a man who has not kissed a woman in two years. Her mouth is soft and yielding and just as keen. She scrapes her hands through my hair, and I cup her ass and pull her against my erection. She moans in my mouth, leaving me in no doubt what our kiss is doing to her. I wish we were somewhere private. Someplace when I can slide my hands under her skirt to feel the heat and wetness of her pussy.
I’m the one who breaks the kiss. As hot as it is, I’m not a teenager and I like to keep my business private. I can bet a few faces are peering out their curtains from the neighboring houses.
“I’ll see you soon,” I tell her, knowing full well that I won’t. Lexi is a complication that I don’t need or want right now.
Any illusions that I may have had regarding relationships were wiped out by Stacy. She cured me of the thoughts I had regarding marriage. I know it works for some people, but others are not as lucky. Like me.
“Okay,” she says sweetly and steps back.
I enter my car and with a regretful wave, I drive off. She would be the ideal girlfriend. Except that I don’t do relationships. I’m not stupid enough to believe that all women are disloyal but I’m not willing to find out. My plan for the future is to live a simple life. Getting involved with Lexi would be the opposite of that. I also sense that they have issues. Something is not right with Lexi and her sister. I don’t know what issues they have, and I don’t care to find out.
I believe what Lexi said about Vanessa. It seems like Lexi has taken over the responsibility of her niece. She behaves like the girl’s mother more than Vanessa does. I have enough problems of my own without getting involved with theirs.
When I get home, I glance at the time. Nine. Not too late to call Park, I hope. I grab my cell phone and search for his number. I find myself grinning as the phone rings.
Park picks it up on the fifth ring just as I’m about to give up.
“Park?”
“Ace, is that you?”
I laugh. It’s so good to hear his voice. It’s like coming back home. “Yes. I’m back. How are you doing? How is Rachel?”
“It’s Ace!” he says to someone before returning to the call. “When did you get back?”
“A few weeks ago,” I tell him.
“It’s taken a while to call,” Park says and then launches into an update of everyone, even the ones I don’t want to hear about like my brother.
He has a surprise for me. “Rachel and I have a little girl. Her name is Kacy and she’s eighteen months old.”
I grin. “Congratulations! I can’t wait to meet her.” I can easily imagine Park and Rachel as parents. They were inseparable in high school and it went without saying that they would get married and have kids. I’d been the best man at their wedding. I’m happy for them. By the time I left for Afghanistan, they’d been trying to have a baby for several years.
