Page 27 of Her Defiant Warrior

“What’s that?” Jase asked.

“Product. I mean gel. It’ll help your hair stay in place.”

Jase laughed. “I think we can forego the product.”

She slowly smiled. “Yeah, I can kind of see where you’re not a hair gel kind of guy.”

“I take enough shit from my family and teammates as is. No need setting myself up for more.”

She let out a low laugh. “Now we’re done.” She unsnapped the cape and pulled it off.

“Nope, ‘fraid not, beauty. We’re not. We didn’t nail down the dates and times for the dates. How about this Friday?”

“I work late on Friday, then I work early on Saturday. See, this just won’t work. What with my schedule and my kids, dating is just impossible.”

“Thursday would be perfect,” Shannon interjected. “She only works four hours in the morning, and Friday she comes in late, so you can have a long, leisurely date on Thursday.”

Bonnie turned and growled at Shannon. “And who am I going to get to watch the kids at the last minute?”

“Me.” Shannon said succinctly.

“Farah.” Jace answered with a smile.

They’d both answered at the same time.

Bonnie threw up her hands. “I told you. My life is too complicated to date. Plus, your life is too complicated to date. And I don’t want to be just another notch on your belt.”

“Lady, I haven’t ‘dated’ or anything else with a woman,” Jase used air quotes to get his point across, “for the last twelve months. I would really like to spend some time with you and get to know you. Get to know your kids. What’s so wrong with that?”

“I don’t want my kids hurt.”

“Bonnie, I’m going to be like Malik, just another friend of the family. I will not be some man their mother is going out with, okay?”

He watched as she closed her eyes, then tipped her head heavenward.

“Okay. A date. One date.”

“Two. One just you and me, then another at the game zone.”

“God deliver me,” she sighed. “Okay, two.”

“This Thursday. Nineteen hundred hours? What’s your address?”

“I’m only giving this to you because Farah trusts you.” Bonnie rattled off her address, and he plugged it into his phone.

“Telephone number?”

“Why do you need to know that?” she asked suspiciously.

“I might run late, and I’d like to let you know.”

She sighed, then she gave it to him.

Jase turned around to the mirror and looked at his now-dry hair. “This haircut looks outstanding. I don’t know what you did exactly. It kind of looks the same, but it looks a hundred times better.”

Bonnie grinned. “That is the magic.”

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