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4
Sex on a Stick
“What brings you guys up here?”
It didn’t take much to get me to agree to come over to the guys’ site, and I felt warm as I sat down on the camp stool that the blonde guy, Roman, had brought over for me.
“I mean, besides the fact that you three look like you’re more at home in the woods than the woods themselves.”
Ivan, the big bear with even bigger muscles, grinned. I’d already noticed that he lived near me, if the gym T-shirt he was wearing was any sort of indication. I’d even considered signing up to the club a couple months ago since it was closer to the restaurant than my current one, but it had a reputation for being hardcore. It had scared me off at the time, but now I was reconsidering my decision. After all, wasn’t I supposed to be a badass chick? Why wouldn’t I be able to handle a freaking gym?
I couldn’t wimp out just because guys like Ivan wandered around bench pressing Buicks or something.
“You hit the nail on the head,” Ivan said, pouring himself a cup full of what looked like cloudy water.
I suspected it was some sort of sports drink or something, based off the way he smacked his lips after taking a sip.
“We like to get up here about once a month or so. Call it natural therapy, call it clearing the stuff out of the attic, whatever you want.”
“Natural therapy?” I asked. “How so?”
“We’ve… seen some shit,” he said after a moment. “You know. Deployments.”
So I was right about the military thing.
“Right. I overheard you guys speaking as I was trying to get my tent set up,” I said, leaning forward and putting my elbows on my knees. “Figured you were military.”
“Ex. We were all in the same squad actually,” Trent said as he used a knife to take some of the kindling pieces from the pile and carve them into what looked like Christmas trees, fuzzing out slivers of wood but not separating them from the whole stick. “Roman here was our squad leader.”
“Really?” I asked, giving Roman another look.
He hadn’t said a lot up to then, but I could see him as a leader. He looked the part too, with his quiet confidence.
“So you guys served together.”
Roman nodded.
“When we got back and realized it was time to get out, we were lucky enough to all end up in the same area,” Ivan explained. “I had property I’d inherited from my grandfather, so it was sort of easy to establish a foothold around here.”
“So what do you do now?” I asked.
“What do you do? I mean, besides brag about your cooking?” Trent tossed back. “Hey, Fiona, no offense, but we’re more than our jobs. So let me guess. You’re a heavy metal singer?”
It was my turn to laugh. “No, but thanks for the compliment. I’m a pastry chef, which sounds much nicer than it is. Since I work at my parents’ restaurant, I pretty much do whatever needs doing. Do you know Tio Rocco’s?”
“I’ve driven by a few times, but I’ll be honest, I’ve never been inside,” Ivan said. “One of my friends says you’ve got a lot of spicy stuff on your menu. I’ve got a thing about spice in general, and Tabasco in particular.”
“Tabasco?” I ask.
That was fucking random. Who could possibly have a problem with Tabasco?
“What’s up with that?” I asked.
“Well, just about every single military ration pack comes with Tabasco sauce,” Roman explained.
“I see. Well, if you ever want to come by, I promise to keep Tabasco far from your table,” I assured him. “Just because we might be most famous for our spicy food doesn’t mean that’s all we’ve got. My brother has really done a lot to expand the menu and offer a nice variety of dishes.”
“I think I’ll have to make the place a visit then,” he said, flashing his dimples with an adorable smile. “So, you do the desserts? And yet you’re… well, you don’t look like someone who eats many desserts.”
