Seven
SEVEN
Hart
One month later
I sensed her before I saw her.
It was possible that part of the reason was simply the natural instincts and abilities I possessed working in the field that I did. I could be aware of what was happening around me without needing to be able to see.
In an instant, my mind was filled with past encounters—eight months’ worth of them, to be precise—in this very location.
This deli had been the place where it all started. And for four months, even though I’d noticed her immediately, I hadn’t ever approached Reagan.
I was a man who hadn’t been interested in finding some long-term romantic relationship. I’d have settled for the one-night stands and random hookups for the rest of my life, and I didn’t think the local deli was the place to find willing participants.
Yet, somehow, I’d succeeded in finding something that was infinitely better than that, better than both the long-term relationships and the one-night stands.
Reagan Stuart, a woman who, like me, wasn’t interested in having a relationship but didn’t want to be alone all the time. What we had was perfect for the both of us. We got the benefits of a traditional relationship without all the messiness and feelings.
I’d intended to stop at her place today after picking up my lunch at the deli, and I was relieved—and perhaps a bit excited—to know she’d walked in just seconds ago. I practiced some self-control, refusing to turn around and make eye contact with her until after I’d gotten my order and was ready to walk out.
But I knew it’d be worth the wait.
Because I’d turn around and find that shiny, dark brown hair that fell in long layers to the middle of her back. I’d find those gorgeous grey eyes and perfectly shaped lips. My eyes would sweep down over her petite frame and force me to recall what she looked like naked.
The only mystery that remained now was how she’d be dressed. I didn’t doubt she’d look professional, but I never knew if I’d find her in a skirt, dress, or pants. While I enjoyed the sight of her legs—something I didn’t get much of in the beginning because the weather had been so cold—I’d have been lying if I said I couldn’t appreciate the way she looked in her pants. They molded to her ass perfectly, leaving my fingers itching to touch and squeeze it.
“Here’s your sandwich, Hart. You’re all set.”
Mallory’s voice snapped me out of my fog. Having already paid for my food, I reached for the sandwich. “Thanks, Mal. I’ll see you later.”
“Bye!”
I had already turned by the time she replied, and sure enough, Reagan was there. Today, she had on a dress.
Her eyes slid to mine, and she looked as though she wanted to ask me a question, but I didn’t give her the chance. I offered her a small smile and a wink as I continued to move toward the exit.
It had been just over four months now since we’d started things up between us. We’d seen each other regularly over the course of that time, usually two, maybe three times a week, but it had been just over a week since we’d last gotten together. Between her busy work schedule and some of the things I had going on at work as well, the lunch hour meeting had proven to be challenging.
I didn’t doubt Reagan had been hoping to ask me about when we might get together again, but I preferred to surprise her this afternoon.
So, I went out into the parking lot, hopped into my vehicle, and waited. A couple of minutes later, Reagan walked out. Though I was slightly distracted by the way her body moved, I was mostly ticked that she was walking with her head down. She’d never see a threat coming if she continued to be so oblivious to what was happening around her.
Obviously, I didn’t want her living her life in fear, but I knew all too well the threats that existed, even in our small town.
Reagan made it safely to her car and pulled out. I waited just a touch longer before I pulled away and drove toward her house.
The next thing I knew, her front door was flung wide open. “I knew it!”
“Do you ever check to make sure I’m on the other side of this door before you open it? I barely knocked before you opened it.”
She shrugged, beaming at me. “Instinct told me it was you.”
As she stepped back, I walked into the house and closed the door behind me. “So, you assumed I was coming over here?”
“I saw your little wink at the deli. It’s been too long since you’ve visited. Why wouldn’t you stop over today?”
My brows shot up. “Too long?”
Reagan popped her hip and rested her hand on it. “Don’t tell me you haven’t missed getting together for a bit of fun. I know you have. I have, too. I can admit that. We always have a good time.”
She wasn’t wrong about that. I’d had months of having a fantastic time with her. But I couldn’t bring myself to admit it. “Lunch first?”
Yeah. I’d asked her if she wanted to eat lunch together first. I did things like that now. She was fun to be around, and she never crossed the line when it came to our arrangement.
Reagan considered my suggestion. “It works for me, but how will you feel if you get called away on some mission before we even finish lunch?”
My body froze. “Some mission?”
Throwing her hand out in front of her body, palm up, she shared, “Well, since you still haven’t told me what you do for a living, I’ve had no choice but to figure it out or make assumptions on my own. And I’ve decided that you’re some kind of superhero that goes on rescue missions, which is the reason you can’t tell me the truth. You need to keep your identity a secret, so the bad guys won’t know when you’re tracking them.”
