about the money stuff or let it slow down your progress. I know you’re set for the next few months, but if you run into trouble, let me know. I can help out.” He might not have a clue what he was doing with his life, any idea of where he fit in the world now or even where he’d be sleeping in six months.
But if he could help Genna make her dream come true, he figured he was set.
* * *
HE WANTED TO HELP HER?
“You’re serious?” she breathed.
It wasn’t a proposal, or a big emotional declaration. To Genna, it was even more. It was a promise that he’d be around. That they had a future, whatever that might look like.
Her heart melted in her chest, warm, soft and gooey. Unable to resist, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tight.
Her smile was wide enough to split her face when she pulled away to brush a quick kiss over his lips. Then, happier than she could remember, she shook her head.
“No, but thank you.”
“What? Why not?” Brody scowled.
“That is the sweetest offer and I appreciate it.” Probably more than he wanted. But that was just one more reason she was madly in love with him. And yet another reason to be careful to protect herself. It was enough that her heart counted on him. She couldn’t risk her business, too. “But you stepped in to save me once. I don’t want that to be the basis for our relationship, you know?”
“I thought the basis for our relationship was sex,” he teased.
“Exactly,” she said with a relieved laugh. “Why mess with a good thing?”
He nodded, but the serious look didn’t leave his eyes. “Fine. You go it alone. But if you run into trouble, let me help you. I’ve got plenty saved up. I can afford to buy my way into a lifetime supply of cookies to keep you from losing your dream.”
Her eyes soft, she reached out to cup his cheek in one hand and kiss him again.
“You are so sweet,” she said when she lifted her lips from his.
“The hell I am.”
He looked so embarrassed, she decided to give him a break and change the subject.
“Did you want to see the site design?” Shuffling papers, she grabbed the sketch pad. “Maybe tell me what you think of the colors and logo we’re doing?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Brody gave her a pained expression. “You want a taste tester, I’m your guy. But you start talking colors and decorations and crap, I’m outta here.”
“I’ve been horrible, haven’t I?” she said with a laugh, tossing the sketch pad aside. “Not only do I keep asking you all these questions you have no interest in answering, but I’ve had you try every recipe I’ve made in the last week.”
“Well, you’ve kept me pretty well compensated,” he mused, that sexy glint in his eyes making Genna shiver. She loved how he looked at her. As if she were the key to his every sexual fantasy.
“Would you like a little compensation right now?” she asked in a teasing tone, shifting so she was straddling his body, her hands anchored on the couch behind his head.
“Sounds good,” he murmured against her throat. His kisses sent shivers through her, but it was the hot rod pressing against his zipper that had her all kinds of excited.
“What’d you have in mind?” she said, sliding against his erection in a slow, undulating move that was making it hard to breathe.
“A cookie.”
What? Genna pulled back to look at him. His smile was as huge as the hard length pressing against her aching core. Laughing, she leaned in to kiss him, reveling in the taste and texture of his mouth before shifting back just a little.
“You can have a cookie afterward,” she promised.
Before she could get started, though, his cell phone rang. As much for the fun of wiggling in his lap as to be helpful, she reached around to grab it off the side table.
“I’ve already had my way with you once today,” she said, placing a teasing kiss on his chin. “Go ahead and take your call. I’ll compensate you afterward.”
“No.”
Brody stared at the readout. The phone went silent, then black before he blinked, then tossed it onto the coffee table. It bounced twice before skidding into the popcorn bowl. Genna tensed, looking at the phone, then back at Brody’s face. He didn’t appear angry. Just distant.
“Is everything okay?” she asked quietly. She didn’t want to pry. But she couldn’t ignore how upset he seemed.
“Fine.” He blinked, and it was as if she’d imagined the closed look on his face. In its place now was a cheerfully charming smile.
She frowned.
Brody didn’t do cheerful.
Something was definitely wrong.
“That was Blake,” he said, giving a first name to the “Lt. Landon” she’d seen on the screen. “He’s got some irritating mother-hen tendencies.”
“So he’s calling to check on you?”
“Probably.” Brody shrugged. “I don’t feel like talking, though.”
Shock. Brody Lane didn’t want to talk?
Genna knew she should ignore her nagging sense of worry. But since she doubted his teammate was calling to discuss feelings, relationships or their rocky past, she couldn’t. Not when he looked so unhappy. But whatever was bothering him, she knew he wouldn’t share.
So maybe she should ask about what was bothering her. Nervous, but knowing she’d never get a better opportunity, she swallowed hard and forced herself to say, “So... You’ll be going back soon.”
He grunted. She took it as a yes.
“I know you don’t get to say where you’ll live or how long you’re in any one place.” And it wasn’t as if she was asking to follow him around. Although she would if he asked. “Do you think, maybe once in a while between missions. If, you know, you’re stationed at Coronado. If, maybe, you’d come back and visit?”
Genna mentally cringed. The only way she could sound more hesitant and unsure was if she’d thrown in a whining tone with all those maybes.
Brody didn’t cringe, though. Nor did he get that distant look that told her she’d stepped into classified territory. Instead, he gave her a long stare, then smiled.
She wasn’t sure why the smile made her want to cry.
“I’ve got some career options ahead. I’ve decided not to re-up in May. I’d be leaving the navy. So maybe instead of visiting, we can just see each other all the time.”
Genna stared, her mind spinning.
She’d hoped, in that way-back secret corner of her mind, that the option of an online business would make it easier for her to keep her dream if she just so happened to be following Brody from base to base.
But now Brody was leaving the navy? He was moving back. And he wanted a relationship with her. Not just a “distance, naughty letters, and the occasional phone call or conjugal visit” kind of a relationship. But a day-in-and-day-out one.
She wasn’t sure if she should giggle, jump up and down with happiness, or freak out.
“You cool with this?” he said after a solid minute of her mindless staring.
Genna yanked herself out of the reverie, starting to smile. Like a blooming flower, joy spread through her bright and shiny. The smile turned to a grin, then into a giggle.
For the second time that evening