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No, it couldn’t be. But who delivered flowers at this hour?
She held the paintbrush in one hand and headed for the front door. She turned on the light in the foyer. Staring through the peephole, she spotted the man who’d turned her life upside down over the course of a weekend. He wore the same clothes he’d had on that morning, his duffel slung over his shoulder.
Her gaze shifted to his hands. She’d never been so happy to note the absence of chocolates. He hadn’t followed her across the country to beg forgiveness with sugary treats. He’d come just for her.
She opened the door with her free hand. “Just the person I wanted to paint.”
Chapter Twenty
On the flight from Vegas, Cade had played this scene out over and over in his mind. It almost always began with Lucia demanding to know what he was doing on her doorstep. He’d prepared for anger, wariness, or even a door slammed in his face. But her words caught him by surprise.
“Paint?” he said.
“I started another portrait of you, and I’d love to work off the real thing.” She held the door open wide. “Please, come in.”
“I’ll play model for you if you promise to hear me out,” he said, stepping into her home. He raised his hand, wanting to reach for her and draw her close. The desire to kiss her nearly overrode logic. But first he needed to give her words, not actions.
“Deal.” She closed the door, turned the lock, and walked past him into the hallway.
He followed, surveying the space. From the outside, her brown, one-story ranch appeared ordinary. But inside, the rooms overflowed with color.
“Your kitchen walls are bright red,” he said.
“I like bold, vibrant wall colors.” She opened a door on the far end of the space. “But I keep my studio white. A blank slate.”
She led the way into a square room that had probably served as a dining room at one time. Windows lined the long wall, offering a view of the moonlit trees in her backyard. And the floor had been stripped down to the plywood subfloor.
“Stand over there.” She pointed to a space in front of the easel holding a canvas.
Cade obeyed, turning to face her, his arms at his sides. “Like this.”
“Hmm.” She tapped the end of her brush against her lips as she slipped behind the canvas. “Perfect.”
“Ready to listen, gorgeous?” The pet name rolled off his tongue, and he swore he saw her face soften.
“Yes.” She dipped her brush in the paints and focused on the canvas.
“For a long time, I held tight to the belief that a relationship wasn’t in the cards for me,” he began. “I saw what happened to my mother each time my dad deployed. Her loneliness was like a living, breathing thing residing with us.”
“And that made you believe you can’t be with anyone?”
Cade inhaled. He’d planned to focus on his feelings for the woman holding the paintbrush. But the whys and hows that had pushed him to this place spilled out.
“I looked at my mom, and I wondered how my dad could ever be worthy of her love. By the time I joined the Navy, I thought I had it figured out. A person had to choose one or the other. And hell, at eighteen, I wasn’t looking to settle down. I’ve carried that belief with me for a long time. And when I met you, I held on tight to it. I’ve watched countless friends’ marriages implode and listened to my dad bitch about his fate for so many years.”
He couldn’t be sure from this angle, but he thought he heard her brushstrokes stop. Was he getting through to her?
“What about this weekend?” she said.
“I thought that I only had a couple of days to leave you feeling worthy of love without your mask. But I never stopped to think I could have a different future.”
Her hand stopped the rhythmic dance between the paints and canvas. She peered over the edge of her work in progress and murmured, “Go on.”
“I made a few calls while I was waiting for my flight,” he said. “There’s a Navy base not far from here in Millington. It wouldn’t happen right away, but I might be able to transfer to a recruiting position at the base.”
“You’re a SEAL,” she said. “The best of the best—”
“I think there are some marines and maybe a handful of Army Rangers that would disagree with you.”
