One Night with a Hero (2 page)

Chapter Two

Jocelyn Daniels watched the man make his way through the tourists until she couldn’t see him—or his powerful thighs and incredibly well-muscled back—anymore.

Well, that was interesting.

Shaking her head, she stretched out on her blanket. Maybe she should go home. Not because she believed the guy would return, but because her emotions were clearly too close to the surface for public consumption. If only she hadn’t run into Ethan and his freaking new girlfriend at the store this morning.

Apparently it was just
her
he wasn’t ready to commit to. Because the woman’s round belly and glittering ring finger sure as hell looked like commitment to Jocelyn.

It would be really nice if, just once, someone wanted to keep her.

So not helpful, Joss. Cut it out
. But she couldn’t help it. Seeing Ethan happily devoted to another woman seemed further proof that men would always leave her.

She sighed and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

To be honest, though, she felt a lot better after the run-in with Brady. He’d been an unexpected distraction. And it never hurt to be flirted with, especially when the guy was so…really, really freaking hot. And funny. And kind of annoyingly endearing.

Yeah. That definitely explained her lighter mood.

She retrieved her novel, her gaze going unfocused as she remembered the embarrassment of being caught holding it upside down. Thank God he hadn’t noticed what it was about. She hid her growing smile behind the book, her mind going back to the sight of him.

Sailor boy
. The nickname tugged at Joss’s cheeks. Tall. Built. Light-brown hair kissed by the sun with a hint of blond. All that lean, bare muscle. The way his running shorts had hung low enough to reveal the cut of his hips. Sex on a freaking stick.

And a soldier to boot. Bet he looked seriously fine in his dress uniform. Panties probably dropped at the mere sight—thongs, too. Maybe even like the one she was currently wearing.

Not that she was actually expecting Brady to return and put her willpower to the test. And that was for the best. Because she suspected he would be a little too much fun to play with and a lot too risky for her fragile ego. Her thong should have nothing to worry about.

Something bumped into her arm, pulling Joss from her thoughts. She glanced up into the smiling eyes of a toddler retrieving a pink plastic ball that had rolled onto her blanket. “Hi, sweetie. Is this yours?”

The little girl with a yellow gingham jumper pointed. “Ball.”

A woman came jogging over. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s all right. Here you go.” She held the ball out and the girl took it in her chubby hands.

“Thanks.” The mom smiled and playfully tugged on the girl’s blond pigtail. “Come on, Emily.”

“Ball!” the girl shouted, holding it up to her mother.

“That’s right,” the woman said.

Joss watched them return to their neighboring blanket, an empty ache forming in her chest. The girl threw the ball in the air and chased it when it bounced.

One day, that would be her. A wife, a mom, having a fun outing with her family. It wasn’t the kind of dream people expected she’d embrace from looking at her. Nothing said June Cleaver like tattoos, piercings, and pink highlights, right? But the two had more in common than was obvious on the surface. When you grew up alone in the world without a family, you had to carve out your own identity. The ink and metal coloring and piercing her skin told the story of that effort, but they didn’t mean she still didn’t yearn for the family.

She sighed and opened her book again. The badass, hard-bodied Navy SEAL in this story rocked her world. Only now, she couldn’t help but imagine a certain flirtatious soldier in the hero’s place. That didn’t hurt one bit.

Soon, the words sucked her in, drew her into a battle scene with a bad guy that made her forget the sun and breeze and growing crowd. Having spent so much time alone, reading had always been her biggest source of escape. When she read, she lost track of what was happening around her. Many times in her life, that had been a damn good thing.

Which is why she didn’t hear him.

“That must be some good book,” a loud—and amused—male voice said.

Joss looked up into Brady’s smiling brown eyes. “Oh,” she said. “Were you…I didn’t…you’re back.”

He smiled, and she shook off the story’s hold on her, surprised to see that the sun was much lower in the sky and park grounds more filled with people. “You doubted me?”

She pushed into a sitting position and drank him in. The gray T-shirt emphasized the hard expanse of his chest and the warmth of his tan, and the khaki cargo shorts allowed her to catch a glimpse of those cut calf muscles again. She worked her gaze up to his face and found him watching her with a smug smile.

