Page 16 of Her Defiant Warrior

“How was I supposed to know you could do a black woman’s hair?”

“You could do this amazing little thing called asking…?”

Farah started laughing. “Oooops, hottie ahead. Gotta go.”

Jase set a plate with far too much food in front of her, then he placed a plate with three times the amount of food as hers in front of him.

“Wow. Can you really eat that much?” Lachlan asked.

Jase laughed. “Yep.”

“And your tummy won’t hurt?” Amber asked.

“Nope.”

“Mom, are you going to eat all that?” Lachlan asked as he pointed to her plate.

“I might.” Bonnie raised her eyebrow. “You’ve had more than enough to eat right now. Why don’t you play for a while, and then you can come back and eat your dessert?”

“But you have—”

“Lachlan…” Bonnie said his name as she raised her eyebrow.

“I think I’m going to go play now. Thanks again for cleaning up the throwed-up, Mr. Drakos.” He scrambled off the bench seat, then helped Amber off the bench too. “Come on, let’s play croquet. They give us big hammers to hit things.”

Bonnie sighed.

“Don’t worry,” Jase said. “Two of my teammates are over there keeping things under control.” Jase pointed at two other men who were dressed very close to the way Jase was. Both were in T-shirts tight enough that a girl could see what all they had going on, and they had it all going on. Then both of them were wearing jeans and boots.

Hmm. Well, at least with those outfits, they would definitely keep the kindergartners on up to the high school kids in line. She turned her attention back to Jase.

“What do you mean, teammates? Are you on a football team or something?”

“No, we’re in the Navy. We work together.”

“Ahhh, Little Creek, huh?” She sighed.

“Why do you say it like that?” Jase asked right before he took a big bite of the hamburger he had put together.

“Well, first, thanks for all that you do for our country. I mean that sincerely.”

Jase continued to chew, so he nodded.

Bonnie tried to gather her thoughts. She wanted to say what she had to say and say it right.

Jase swallowed, wiped his mouth, then took a small sip of his beer.

“Okay, hit me. I’m a big boy. Six five, to be exact.” His eyes twinkled, and he had a breathtaking smile.

“Okay, but I might say this wrong. Please know that I’m not painting everyone with the same brush, okay?”

“Okay,” he nodded.

Bonnie bit her bottom lip. “I’m a stylist at Trinity Salon in Little Creek, right off of Independence Blvd. We take up the second floor above a lot of little shops.”

“I don’t think I’ve noticed you,” Jase admitted.

“We’re above the Rusty Elbow Pub.”