All Summer Long (Fool's Gold #9)

“Not always. Besides, I’m otherwise engaged these days.”


She stopped and stared at him. “What does that mean? You’re dating? You’ve only been back a few weeks. I didn’t think you had time to get involved. Look, if you’re seeing someone I don’t want to...” She paused, fumbling for the right phrase for what they were, in theory, going to do.

He faced her. He was taller than her, broader in the shoulder. She was used to being the same size or bigger than everyone in the room, so it was kind of strange to be smaller than Clay. Nice, but strange.

“I’m not dating,” he said quietly. “I meant you.”

“Oh. Okay. That’s fine, then.”

His dark gaze settled on her face. “Know any martial arts?”

“Not formally. I’ve taken self-defense classes, of course and I can have a mean left hook.”

“I could teach you. We could spar sometime.”

She held the clipboard against her chest. Not exactly like a shield. She sighed. Fine. Yes, exactly as if she were trying to protect herself.

“How would that be fun?” she asked. “Sparring with someone who doesn’t know what she’s doing? Don’t you want to work out with someone better than you? Isn’t that how you learn?”

“You don’t think you could take me?”

“Not that way. I wouldn’t know how to begin.”

He took the clipboard from her. “Charlie, take a deep breath.”

“Why?”

He raised his eyebrows.

“All right,” she grumbled and did as he requested. “And?”

“That was flirting.”

“Breathing?”

He grinned. “No. My offer to spar with you. Think about it. The two of us in a room, getting physical.”

“I don’t think that was flirting. I didn’t flip my hair. Isn’t hair flipping required?”

“Is that why you wear it short?”

“No.” She grabbed the clipboard and held on to it with both hands. “It’s more practical this way and I’m busy.”

“Or you’re doing your damnedest to deny your femininity.”

She held in a snort. “Please. Have you seen me? I’m not the least bit feminine.” Something her mother had pointed out endlessly when Charlie had been growing up. “I don’t care about that sort of thing.” She glanced around to make sure no one was within earshot. The other trainees had already left and Josh’s next cycling class hadn’t arrived. They were the only ones in the parking lot.

“What’s this all about?” she asked. “I thought we were just going to have sex.”

“This is having sex.”

“No one is naked.”

“Flirting is foreplay. You’ll like it.”

“I doubt that.” Why did there have to be foreplay? Why couldn’t they just get to it and get it over with?

“Then I like it. It’s fun.”

She hadn’t thought of sex as being fun. To her, it was something to be endured for the greater good.

She sighed. “Why can’t you be a regular guy and just want to get to it?”

“Because just getting to it is what hurt you in the first place.”

The man saw too much, she thought, more impressed than annoyed. “So we have to flirt?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know how and I don’t think I’ll be very good at it.”

He flashed her another smile. “That’s the can-do spirit that we all admire.”

“Shut up or I’ll hurt you with my clipboard.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Humor flashed in his eyes. And an invitation.

Charlie swallowed hard, then said, “I could so take you. I’m tough and you can’t possibly handle me.”

She felt stupid and vulnerable as she spoke. Exposing herself like that. Because there were a thousand horrible things Clay could say. Something along the lines of “Why would I want to?” or “You’re right. I couldn’t handle a woman as big as you.”

Instead he moved a little closer. “I’m good at handling.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. “I have no idea what to say. I suck at this.”

He surprised her by leaning in and kissing her. His lips lingered for a second, before he straightened. “Don’t worry about it. There’s a path to seduction, Charlie, and we’re going to walk every step. No matter how long it takes.”

With that, he turned and walked away. She had a bad feeling she was standing there, slack-jawed. Looking as stunned as she felt.

When he drove off, she was able to close her mouth. A few seconds later, movement returned and she could walk to her truck. But it was nearly an hour before the tingles he generated faded. In her book, that was going down in the win column.

CHAPTER SEVEN

DOMINIQUE HAD NEVER been in a fire station before. She knew what they were, that there were large vehicles and equipment. Burly men with axes. She even understood that her daughter was a firefighter, but knowing and seeing were different.

After stepping out of the limo and onto the curb, she paused.

“This is a mistake,” she murmured to herself.

Justice, wearing his usual dark suit and sunglasses, stood by her door. “Maybe not.”

“Do you have a family?” she asked.