Even if she wasn’t coming right out with it, Reagan had been making it clear to me that she hated not knowing what I did for a living. But at least she was finding a way to be playful about it.
I’d noticed more and more of that side of her coming out over the last couple of weeks, and it had been a welcome change I didn’t know I would enjoy so much.
And though I didn’t come close to considering myself a superhero, Reagan wasn’t far off in her line of thinking. It wasn’t like she didn’t have reasons to come to the conclusion she had. There had been a handful of instances of me getting a call from work when I was with her over the last couple of months. I had no choice but to leave abruptly in each of those scenarios, so it was no wonder Reagan had drawn wild conclusions about what I did for a living.
Unwilling to confirm or deny what she’d said, I laughed. “You’re crazy, do you know that?”
“You’re the mystery man. I’m just doing what I can with the information I’ve got.”
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s eat lunch first.”
Since it was nice outside, Reagan and I made our way out to her deck to eat after she grabbed both of us some drinks.
No sooner had we sat down, she dove right in with the conversation. And while the thought of that might have normally given me reason for pause, it didn’t now. Because Reagan knew. She always kept the conversation lighthearted and fun. It never got too personal.
“So, in all honesty, please tell me I’m not crazy for thinking this was far too much time between visits,” she pleaded, her tone light and teasing.
I chuckled. “You’re not crazy. It was certainly longer than I would have liked, but our work schedules were making things a bit impossible. In my defense, there had been two instances when I could have made it happen, but you weren’t free at lunch.”
She finished chewing a bite of her sandwich. After taking a sip of her drink, she posed a question. “Well, maybe I missed it, but did we decide that lunch time was our only option? I mean, we’ve been doing this for months, and the lunch hour generally works great. But maybe we could come up with an alternative when that option becomes an impossibility.”
Intrigued, I leaned in. “What did you have in mind?”
Reagan’s demeanor was entirely casual as she shrugged and suggested, “We could get together after work on occasion. If it’s a chaotic day for the both of us, we could just meet up after work.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
Surprise washed over her. “Not a bad idea? Hart, I’ve actually considered this thoroughly this week. It’s not just not a bad idea ; it’s a great idea.”
My brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
A look of seduction took over her expression. “With neither of us needing to return to work, we’d have a lot more time to have a whole bunch of fun with one another. Multiple orgasms for the both of us.”
I went from intrigued to confused to turned on in a matter of seconds. “Multiple orgasms?”
She nodded slowly. “What do you think?”
My eyes roamed over her face, both of us having halted our sandwich eating. I hadn’t thought Reagan could get any better, but it was clear I was wrong. My mouth broke into a full-fledged grin. “I think your mind is a beautiful thing when you have too much time to think.”
Her expression of happiness mirrored my own. “So, you’re up for it?”
“Absolutely.” Seemingly satisfied, Reagan returned her attention to her sandwich. My eyes dropped to it, noting it was her usual. “So, is that your favorite?”
With food in her mouth, she didn’t speak, but her brows shot up, silently questioning me.
I jerked my chin toward her sandwich. “Every time I’ve stopped here on a Tuesday, and we’ve had lunch together, I’ve noticed you’ve always ordered the same thing. Have you tried everything else and decided this is the best?”
Reagan blinked her eyes in surprise and jerked back slightly. Her eyes shifted between the sandwich I was holding in my hands and my face. “I’m scared.”
“Scared?”
“I haven’t tried anything else at the deli,” she confessed. “I want to, but every time I call in to place my order, I always get the same thing. I like this, and I’m afraid if I get something else, I might be disappointed. So, no matter how good some of the other stuff looks, I don’t want to risk walking away from the safety food.”
I didn’t know why it happened the way it did, but without a second thought, I lifted the sandwich in my hands toward her mouth. “Do you want to try a bite of mine?”
“Oh, um, I don’t want to take your food.”
“I’m offering you a bite of it. There’s plenty left.”
A smile played at her lips as she glanced between the sandwich and me. After hesitating for just a moment, she leaned forward, parted her lips, and took a bite. I watched, my eyes initially focused on her mouth but quickly lifting to note the rest of her expression. In that instant, I knew I’d done the right thing.
“Wow. That was delicious.”
I held the sandwich up to her mouth again. “Here. Have another bite.”
This time, there was no hesitation on her part. She took another bite. And before she even finished chewing, she lifted her sandwich up to my mouth.
