He shrugged. “It’s different when it’s my teammates. Time has helped blur some of those old memories, too. It’s not as bad as it used to be.”
“I’m glad.”
Samantha had never known anyone who’d been in the military, but she could imagine the atrocities Trey had seen in the army. No one should have to experience that stuff.
“You were right about this place,” she added, hoping to lighten the mood. “These burgers are awesome.”
As they ate, Trey talked about what it was like to be part of SWAT. While she didn’t learn any deep, dark secret that might explain any of the weird crap that had gone on around the team, she learned enough to know Trey did some really dangerous stuff, he adored his job, and he loved his teammates.
His pack.
She didn’t realize they’d been talking for hours until she looked around and realized that it was almost closing time. The burgers and cheddar fries were gone down to the last little nibble. Heck, there wasn’t even any cheese left on the plate to scrape up. A warm sensation swirled inside as it dawned on her that she’d never been on a relaxed, effortless date in her life. And even though she’d eaten more than her share of cheese fries to go along with her burger, when Trey asked if she wanted to go for ice cream, she didn’t even consider saying no.
There was an ice cream shop just a few blocks away that made fancy desserts using liquid nitrogen. The place looked like a lab, complete with billowing steam coming out of the high-tech mixers. There were so many flavors on the menu and toppings to go with them that it was difficult to choose, but she and Trey finally decided on double scoop waffles cones with cheesecake-flavored ice cream mixed with pieces of Oreo cookies.
As they sat on a bench in front of the shop, eating ice cream, Trey told her about his family and growing up on a soybean farm in North Dakota. From the warmth in his voice, it was obvious he loved the wide-open spaces and working the farm with his family, but he admitted the idea of becoming a farmer like his parents, brothers, and sisters hadn’t been something he wanted to do.
“That’s why I joined the army,” he added. “I wanted to see some more of the world, and once I did, there was no way I could go back. I mean, I go back to visit my family on the holidays, and they’ve come down here to visit me a few times. But it’s hard for them to get away from the farm for long, so I mostly make the trek to see them.”
She smiled. It was nice to hear he was close with his family. “I can understand not wanting to move back to North Dakota after traveling around the world for six years in the army, but what brought you to Dallas? Were you stationed in Texas when you got out of the military?”
Trey didn’t answer and when the silence continued to stretch out, Samantha got the feeling he wasn’t comfortable discussing it. Maybe it was too personal. Or maybe he’d finally caught on to the fact that they had spent the whole night talking about him. She hadn’t necessarily intended to do that, but whenever he’d posed a question about her background, she found herself steering the conversation back to him.
“You don’t have to tell me why you settled in Dallas if you don’t want to,” she said softly, finishing up her cone and realizing that his was long gone. “I get that some things are too personal to talk about on a first date.”
“Yeah, I guess they are.” His mouth curved into a small smile. “Is that your way of asking me out on another date? You must be eager to use up your second favor.”
Samantha laughed, relieved she hadn’t messed anything up beyond repair. “Do I need to use a favor to go out with you again?”
She hoped that wasn’t the case. And not merely because she still wanted to learn whatever it was he was hiding from her. The truth was, there was something special about this man. Something that attracted her to him like the proverbial moth to a flame. And she desperately wanted to know why that was.
“No, you don’t need to use another favor to get a second date,” he murmured, his gaze becoming more heated by the second. “You just need to say yes.”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation.
Then Trey was slipping a hand into her hair and tugging her closer on the bench, his very warm mouth coming down on hers. The kiss stayed casual and chaste for all of two seconds before his tongue slipped between her lips. She couldn’t stop the moan that came out. He tasted delectable. And it had nothing to do with ice cream or what they’d had for dinner. There was simply something there she couldn’t seem to do without.
He deepened the kiss with a groan, nipping and biting lightly on the tip of her tongue and her lower hip, tugging and teasing until she had to wonder if lip-gasms were a real thing.
She had no idea her fingers were in his hair, yanking and pulling him exactly where she wanted. Not until she heard him growling. Crap, he was growling. A deep, rumbling sound that vibrated up through his chest and right into her soul.
No. Actually, those vibrations settled between her legs—right there where all good vibrations belonged.
Samantha was damn close to climbing into his lap right there, on a busy street in front of the ice cream shop, when Trey suddenly pulled back. He was breathing as hard as she was, his eyes reflecting the yellow glow of the nearby streetlamps. It only made him that much more mesmerizing.
“Tomorrow night…five o’clock?” he whispered, his warm breath tantalizing against the sensitive skin of her lips. “I’ll pick you up at your place again?”
It took a few moments for her rattled mind to figure out what he was even talking about, but when she did, all she could do was nod. He wanted to see her again tomorrow night. Yes, that was exactly what she wanted, too.
Taking her hand, Trey stood, taking her with him, and they walked back to his Jeep. As he helped her into the passenger seat, then walked around to the driver’s side, Samantha realized Crystal lad been right. She was being absolutely stupid to risk the chance of being with Trey simply to learn a few secrets that probably didn’t matter anyway.
Chapter 5
“You going to fill us in on how the date went last night, or did you think we’d let you slide without telling us anything?” Connor asked from the far side of the tables they’d shoved together in the training room.
Trey looked up from the STAT file he’d been reading for the past few minutes to see Connor, Trevor, and Hale sitting in front of file folders of their own, scribble-filled notepads near at hand. Tuffie, the team’s resident pit-bull-mix mascot, sat off to one side, while Kat perched on the table beside Connor, looking over his arm like she was actually reading the documents Alyssa had left them. Which, considering this particular cat, was a distinct possibility.
The four of them had come to the SWAT compound early that morning to go through Alyssa’s files on the three dead victims, hoping to find some kind of connection between them. Trey didn’t know about the others, but so far, nothing obvious was jumping out at him.