Second Chance: A Military Football Romance

"You could start by grabbing us two straws." She sat the food down and nodded toward the drink. "Simple enough."

"Almost too simple." I sat the drink down and tugged my wallet from my back pocket. Girls liked flowers, and the small vendor beside the taco truck had a few, single flowers dancing in the wind from what I could see. I pointed at a pink one and smiled.

"I'll take that." I paid the cashier, grabbed the straw and walked back to the table.

Cora glanced up from leaning over to take a bite of the taco and gave me a look as she cleaned up the sauce running down the side of her mouth.

"What's that for?" She took the flower as I handed it to her and took my seat.

"You. I thought you might like it." I poked the straws into the drink and sat back, watching her. "You're making quite a mess with lunch. Am I supposed to eat the other half of that after you've mangled it?"

She laughed and pulled the flower to her nose, breathing in deeply. "No, I got two so we could each have one."

I took the other one from her and glanced out to the water. "It's soon to be the Fourth of July, huh? How much longer are you here after that?"

"Thank you...for this." She sat the flower down and leaned back. "I don't know. I was supposed to be her until the end of August, but my parents are asking that I come back early. Like in two weeks."

"Two weeks?" I was a little louder than I wanted to be. Two weeks? I only had two weeks to make a lasting impression on her? A lasting impression? What the fuck was happening to me?

She laughed. "Yeah, if we're going to have a fling, you need to come on with it."

"A fling? Is that what you want?" I took a bite of the taco and licked at my fingers.

"Is there anything else to have with a good-looking stranger that you might never see again?" She picked at the contents of her taco, nibbling on bits and pieces of it.

"I thought you swore off men thanks to your rotten-ass ex hurting you." I hated to bring it up, but if she was just down for a fling, I needed to figure out how to redirect my thoughts. For the first time in my life, I was trying to figure out how to get her to like me...like, really like me. Not just find me attractive enough to take me to bed, but actually want to know more about me, to invest in me emotionally.

"I did." She wiped her fingers and glanced out toward the water. "Man, he fucked me up good. Before him, I had a lot of fun just dating and doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, but then I found him."

"And?" My heart constricted in my chest. I'd yet to find a woman that made me want to turn in my wanton ways, but something told me that the beautiful girl in front of me would be quite capable of doing it to me.

"And he seemed like everything I could want in a man." She shrugged, the movement lifting her breasts and drawing my eyes down to covet her. I'd seen enough of her in the moonlight the night before to know that I wanted to see all of her, stretched out, eyes closed with a look of ecstasy on her face.

"How long did you guys date?" I finished my taco and reached for the drink at the same time she did. I pushed it toward her as she turned her attention back toward me.

"Two years." She shrugged again. "It's over now. I wasn't good enough, but it's okay. He wasn't, either."

"You had to have been good enough." I reached across the table and touched her hand. "It was him. Men are fucking stupid most days of the week. We always think we're going to find something better around the corner. Some great high that awaits us."

"And, maybe it does." She stood up and handed me the drink.

I took a quick sip as I stood. "No, we're just dreamers who sometimes lose our sense of reality."

"Aren't you getting deep?" She walked with me to the trashcan and stiffened as I tossed the trash and turned, pulling her into a tight hug before leaning down and brushing my lips past hers.

"I wanna get deeper. You up for an afternoon romp in the sheets, Miss Non-committal?" I kissed her again, just a peck, but I could tell she wanted more. So much more.

Funny enough, I couldn't imagine her wanting as much as I wanted. Maybe I was wrong. I could only hope I would find out soon. Two weeks would be over before I could blink twice.

"There's the guy I was starting to like." She laughed and pushed at my chest. "Come on, let's go see what everyone else is up to."

"And then we can get deeper?" She popped me in the chest, and I laughed. "Alright. Shit. I had to try. I'm that guy, remember?"

"No, I don't think you are." She took my hand, most likely not realizing that her comment was one of the nicest things she could have said to me.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Cora