Her Sexy Marine Valentine(5)

"Tell you what, let me see what my schedule's going to be like the next  couple of weeks. Maybe I can take care of a few things on the weekends,  or some weeknights. Can I let you know tomorrow?"

Her head popped up and her smile did strange things to his insides, not  to mention what was going on in his lower regions. He was glad she  couldn't see under the old table.

"Are you sure? I mean, if you decide it's a no, I'm okay with that. You helped me more than enough today."

He had a feeling it was going to be hard to say no to Mari, and this was just the start.

* * *

THE NEXT MORNING at her Bay Area office bungalow, Mari crossed her arms  on her desk and put her head down. This was why she was swearing off  men.

"I'm an idiot."

"Hey, don't be so mean to my boss. She's a sweetheart."

Mari lifted her head as her trusted assistant, Abbott, walked in and  took a seat on one of the upholstered chairs in front of her desk. She  was also her closest friend. One of the few people Mari could confess to  about her crazy night with the Marine. The one where she'd put the poor  guy on the spot and begged him to fix her house.

What was I thinking?

"Still an idiot. You won't believe what I did yesterday."

Her friend steepled her fingers and waggled her eyebrows. "Oh, this has  got to be good. I haven't seen you this bent out of shape since you  broke up with the turd, which, let me remind you, was the best thing  that ever happened to you. Do tell."

Abbott had been joyous over the breakup with Gary. She'd always  disliked him. If only Mari had listened to her friend's warnings, she  might have saved herself some heartbreak.

She told Abbott about what happened.

Her friend sat back and blew out a breath. Her brown curls in a  righteous halo were piled on top of her head. "Wow! A true hero. What a  great guy."

Mari lifted her face to the ceiling. "I know, right? And you should see  his abs. He's hotter than any man has a right to be. That's what makes  what I did next so atrocious."

Abbot's eyes widened. "You threw yourself at him? I told you this not  dating thing was going to backfire on you. Those hormones can only be  caged without release for so long. And then, boom!" She slapped the desk  and made Mari jump.

Her friend had a thing for the dramatic. "No. Though, I wish I had.  It's probably the last time I'm ever going to see him. He'll probably  move."

Abbott leaned forward on her elbows. "Now I'm totally intrigued. Seriously, what did you do this time?"

"I asked him to be my handyman."

If she hadn't felt so bad she might have laughed at her friend's confusion.
                       
       
           



       
"Is that some kind of new kink? I've never heard of that. Does he show up in just a tool belt or something?"

"Wow. Come on, Abbott, do you ever think of anything but sex?"

"Nope. Not really. So what do you mean?" Abbott wasn't supercrazy about  commitment, either, but she also never lacked for a date. Her friend  was the queen of love 'em and leave 'em. Mari had never been able to do  that. Just have sex to have sex. In a way, she was envious of her  friend's ability to have fun without getting emotionally attached. It  wasn't that Mari was clingy. She just wanted something more than just  the physical from her sexual partners. Not that it had worked out well  for her so far.

She explained.

"Wow. You really are desperate."

Mari frowned. "Thanks for pointing out the obvious."

"So what did he say?"

"He was sweet. He said he'd think about it, but he added he was really busy at work."

"So he gave himself an out?" Abbott asked. "Hmm."

She nodded. Secretly, Mari had been a little crushed when Brody had  said he was busy, which was stupid since she'd never believed he'd agree  to her off-the-wall plan. "I think he was trying to get out of it  gracefully, and he didn't want to have to tell me to my face that I was  totally crazy."

Abbott leaned back. "So what are you going to do?"

"Well, I can't afford to move. Though, I did consider it. Living with  my parents again, well, I just can't go there." She was only  half-joking. Part of her wanted to give up on everything and go home to  Austin. Her parents would understand. Heck, they'd probably welcome her  with open arms. It'd been more than a year since she'd been to Austin to  see them. She was always too busy with the next project.

Strangely, given everything that had happened, she wasn't sure she  could handle being around them. Theirs was the standard to which she  held all relationships-thirty years together and they were so in love  with one another it was annoying.

Nope. She couldn't handle being around that right now.

There was also the fact that she'd built an up-and-coming business in  Corpus, and she wouldn't give that up for any man. No matter how  embarrassed she might be about her failed romance.

She'd have to stick it out and figure out how to hide from, or at least avoid, her oh-so-hot neighbor.

"So play it cool. Tell him you had too much sangria and it went to your head."

She pursed her lips. "That might work. Or I could simply barricade myself in my basement."

Her friend laughed. "Mari, we don't have basements in Corpus. How about  I come help you paint one of the bathrooms this weekend?"

"You want to secretly stalk the Marine."

"True. But can you blame me? You make him sound so yummy. And he didn't  take his tacos and run when you propositioned him with the worst offer  ever, which means he's superbrave. Brave guys are so hot."

Mari shook her head. "Don't even go there. Though I might take you up  on the offer to paint. That is if I can figure out how to get the  drywall up. That stuff is heavy. I gave it a try in the dining room last  night. By the fourth board I was in tears. I gave up and drank the rest  of the sangria."

"Oh, you are so sad. You make my heart hurt. Incidentally, Mercury is  in retrograde and it affects everyone in a negative way. However, it's  going to get better. All of it. The house. The men. You're just in a  downturn."

Mari didn't know anything about how the planets aligned, but she  definitely could use a bit of luck. "That's pretty optimistic coming  from you." Abbott called herself a pragmatist, yet Mari had always  thought it bordered on pessimism. And it was weird that her practical  friend had this fascination for horoscopes, as in she believed how the  planets aligned ruled human emotions. More importantly she was a  brilliant designer and an even better friend.

If only she could believe Abbott. That it would get better. But she'd  been through two months of chaos and confusion, and while she wasn't one  to feel sorry for herself, her perfectly ordered life was in the  garbage. For the first time, she didn't have a plan, other than trying  to get the house finished without ending up bankrupt.                       
       
           



       

The no security thing was a big deal for her. While her business was  doing well, her stash of savings had dwindled quickly, thanks to her  time-money-suck of a house.

It was a shame she'd royally screwed things up with the Marine. He was  so caring. Guys normally didn't do what he'd done for her in the grocery  store. But there was also pain in his eyes, and it wasn't due to the  headaches he said he suffered from. Over the past few weeks, she'd  noticed through her nonstalking observance of him that he pretty much  kept to himself. If she wasn't such an idiot, they maybe could have at  least been friends.

With benefits.

Stop it.

Well. Truth. No man had affected her physically like he did. She wasn't  into casual sex, but he made her think all kinds of naughty things.

Really. Naughty. Things.





3

"CO WANTS TO see you in his office." Ben Peterson, one of the other instructors, popped his head into the classroom.

"What kind of mood is he in?" Brody asked, though he knew the answer.

Peterson rolled his eyes. "Let's say I may need a new ass by the time  this assignment is over. I just got chewed out for failing to enlist my  fellow blah, blah blah. He starts talking and I don't even hear what  he's saying after the fifth or six word. Good luck."

Brody chuckled and then winced. He'd been grading tests and his head  hurt. The last thing he needed was the CO on his back. He gathered his  laptop and his phone and stuck everything in his pack. Might as well get  it over with, and then he'd go for a run. Get rid of the tension of the  day. His Boots weren't absorbing the test material like they should.  The test scores were low. Somehow the CO saw that as his fault and not  the problem of the undisciplined grunts under his command. The ones who  spent a lot of time thinking they were on some sort of vacation rather  than studying. Not that he had been much different when he was a grunt,  but he'd quickly learned if you wanted to make it in the pilot or  navigation programs, you had to be dedicated.