2. Chapter 2
Chapter 2
A laugh started deep in my chest and rumbled up my throat at her question. “Not since I was four.”
Lehra’s big eyes widened, and she blinked those long lashes a few times in surprise. I had the strangest urge to feather my thumb along the tips to see if they felt as soft as they looked. Dude, that would be weird.
“Oh, well. Okay.” She appeared confused by that revelation.
Leaning toward her a little, I caught the scent of summertime and wondered if it was her as I pointed to my bottom lip. “I was running when my mama told me not to and busted my lip open. I got a numbing shot and two stitches.”
She craned her head closer and inspected the tiny scar. Yes, that’s definitely her fragrance. Something light and breezy with a hint of… pineapple?
“Wow, the scar perfectly bisects your bottom lip and turns it into two pretty pillows.” Then a scowl formed on her pretty face, and she shook her head. “Are you carrying a firearm?”
I couldn’t quite keep up with this chick, but I shot a surreptitious glance around at the people filing past us. No one seemed to be paying us any attention. My gaze came back to her because it was difficult to look away from her for very long.
A heart-shaped face was set off by her ash-gray eyes, which were framed by long, inky lashes. Her skin was a few shades lighter than her blonde hair, which fell below her shoulders in bouncy curls.
“I am,” I whisper.
“Good. Could you shoot me in the mouth so I’ll stop saying embarrassing shit?”
A quick bark of laughter popped from my lips before I could stop it. “Afraid not, Lehra, and don’t worry about it. I appreciate honesty.”
“There’s a difference between honesty and saying everything that pops into your head. I just called your lips pretty pillows ,” she informed me, propping her hands on her slim waist. That gesture drew my eyes down, and my tongue instantly found my bottom lip, working forward and back over the scar in the center.
This girl is fucking breathtaking. I’d been so focused on her perfect face that I hadn’t noticed the body, but I’ll be damned if I wasn’t noticing it now.
Lehra was probably five seven, with long legs and curves in all the right places. She was dressed for work in a fashionable black-and-white dress that showed a hint of cleavage. I had to force myself not to stare at the tits that were just big enough to almost fill my large hands.
Working my way down, I found shapely legs, slender ankles, and flats on her feet, though I could see a pair of heels sticking up out of the white bag she had slung over one shoulder. She’d probably change into her work shoes once we arrived.
Which we never will if I don’t stop staring and start doing my fucking job , my brain reminded me.
“That’s not the worst thing that’s ever been said about me,” I assured her as I reached for her suitcase. “You just keep on saying whatever pops into your head.” I want to hear it all.
Lehra’s lips curved up, and my heartbeat seemed to swell until it was thumping my entire torso. I really liked her smile. She had the slightest of overbites, which caused her perfectly straight white teeth to rest against her lower lip. Undeniably sexy.
I was staring again, and I really needed to get my shit together here. I’d never been struck like this by a woman. I had seen my share of beautiful ladies, but no one had ever made me want to drop immediately to my knees and beg her for a date.
Yanking my eyes away, I took her suitcase and placed it in the trunk before going back to her.
“Let’s get you to work, Miss Lehra,” I said, reaching for the back door, but she stopped me with a hand on my arm. A beam of pure energy traveled up my arm and set off a round of fireworks in my brain. Our eyes met, and Lehra’s mouth dropped open like she’d felt it too and was just as surprised as I was.
“I, um, do you mind if I ride up front? Or would that be uncomfortable for you?”
“Not at all,” I assured her, trying to temper my tone so I didn’t sound like a giddy schoolboy as I opened the front door for her. Could she be interested in me? Does she feel this pull I’m feeling?
As she slid gracefully into the seat, I caught a glimpse of creamy thigh before she adjusted her dress. That little spot would look stunning coated in my saliva as I work my way up to…
Cutting off that thought, I rounded the car and dropped into the driver’s seat, the interior now filled with the scent of Lehra. A pretty name for such a pretty woman.
“I don’t remember seeing you when I was given a tour of the building a few months ago,” I told her. I would definitely have remembered you.
“Was it September?” she asked, and when I nodded, her face scrunched up. “That’s probably when I was out with the stomach flu. Oh my god, it was the grossest thing ever. Have you ever puked so hard the vomit came out your nose?”
“I have,” I assured her with a smile. “Worst thing ever.”
