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“Don’t you mean third act? You did private security for the past few years.”
“No. That was a job, a way to ease my way back into civilian life. And it gave me the connections and knowledge I needed for the business. Who knew?”
I suspected Miles knew. “There’s more going on behind those pretty brown eyes than you let on.”
He fluttered his eyelashes and smiled. “You think my eyes are pretty, huh?”
“I think all of you is pretty, Miles.”
He groaned. “Now you sound like that hairdresser, Brenna.”
“Grant didn’t seem to mind being called pretty.”
He grunted. “Grant is a pretty boy.”
“Hate to break it to you, Miles, but you are too.” He looked so offended I couldn’t help but laugh. “Plenty of guys would kill to be pretty.”
“I’m handsome. Ruggedly and masculinely, handsome.”
I giggled and saluted him. “Sir, yes, sir!”
“Funny.” His lips pulled into a grin and that small act, suffused my body with heat.
“I thought so.” In fact, I thought the whole damn date was fun. From the delicious surf and turf meal that I didn’t feel apprehensive at all about eating in front of a gorgeous man, to the chocolate mousse we shared for dessert, to the after dinner walk. The drive back to Pilgrim was quiet and full of sexual tension, which I pretended not to notice.
“You sure you’re okay walking for a bit in those shoes?” He nodded to the tall red pumps I’d chosen for tonight, because I wanted to feel like a beautiful, desirable women even though my belly had popped out and my boobs no longer fit my bras. My hair was longer and shinier than ever, so I wore it long and curly around my shoulders to emphasize my cleavage, and hoped the red shoes would be a proper alternative distraction from my growing belly.
“Are you kidding? I could run in these shoes if I needed to.” At his skeptical look, I crouched into a runner’s stance.
“Don’t you dare.” The warning in his tone was lessened by the twitch of his lips. “Let’s just enjoy a nice romantic walk under the stars.”
I looked up at his words and gasped. “This is a view you certainly don’t get in Los Angeles.” There were so many stars visible in the sky it was like a painting, or those photos at the observatory. “Wow. Who knew this park was so beautiful at night?”
“So you’re not regretting leaving sunny California behind you?”
“Nope.”
“Not even a little bit?” His tone was playful but I could tell my answer was important so I went for total honesty.
“I’m sure when winter rolls in, I’ll be longing for sunny and seventy-five, but no, I have no regrets about leaving. This is the right move for this time in my life.” Despite what everyone thought, I hadn’t made the decision to move lightly. I thought it over long and hard until I was sure it was the right move. The logical choice rather than the emotional one.
Miles said nothing, he just smiled as he grabbed my hand and led my down a path through the park. Even with the low hanging moon it was difficult to see the different plants and flowers on either side of the path, but soundtrack provided by the crickets was the perfect companion to the starry night. And the romance. “Before I left the Navy, I longed for this kind of quiet.”
“I imagine the sounds of bombs and gunfire could get old really quickly.”
The corners of his mouth tipped up as I was hoping they would. “It wasn’t the sound so much as the constancy of it. Day and night. No matter what you were doing, they served as a reminder of where you were. Always.”
“And now you’re here, in the worlds smallest town, enjoying all the quiet.”
“Let’s just say I sleep like a log most nights.”
“Only most nights?” Was flirting appropriate? I mean this was a date, but I was also pregnant by this man and we should be more careful than this. Right?
“Some nights, visions of a naked redhead writhing underneath me keep me up for most of the night. Others, I wake up hot and damp from all the things she does to me.”
“Miles,” I gasped and shook my head.
“What? It’s the truth, Shannon. I want you and I can’t pretend I don’t.”
“Even now,” I asked, not exactly fishing for compliments but I knew what my body looked like these days, in short I was squishier than normal.
“Maybe even more so now,” he said, gaze laser focused on the cleavage that spilled over the top of my not-so-little black dress. “Those boobs are even more mouthwatering. But that’s my baby in there and I can’t explain it, but that’s hot as hell to me.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s just you being a caveman, I think.”
Miles laughed again, not offended. “Maybe. I won’t pretend there’s a primal thing going on when I look at your changing body, knowing I had something to do with that. But I also want the body. The woman and her body.”