Heat roared over her cheeks. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

She eyed the pizza box and brown paper bag in his hands, her heartbeat kicking up in her chest. This guy was ten kinds of damn hot. And he came bearing gifts. Kind of an irresistible combination. “So, what did you bring me?”

“Does that mean I can sit down?”

She bit back a smile. “I suppose.”

Brady placed the food on the blanket and settled himself next to her. He flipped open the box lid. “Half cheese, half pepperoni.” From the bag, he pulled paper plates, two bottles of water, two bags of chips, and two sandwiches wrapped in white butcher paper. “One turkey and cheese, one Italian.”

Forget the food. Joss swallowed the moan she nearly uttered as the breeze kicked up and his scent surrounded her—all fresh soap and clean male. She shook her head and surveyed the feast. “Wow. Thank you. This is enough to feed an army.”

He shrugged and gave her what was almost a sheepish smile, and Joss’s stomach flipped at the appearance of this aw-shucks-good-guy persona, so different from the cocky bad boy he’d mostly shown her so far. “Wanted to be sure there was something here you’d like.”

Oh, she was in so much trouble. This guy was not only handsome and dangerously charming, but considerate, too. And going way out of his way, for her. “Well, I like everything I see,” she said, embracing a bit of brazenness even as her heart fluttered in her chest.

Brady cocked an eyebrow, his brown eyes sparkling with mischief. “Do ya, now?”

She held his gaze for a long moment, heat and competitiveness roaring between them. Finally, she looked away and reached for a bottle of water. He let out an infuriatingly smug chuckle and leaned forward to get it for her. Their hands touched on the bottle. The warmth of his skin sent tingles up her arm and shot her heart into a full-on sprint. His tongue stroked over his lower lip and Joss was suddenly
starving
, but not for the picnic in front of them.

Wow, this guy was like sexual Red Bull.

Not to mention Ethan had never elicited the wild desire now pounding through Joss’s body, and Brady had barely touched her. Not that there would be touching.

Right. No touching. Absolutely not.

He smirked and grabbed his bottle, taking a long drink that made the knot in his throat bob until she had to look away to restrain the urge to feel the movement with her tongue. Geez, even the chunky black watch on his wrist was sexy. She twisted the cap and tilted the water to her lips. The coolness soothed the heat racking her body.

Get a freaking grip, Joss.

“So, what’s your pleasure?”

She cut her gaze to him, forcing a swallow down. He gestured to the food, but that sparkle was there in his eyes again. Her brain raced on the possible ways she might find pleasure with him. “I’ll start with the pizza,” she managed to say.

They dished out the food, two slices for her, one slice and half of the Italian sandwich for him. As they made small talk, she inhaled the pizza, not realizing how hungry she’d been until she started to eat. The crust had just the right crunch to it, the sauce just the right spice. Delicious.

“There’s something about having a picnic that makes the food taste better,” she said as she took a small third slice of pizza.

“I’ve eaten plenty of meals outside that weren’t as nice as this. I think it’s the company more than the location.” He popped open a bag of chips and extended it toward her.

She reached in and retrieved a handful, not sure why she’d accepted when she was getting so full.
Because you can’t say no to him, especially when he’s being all…cute and…charming. You. Are. In. So. Much. Trouble.
“Thanks,” she said. Caught in a moment of awkwardness, Joss sipped at her water. “So, uh…” She scrambled for a topic. “Do you run a lot?”

He shrugged. “Most days.”

That sure explained his body, which radiated power and leashed strength even as he relaxed next to her. “I really suck at running.”

Brady gave her the closest thing to a full smile she’d seen. And damn if it wasn’t endearing, especially with the way his eyes crinkled at the corners. “Why do you say that?”

“Because I do. I feel like I’m dying after about five minutes. I don’t know how you do it.”

He wiped his mouth with the napkin, then stuffed it in the bag with the rest of his trash. “I thought I was in shape when I entered basic training. First PT run—what you just said? That was exactly how I felt. I think I only got through it because my buddy hauled my ass the last mile. That and my drill sergeant might’ve been the devil.”

She chuckled, getting reeled in a little bit more by his self-deprecation when undoubtedly he no longer had that problem. And probably never did. “Nothing like the devil to make you haul ass, huh?”