“All I could smell was puke, even three days later. I was so self-conscious it was me and took, like, five showers a day, but I think it was seared into my nostrils. I finally had to get one of those Neti Pots and clean out my sinuses.”
My chest shook with laughter. “I’m so sorry you were sick, but that’s hilarious.”
“I know. Sorry I got gross there for a second. I’ll change the subject,” she said as I pulled away from the curb. “How’s your first full day been?”
“Good. Still getting accustomed to the New York traffic.”
“Oh, are you new in town?”
“I am. I moved here from Galveston a few months ago, though I’ve been in the military since I was eighteen, so I’ve lived in a lot of places.”
“That’s exciting,” she said, and from the corner of my eye, I could see her blonde curls flowing over one shoulder as she tilted her head. “I moved here a few years ago from Missouri. That’s the only other place I’ve lived.”
“I spent some time there during SRT training. It’s a beautiful state.”
“It is. What’s SRT?”
“Special Reaction Team. It’s kind of the Marine Corps’ version of a SWAT unit.”
“Wow, Cruz. I didn’t realize I was in the car with a bona fide badass,” she chirped. Lehra really had the perfect voice. Very feminine, but she wasn’t one of those girls who practically whispered everything she said in an effort to sound sexy. I hated the whispery chicks.
“Well, now you know,” I teased, making my way out of the airport. “What brought you here from Missouri?”
“I had my heart set on being a model, but I was told by everyone that I was too short. Especially for runway work. You have to be at least five ten for that.”
“Well, I think they were ridiculous for turning you down. You’re very beautiful.” The words came out before I could stop them, but it was absolutely true. Even with my eyes firmly on the road, I could see the prettiest flush of color stain her cheeks.
“Thanks, Cruz. When I interviewed at Bouvier, they were looking for a receptionist and offered me the job.” She twisted a little in her seat. “What made you get out of the military? Did you get injured?”
“No, a couple years ago, I was trying to decide whether to stay in or not, and then my father died. That made my decision for me. I needed to be there for my mother.”
Her hand rested lightly on my shoulder, and I felt that zap of something electric again. “I’m so sorry you lost your dad. That must have been hard. What brought you to New York?”
Well, that was a loaded question I didn’t care to discuss right now, so I stuck with a partial truth. “My sister, Quinnie, is here. Her husband is a surgical resident at Sloan Kettering, so he works long hours. It’s nice to be close to her and my niece, Noelle.”
“How old is Noelle?”
I could feel my smile widen like it always did when I talked about my niece. “She’s four and a total ball of energy. She believes she’s a princess but she refuses to wear dresses.”
“That’s okay. If she’s a princess, she can wear whatever the hell she wants.”
“That’s what I told her,” I said with a chuckle, flicking on my blinker to change lanes.
“Did you say your sister’s name is Winnie?”
“Quinnie,” I corrected. “It’s short for Quintessa.”
“Is she your only sibling?”
Such a complicated answer…
“We have a younger brother named Eli. He’s twenty-two but still lives at home. I don’t think Mama will ever get rid of him.” I said that last part on a chuckle. “What about you?”
“No siblings. I’m completely boring.”
“I doubt that.”
“Is your mother doing okay now?”
“She is. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have left. It’s still hard, of course, but she has Eli, and she’s started going to a book club and making more friends.”
“That’s good. Okay, enough sad stuff,” she said, clapping her hands once. “Tell me a happy thing.”
Startled a little at the change of subject, I glanced at her and questioned, “A happy thing?”
“Yep. Whenever anything sad or upsetting happened when I was little, my mom said we had to counteract it with something nicer. So she made me tell her a happy thing.”
“Oh, um, let me think.” I just met the most beautiful girl who makes me smile more than I have in years. But I couldn’t exactly say that to her, so I said, “I got accepted as a reserve officer for the police department.”
“Really? That’s so awesome, Cruz.” She touched my arm again, just an encouraging squeeze, but I fucking loved it.
“Yeah, I want to join the unit that does SWAT work. I’m actually meeting with the guys from one of the teams this week to see how we get along. Just for drinks, nothing formal.”
“You’ll be great. I’m sure they’ll love you,” she said as her phone began to ring. “Oh crap, I forgot to call Dwight when I landed.”
Who the hell is Dwight?
“Hi, honey. Sorry I forgot to call,” she answered into the phone, and disappointment shoved my heart down to the vicinity of my stomach.
