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ELEVEN
Sunny spent the entire day second guessing himself. Asking Laura to dinner had been a stupid thing to do. Even as friends it was a bad idea. She was his boss. They’d already broken the rules by sleeping together again. He thought back to what she’d said about not being the kind of woman who wanted a husband and a family. For some reason that made him sad, but it must be just for her right? It wasn’t like he wanted those things for himself. Maybe that made it better though. If there was no chance for anything more, they could just talk. He hadn’t had a friend outside the army since high school.
So at six that evening he pulled up outside her cabin. She came out in a pair of jeans that hugged her curves, but he was pleased to see they didn’t look like the same punishingly tight ones she’d worn in Vegas. Her shirt was a pretty blue and green checked pattern that dipped low enough to give him just a hint of what was underneath.
He swallowed hard. “You look really nice.”
Pretty pink stained her cheeks, and she looked down, but still answered, “Thanks.”
He opened the door for her to climb into the truck and he had to force his eyes away from the sight of her ass in those pants. When he climbed in next to her, he noticed her stiff posture and something inside him wilted. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I just thought—”
“I want to,” she interrupted. “It’s…I’ve never been out to dinner with someone before.”
“It doesn’t have to be anything but a meal between friends.”
She relaxed a little and Sunny realized he knew almost nothing about her. They really hadn’t talked during their weekend together in Vegas. They’d been occupied with…other things. And now he really wanted to know what about going out to dinner made her so skittish. That probably wasn’t a topic for dinner if it was going to stress her out, though.
They were both quiet on the drive, but it was comfortable. He drove them to a small cantina that was new in town. Eagle and Sadie had gone to dinner and raved about it. They were there during the week though, so they got to a table in just a few minutes.
Sunny frowned as he looked at the menu. He hadn’t even thought about asking her if she liked Mexican food.
“Everything looks delicious. Have you been here before?”
Was she asking if he’d been a date here or just if he’d eaten the food? It didn’t matter, the answer was the same either way. “No, I’ve never been here.”
“Darn,” she said with a smile. “I was hoping you would be able to tell me what was good.”
The server came back and took both their drink and food orders, leaving them staring at each other.
“No alcohol for you?”
She wrinkled her nose. “No, I’ve had a few drinks over the years, but I don’t like the taste much.”
Sunny couldn’t relate at all. He loved a cold beer after a long day.
“So what made you join the army?” she asked.
Sunny did a quick mental debate, then decided if they were friends he could tell her the truth.
“My father was discharged from the navy after an injury, but it was before I was born. I think maybe he might have liked me when I was small, but the older I got…well we never got along.” He smiled at her. “Believe it or not, in high school I was a lot smaller than I am now and I preferred books to the gym.”
She lifted one eyebrow telling him he’d read her skepticism correctly. “Alright, so why not the navy?”
Sunny shuddered. “I hate water.”
Her mouth fell open in a small “o” of surprise. “Yeah, that would be a hindrance for that, I guess.”
“Definitely. So after our biggest fall out I left everything behind and joined the army determined to prove myself to him.”
Her eyes softened. “It’s hard growing up knowing you are never good enough for your family.”
Sunny heard the pain in her voice and immediately wanted to hunt down whoever had made her feel that way and use every skill he had to make sure they never saw the light of day again. Pushing that down firmly, he listened as she continued.
“Nothing I ever did was good enough for my stepfather.”
“Are you still in touch with anyone from your childhood?”
She nodded. “No, I haven’t talked to my mother or my brothers in ten years.”
