“I’m glad you did,” Dean said, reaching for his second cinnamon bun. “I think we’ve already established how much I love your buns.”
“Yes,” he said in unison with Lori.
Loni chuckled and leaned over to kiss his smiling buddy. “I’ve gotten that vibe from you a time or two.”
“Ugh…see what I’ve had to put up with, RJ?” Lori eye-rolled the couple.
“Beautiful and a saint.”
It wasn’t until a pretty blush colored her checks that he realized he’d spoken out loud.
“I…uh…thanks.” Her voice was slightly breathless, and the appreciation lighting her gorgeous blue eyes shifted something deep within his chest.
Damn, she was breathtaking. He couldn’t tear his gaze away.
Several seconds later, someone cleared their throat.
“Hate to interrupt, buddy,” Dean said. “But we have exactly three minutes to get to work before Mac starts our morning briefing.”
Shit.
RJ preferred to be there before the boss. Today was the first time that wouldn’t happen. Despite their daily coffee and bun ritual, they’d always made it to work with time to spare. Hell, he was a stickler for dragging Dean from Loni’s side.
But today?
The innocent ritual had taken an unexpected and arousing turn.
“I’ll bag your leftovers.” Loni jumped to her feet and rushed behind the counter with their half-eaten plate of baked goods.
“And I’ll get you two some fresh coffee,” Lori said, swiping their cups off the table before joining her sister.
Fresh coffee?
Okay, now she wasn’t playing fair. It was hard not to appreciate the sweet move. Or the sweet woman.
“Thanks,” Dean said.
RJ decided not to reply. It would only invite more conversation, and he was pretty sure they’d conversed enough. Hell, their bodies were speaking to each other in a sexy, sensual language. But although his buddy hadn’t meant to, he’d pointed out that Lori had some things in common with Elaina. Both women were beautiful, free-spirited, and creative, always had a sketchpad nearby, and even though he agreed—Lori wasn’t the type to use people like his ex-girlfriend—RJ wasn’t sure it was smart to get involved with another artist.
But smart didn’t appear to be one of his assets lately. It was becoming painfully obvious he’d left his brains in Iowa.
The chemistry between him and Lori was palpable. RJ was a realist. Ignoring their attraction wasn’t going to work. Sooner or later, the heat would consume them…and he suspected sooner rather than later.
Chapter Five
That evening, Lori sat at her kitchen table eating takeout, doing her best not to think about the sexy SEAL living across the street, probably also eating alone.
No big deal.
Plenty of people ate dinner by themselves. Heck, she’d done it lots of times throughout the years. So why was it bothering her so much lately? She’d been awfully restless, too.
Probably because she missed traveling and competing. It couldn’t have anything to do with her sexy, dark-eyed neighbor.
Except it did.
Dammit.
Something about the guy captured her attention. He was a righteous man. A hard worker. Tenacious. Determined. She knew instinctively he wouldn’t hurt her or force his opinions on her. He was a protector.
Then why had she chickened out this morning? It’d been on the tip of her tongue to ask him over for dinner tonight, but she’d closed her mouth and swallowed the invitation at the last minute.
Attraction had been zinging between them, and he was definitely attracted to her. She’d seen it in his heated gaze. But he seemed to be fighting it, too.
Yeah, in this day and age, there were plenty of guys who appreciated when a woman asked them out, and she was fairly certain RJ was one of those guys.
But she didn’t have the best track record when it came to men. One out of three had been nice. He was her first boyfriend and an artist, like her. She’d met him at college, but they’d parted when he left to study in Paris.
After that, it was jerkface. She’d mistakenly thought his undivided interest in her was nice. He wanted them to do everything together, but after several months with no breathing room, she’d felt trapped, like he was stepping on her wings. No, ripping them out. She couldn’t even go to the store by herself without him Facetiming to make sure she was alone. When she found out he’d been answering her phone and telling people she didn’t want to hang out—even her sister—Lori had kicked him to the curb. It had taken several friends and a restraining order, but the jerk finally got a clue.
More than a year had gone by before she’d jumped back into the dating pool, but even then, it had only been with one toe. She was extremely leery, not wanting to make another bad choice, so she eventually went out with a surfer she’d met in California while on a break between competitions last year. He was fun and care-free, the exact opposite of jerkface. But, he turned out to be a little too care-free, thinking it was okay to bring other women into their bed while she was away at a competition.
Disgusted, she had returned to Connecticut and devoted her free time to sketching and painting when she wasn’t working at the bakery or at competitions. This was around the time Loni had received her diagnosis. Her sister had a jerkface of her own who had walked out when she told him about her impending blindness.
Lori had insisted that Loni give up her lease and move in with her. She hadn’t dated since. Hadn’t really missed it, or even paid attention to men…until RJ had shown up at Abby and Cooper’s wedding.
Something about the haunted look in his dark eyes had drawn her in, and she’d been intrigued ever since. Dammit. She didn’t want to be interested. Didn’t want to be tied down…unless it was by him with a silk scarf…
A knock at the door had her jumping out of her skin…and from the start of a great fantasy. She pushed her half-eaten pizza aside and headed through the open concept kitchen/living room to answer the door.
An hour ago, when she’d opened her door after a persistent knocking, no one had been around. If that were the case this time, she was going to have to talk to Dean about getting some security cameras set up.
Even though her sister was technically the famous one, Lori had garnered her fair share of fans by appearing on television at those competitions with Loni. They’d found out just how crafty some fans could be in regards to discovering their address.
Back in Connecticut, she’d had cameras installed because strangers showed up at their doorstep often…and because of jerkface. Her jerkface, not Loni’s.
Inhaling, she opened the door, expecting to find it empty again, but at the sight of her sexy neighbor standing on her porch, she exhaled. “RJ…hi.”
“Hi, Lori,” he said. “Didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
She snorted. “You’re not interrupting. You’re saving me from eating a whole pizza myself.” She stood back and motioned toward the box clearly visible on the kitchen table. “Please, come in and share some carbs with me.”
After a second’s hesitation, he entered. “Thanks, but you don’t need to give up your supper. I came because I found this on the beach and thought it might be yours.”