Honey. She has a boyfriend. Or a… I checked her hand and was pleased when I didn’t see a ring. I’m not sure why it mattered. Boyfriend, fiancé, or husband… it was all the same to me. I would never touch another man’s girl, no matter how attracted I was to her.
“Okay, that sounds good. I’ll see you then,” she was saying. “Love you too.” Lehra hung up the phone and smiled over at me. “Sorry about that. What were we talking about?”
“Oh, I was,” I scrambled to think of something, “about to ask you to tell me a happy thing.”
She tapped her bottom lip with a french-tipped finger. “Hmmm, my happy thing is that it’s only a week till Christmas, and it’s my second favorite holiday behind Halloween.”
“And are you spending Christmas with your… with Dwight?”
Lehra laughed, and the sound was like a melody, sweet and high. “No, he and his family have a tradition of going to Aspen for Christmas. I’m going home to Missouri for a week.”
If I had a woman like you, you’d be included in my family’s traditions, not excluded , I thought.
“How long have you two been together?”
She cocked her head to the side. “Let’s see… ten months. We met when he was in town for a meeting. Dwight is an architect.”
Of course he is, I thought with a hint of bitterness. “And he doesn’t live here?”
“No, he’s in Detroit, but he’s trying to get transferred to his company’s New York branch. We only get to see each other once a month. What are you doing for the holidays?”
Once a month? What the actual fuck?
“I’ll go back to Texas for Christmas Eve and fly back late Christmas Day. I’m too new to ask for much time off from work.”
She shifted and leaned a little closer like she had a secret. The slight movement had her intoxicating scent swirling around me. “What’s it like working with Sexy Shrek every day?”
“Sexy what?” I asked, unable to hold in my laughter.
“Sexy Shrek. That’s what I call Auburn Bouvier because he’s an ogre but a very good-looking one. Most of us in the building only see him briefly each day. I couldn’t imagine being trapped in a car with him.” She shuddered. “So, are you scared of him?”
I grinned and shook my head. “No, I’m not scared of Auburn Bouvier. On the few times I’ve driven him so far, he’s been nice enough to me. A little quiet. He mostly works while I drive him to meetings and stuff.”
“And do you serve as his personal security too like Smithson did?”
Nodding, I turned right, toward the Bouvier building. “I do. When Smithson was off a couple weeks ago, I drove the boss to a lunch meeting, and when we got to the restaurant, there was some kind of protest going on out front. I told him I didn’t feel it was safe for him to go in there, and he didn’t even question me. He called the man he was meeting, and we met him near the side door of the building. I drove them both to another restaurant a few blocks down.”
“He trusts you,” she said softly.
“We’re getting there,” I said, not mentioning that I’d parked down the block while Auburn was at lunch and watched the protest turn violent. The Emergency Service Unit had to swoop in and de-escalate things. I’d had a feeling that was going to happen just by reading the mood of the crowd.
Thank goodness my new boss had listened to me. He was a stubborn fucker, but he wasn’t stupid.
Lehra began changing her shoes as we neared our destination. “I can’t thank you enough for the ride, Cruz.”
“It was my pleasure,” I told her honestly, pulling up to the curb and hopping out.
“You didn’t have to get my door for me,” she protested when I opened it.
“Of course I did. Would you like me to drop your suitcase off at your apartment building?”
Her cute nose scrunched up. “No, that’s okay. I don’t have a doorman or anything at my place. The bag is small enough to fit in the closet behind the reception desk.”
I unloaded the case from the trunk and pulled the handle up for her before sliding it toward her.
“Thanks again, Cruz. It was nice to meet you.”
“You too, Lehra. Don’t let Sexy Shrek get you down.”
She laughed that melodious laugh and turned to walk inside the building. With my hands in my pockets, I enjoyed the view of her retreating form. Tiny white bows winked at me from the backs of her sky-high black heels, and her blonde curls bounced merrily as she walked. Not to mention that truly outstanding ass of hers.
This woman ticked all my boxes, including some I didn’t even know I needed ticked. She was smart, funny, gorgeous, and adorably sweet.
And taken, Estrada. Don’t forget that one .
Just before Lehra entered the Bouvier building, she glanced back, and the sun glinted off her pretty smile as she wiggled her fingers at me. I returned the gesture, one I was pretty sure I’d never done before in all my thirty-one years.
As soon as she disappeared, something heavy settled in my chest. Something I recognized.
Regret.