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Elizabeth gave him the stink-eye. “You did that on purpose. You said you were going to let me pay for the supplies.”
“Actually, you said you were, but I never agreed to that. Man, I’m looking forward to more lasagna and other meals.” He winked at her.
“Your boyfriend’s a keeper.” The cashier handed him the receipt but directed her comment to Elizabeth.
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Elizabeth said, awfully damn quickly.
Ouch. He didn’t want to take it personally. After all, she didn’t date. Still, it was like a shot right through the heart. It’s like he gave love a bad name. At least he didn’t sing that out loud.
“You need to let me cover the materials,” she tried again.
“It’s less than what it cost you to feed my dog while I was deployed.”
“I doubt that. Consider it doing my part to support the troops.”
“And this is my way of supporting your mission,” he deflected. “I admire what you do.”
Their gazes remained locked—not in a showdown over who’d pay, but in a kind of mutual admiration until Elizabeth finally swallowed. “Just when I thought you would take orders from a civilian.”
“I get a ten percent military discount.” John wasn’t going to cave. “I didn’t think it was an order. Sometimes you got to let somebody do something nice for you for a change.”
“Okay,” she conceded, not breaking eye contact as her reluctant smile grew ever so slowly.
He got it was hard for her to give up control, but the guardedness in her eyes dropped a level. She gave up the standoff to help him load the back of the truck. After he closed the tailgate, he checked his text messages.
All set, read the message from Wren.
ETA 15 min, he texted back, which gave him a small window of time to go through with the big ask he had in mind.
ChapterThirty-One
FALLIN’ FOR YOU – Colbie Caillat
Ever since Adam,Elizabeth hated feeling like she owed a man for anything. She’d only agreed to John building the deck with her paying for the supplies. Then John aimed that grin her way and lulled her into lowering her defenses.
There was no way she could pay him for this in lasagna, or even filet mignon and lobster, and she wasn’t about to offer to do his laundry and handle his boxers or briefs. What the hell was she doing wondering which he wore when him not taking no for an answer raised a red flag that put her on edge?
“You know that wedding I’m going to?” He pulled out of the parking lot.
“Yes.”
“What I didn’t mention is that my buddy, Nate, was the lead onSay Yes to the Rose.”
“The TV show?”
“Yeah. Do you watch it?”
“No, but I’ve seen enough commercials and tabloid headlines to get the gist of it. Is the wedding off?”
“Oh, it’s on. Nate and Cecilia are perfect for each other. But I was on one of the episodes with two of his other buddies to vet the women.”
“That didn’t out your Green Beret secret identity?” she teased.
“Since Nate was engineer, we never mentioned what I do. Anyway, one of the women posted on social media that she’s looking forward to seeing me and giving me some singing lessons.”
A chuckle escaped Elizabeth.
“I know I need them, but I don’t think she means singing lessons. I kind of flirted with her back then, or tried to, to see if she was really there for Nate. Anyway, Nate mentioned at theSay Yes to the Rosereunion show I was seeing somebody. In light of what I was recently told, I need to be careful so I don’t fall back into old habits. I thought it would be better if I didn’t show up alone.”