I took a bite, keeping my eyes on hers, noting how she was watching my mouth. Who would have thought having a friendly lunch would have turned to this?
Sparks were flying over sandwiches from the local deli.
“What do you think about mine?” she asked.
“It’s good, but I already knew that.”
“You’ve had it before?”
Shrugging, I confessed, “I like a little variety in my life. And I don’t think you can blame me, because you liked mine.”
Reagan nodded. “Yeah, but I’d still be terrified to venture outside of these two options now.”
“I guess I’ll just have to share with you every time now, until you’ve tried them all.”
A shy smile spread across her face, and she tucked her chin toward her chest. Seeing that look, having just had what we had, I felt a wave of content wash over me.
This was good between us. It was comfortable.
And to some degree, I had to admit, I liked that it was no longer about sex between us. Obviously, neither Reagan nor I were interested in something serious, but it was nice to know there was something more than just the physical relationship between us. Mutual respect? Perhaps friendship?
Whatever it was, I liked it.
Because the more time I spent around Reagan, the better I felt. She made me laugh, and I always forgot all the bad things I’d experienced in my life whenever I was with her.
We finished up our lunch, with me sharing a few more bites of my sandwich and heated stares with Reagan. Surprisingly, even though I’d come here with the intention of hooking up with her, I found I wasn’t as eager to jump right into the sex.
It’s not that I didn’t want it.
I did. The woman was gorgeous, and she was phenomenal when we were naked.
But I was learning I liked this with her just as much.
Wanting to be casual about it, I decided to switch the conversation to a topic I thought she’d have no problem talking about. “I have to admit, you really outdid yourself with that birdhouse I gave you. It looks great.”
In an instant, Reagan was beaming at me. She was always pretty, but that look transformed her completely. "It’s my favorite one. And the birds love it, too.”
“Yeah? Even though you’ve got four others out here?”
“Are you suggesting that I’ve got too many?”
I shook my head. “No. I wouldn’t dare. I just find it… interesting. Most people put up one and call it a day.”
She tore her attention from my face and allowed her gaze to shift between the birdhouses. There was something working in her mind, and I waited patiently, hoping she’d share whatever it was.
“I like watching the birds,” she murmured, her focus on the birdhouse I’d given her. “It makes me happy when multiple birds are at one of the houses. I tell myself I’m making the bird families just as happy as I make my real estate clients.”
While I didn’t doubt that she was being honest with me, something told me there was more to it for Reagan. Judging by the tone of her voice and the longing I could make out from her profile, these birdhouses meant something else, something more, to her.
I wanted to press her on it, to get more out of her, but I didn’t think she’d give it to me. Especially when I hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with information that went too far beyond my love of a variety of sandwiches.
Things were starting to make sense to me in a way they hadn’t before. Reagan was constantly throwing the fact she didn’t know what I did for a living in my face—even if she did it playfully. Maybe the reason she did that was because she wanted something more than she’d gotten from me. Maybe, the same way that I was feeling curious about her more than I had ever been about anyone before, Reagan was feeling that way about me.
Was it possible she wanted more?
Perhaps it was time to give her something, even if only so I could get more about her.
I was just about to tell her the truth when she turned to look at me once again. “You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
Reaching for her, I quickly pulled her into my lap. I touched the tip of her nose with my finger. “I think it’s a noble thing you’re doing. Somebody has to be worried about the birds.”
“Do you really mean that?”
Shockingly, I did.
Driving my fingers back into her hair, I angled her head toward mine. “I do.” I touched my lips to hers and kissed her, feeling my stomach pitch in a way it hadn’t ever before. When I pulled back and took in the heated look on her face, I said, “I think if you take care of the birds, I should take the time now to take care of you.”
She squirmed in my lap. “Mmm. How do you intend to do that?”
“I could do it out here, where the birds could see,” I teased.
Her body tensed. “My neighbors might, too!”
Laughter spilled out of me. “Okay, okay. So, you’re not an exhibitionist. Got it.”
“Are you?”
I wasn’t. But I thought it might be fun to joke with her. So, I shrugged. “I think there’s little that would keep me from doing things to you when you’re naked.”
Her jaw fell open, and she gasped. “Hart.”
Slipping one arm beneath her knees and the other around her back, I lifted her in my arms and stood. “Relax, shortcake. We’ll take it inside.”
She nuzzled her face in my neck and kissed me there, evidently not against giving me that much, no matter who could see.
And as I carried her back into the house, I wondered if the warmth that had hit the center of my chest was just the result of knowing what was ahead, or if there was something else happening.