“That’s the damn truth. So, are you sated yet?”

“What?”

He quirked a crooked grin. “All done?”

He pointed to the spread in front of them, but Joss had enough experience to recognize a smooth talker when she saw one. “You playing with me?”

“No, ma’am.” He nailed her with a serious expression. “Not yet.”

Heat roared over her cheeks. How he managed to infuse that military politeness she loved into something so laden with innuendo she had no idea. But the tingles skittering over her skin sure meant she liked it. She chuffed out a laugh. “Bad, bad news,” she muttered.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing you need to know, sailor boy.” She looked at him from under her lashes to make sure he knew she was just riding him. Her hands fumbled the trash she was gathering as an arresting image gripped her—her,
riding him
, as in…
Geez, Joss. There will be no riding. Get. A. Grip
.

Why not?
an insidious little voice whispered.

She released a shaky breath and busied her hands with the trash. “I am done. Thanks a lot for bringing all this. Can I give you some money for it?”

“Not a chance. You provided the blanket. I provided the food. We’re square.” He pushed the leftover food to the side and collected the trash. “Be right back.”

It was damn near impossible to drag her gaze away from his ass as he maneuvered between the blankets and chairs to the trash can, but she needed to do something before he returned. She grabbed her phone and sent her best friend a text message.

Met someone named Brady at fireworks. Just talking. But if you don’t hear from me by midnight have the police look for my body parts at Founders Park. :P

Brady settled down beside her.

She dropped her phone into her lap. “So, how long are you stationed in the area?”

He braced his forearms on his knees. “Two years, give or take. Working for the Army Staff at the Pentagon.”

“Oh, that sounds interesting. And where were you before here?” Her phoned beeped.

“Stationed out of Okinawa, but lots of places from there.”

“You could tell me but then you’d have to kill me?”

He smirked. “Something like that.”

“How long have you been in?”

“A little over five years.” He fingered a design in the condensation on his bottle of water. “What do you do?”

Her phone beeped again. “I help run a community center for disadvantaged kids.”

“Yeah? Working with kids, that’s…really great. Admirable.”

Joss appreciated the sentiment coming from someone who did what he did. “The kids make it fun,” she said as her cell beeped a third time. She picked up the phone and gave Brady a sheepish smile. “Sorry. Let me reassure my friend you’re not a serial killer.”

He chuckled. “What time did you give her before she should call the police?”

Heat flooded her cheeks. “Well, now, if I told you that, then you’d know how long to wait until you could stuff me in the back of your nondescript van.”

Smiling, he nodded. “Right.”

She opened Christina’s messages.

The first one read:
Woman! I need deets!

Then:
Ooh, Brady’s a good name
.

Finally:
Be safe. Use a condom. And don’t forget to call me!!! Also, DEETS!!!

Joss shook her head. In so many ways, she and Christina Flores were total opposites, but they just clicked. She wrote back,
TY! Will do!
, then set the phone to vibrate and dropped it to the blanket.

When she lifted her gaze, Brady was watching her. “In all seriousness, I’m glad you did that. But, in case it needs to be said, I’m not a serial killer.”

She couldn’t help her smile. “Good to know. Neither am I.”

“You had me worried,” he said, giving her a wink.

“It’s always the quiet ones.”

“Are you quiet, Joss?”

BOOM!

Joss flinched into his side, her heart racing. She’d been so deep into Brady’s scorching gaze that the explosion of the first firework caught her off guard.

He leaned into her and chuckled. “Jumpy?”

“No,” she said, leaning into him so he could hear her over the constant thunder of the colorful firework display. “Just didn’t realize they were starting already.”

He nodded and turned his gaze to the show. But though her surprise faded, her heart rate never returned to normal. And it had nothing to do with the red, white, and blue starbursts lighting up the sky. A mere inch separated her body from Brady’s, and despite the loud splendor of the fireworks, he dominated her senses. The heat from his arm warmed hers, and made her long for the real heat skin-on-skin contact would bring. Sitting so close, that clean scent she’d noticed earlier, like soap and sun and male, was all she could smell now, and she wondered how much more potent it would be if she pressed her nose, her lips, to his throat, his jaw, his mouth and breathed it in from the source.