One More Kiss

“That’s great for him, but what do you want?” Staci asked. “I don’t know that guy, but you do. I’m not going to judge you.”

“I thought I was over him,” Alysse said.

It had been really disheartening last night to admit she wasn’t. She’d thought she had better self-preservation skills than that. “He broke my heart and I should have moved on, but he’s still there in the back of my mind and I judge every guy I meet by the man he was in Vegas.”

“Not the man he is today?”

She shrugged. “I’m not really sure who he is. I don’t know that he knows either. I’m telling myself that I’m going to see him and sort out how to...”

“Hurt him?” Staci supplied.

She shook her head. “I thought so, but I couldn’t do it. I just want to be able to move on with my life. I want to enjoy being single and I can’t until I know what it is about Jay that makes me like him.”

“I hope it’s that easy,” Staci said.

She did, too, but if the sleepless night she’d spent was any indication, nothing was going to be easy about this thing with Jay.

* * *

JAY RAN ALONG the beach and tried to clear his mind. Frankly though, there wasn’t a safe place for it to go. He’d already scanned the area in front and behind him. It didn’t matter that he was in San Diego on Coronado Island, a part of him just couldn’t relax. The other part of his mind kept replaying last night—every damned second of it. Physical exhaustion had seemed like the only means out of the endless cycle of images of Alysse, but it wasn’t. His room felt like a prison when he got back there and he wondered what normal people did on vacations. He couldn’t imagine spending too much time in this place. He felt boxed-in and edgy.

He showered and changed and got on his bike and drove without a destination in mind, but he wasn’t too shocked when he found himself parked down the street from Sweet Dreams. It was the one place he wanted to be. But he knew that he couldn’t just show up at her bakery. She was working and he had commitments of his own.

He was meeting Lucien at ten this morning and he decided that had to be his priority right now. But Alysse was winning the battle in his mind. He had let things go too far last night and, as hard as it was for him to admit, making love to her might have actually hurt his chances of getting back together with her.

He cast aside the disturbing thought, put his sunglasses on and roared away from the curb. He drove to the offices of Company B. The name gave Jay a chuckle since Lucien and the other men who’d formed it were all from Bravo or B Company. He parked the bike and entered the impressive office building, feeling the cool air conditioning brush over his skin. The receptionist was a pretty California blonde.

She smiled up at him and Jay wondered why everything couldn’t be as uncomplicated as this girl. Why hadn’t he just taken those divorce papers from Alysse and moved on?

“Can I help you, sir?”

“I’m Jay Michener, I have an appointment this morning with Lucien DuPoin.”

“I’ll let Lucien know. Please have a seat over there. Can I get you anything to drink?”

“I’m good,” Jay said. He moved toward the guest chairs but they were lined up against the glass windows and there was no way he was sitting with his back to the street. Didn’t matter where he was, he couldn’t switch off his instincts.

Instead he walked to an interior wall that had the Company B logo on it and their mission statement—Securing What’s Important to You.

Vague, Jay thought. No clue as to what the company actually did, which was exactly as it should be.

“Jay, buddy,” Lucien DuPoin greeted him.

Lucien was six feet tall, with more muscles than seemed humanly possible. His head was shaved and he wore a mustache that Jay knew hid a scar on his upper lip.

Lucien held out his hand to Jay. Jay took the hand and leaned in to bump chests with Lucien. They’d served together on Jay’s third tour. “What’s up?”

“Not much. Glad to see your ugly mug,” Lucien replied. “How’d your plans go last night?”

“Not as I’d expected.”

“What do you think of the place?” Lucien asked.

“Cushy setup you have here. Not bad for a guy from the First,” Jay said. They’d served together in the First Recon Battalion in 2006.

“You have no idea,” Lucien said. “Come on back and I’ll show you what we’re all about.”