Page 42 of Baby Take Me Home
I nodded. “Your reporter’s instincts come through again. Yes, Tony and I would race. I usually won, but I also usually wiped out worse, too.”
She winced. “How many concussions?”
“Just one. Me. But there were stitches three times. Tony twice and me once. And then my mom got wise to what we were doing, and that was the end of my racing career.”
“Well, it sounds like an illustrious one. My dad would be impressed.”
I grinned. “I’ll be sure to mention it when I meet him.” A second too late, I heard myself saying it. Things between us had changed in the past few days, and now that we had the Friday night mission coming up, we would have at least a little more time together. But we were nowhere near the point of meeting families. We finished our cones in silence, trying to ignore the awkwardness I’d created.
I had to man up and move past the strained moment. I stood and reached out my hand. “On your feet, soldier. We still have a lot of ground to cover.”
She fluttered her lashes. “Oh, I love it when you go all drill sergeant on me.”
Her lack of a poker face made it so easy to see what she was thinking. I grinned, completely at ease in her company again. “Get your mind out of the gutteragain, Armand. I have something to show you. No, not that.”
“Fine.” She stood and took my hand. “But when the public part of this date is over,” she glanced down at my trousers, “I expect to seethat.”
God, this woman was going to be the death of me in all the best ways.
* * *
Ashlee
My flirting gamewas a bit raunchy, but it seemed to have my desired effect on my date. It was fun to think of him that way, asmy date. And not only did I get to tease him, but I was also learning about the city—mycity—at the same time. He led me down side streets that I didn’t know existed and to yet another quaint park I never would have stumbled upon on my own.
This time, we walked through a green wrought-iron gate that swung shut with a clang behind us. A few steps farther along the dirt path, the trees and vines seemed to rise behind us, blocking out the sounds of traffic and crowds, and swallowing us whole. We walked a bit farther and came into a more open space with a square patch of earth that was at least 20 feet by 20 feet and was divided into neat, narrow rows with different plants growing in each one.
“A community garden!” I pressed my hands to my cheeks. “It’s beautiful. So well maintained.”
“The neighborhood kids are out here every Saturday morning, taking direction from a few of the elderly ladies who started it.”
I stared at him in wonder. “How do you know about this?” Then I remembered what he did for a living.
He shook his head. “It has nothing to do with my work. I’m in this neighborhood most times when I’m in DC, and I’ve been coming to the city a lot lately. I came across this garden one Saturday this spring, when they were tilling the soil to prepare for planting.”
“Tilling the soil?” My eyebrows crept higher with every sentence he spoke. “Do you know something about gardening?”
“A little something,” he said. “My grandmother raised some green beans, tomatoes, things like that, on a little plot behind her house. More happy childhood memories. Except on the rare occasions we came across a ground nest of yellow jackets. On a totally unrelated note, if you ever find yourself in need of help removing a ground nest of yellow jackets, I’m your man.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I shook my head. “You are just full of surprises today.”
“I am. And there’s one more. It’s the best one, and it’s the reason I’m in this neighborhood so much.” He held out his arm to me. “Are you ready?”
I placed my hand in the crook of his elbow and resisted the urge to curtsey. “Lead on, oh fair prince and great destroyer of wasps’ nests.”
“Please, you can just call me lord and master.”
I laughed. “Nice try. You’ll have to earn that title.”
He kept a straight face and stared straight ahead. “Pretty sure I accomplished that by the end of our first night together.”
CHAPTER 17
TJ
My last surprisefor Ashlee was in a plain, square gray building with black-tinted windows at the end of a quiet residential street. With no cars parked in front of it due to the parking lot behind it, and no sound escaping the thick cement walls, the place appeared deserted. That might have accounted for Ashlee giving me side-eye.
I wasn’t concerned. When I’d called Tony earlier on my walk from the HEAT van to the car so I could meet Ashlee, he’d assured me the party would be in full swing by 1700 hours. He’d said 5 p.m., though. I hadn’t heard him use military time since I’d put him on the bird that took him to the plane to bring him home seven years ago. He’d joined the army two years after me but had been discharged two years earlier than I was, after losing one leg to an IED.