Page 2 of Smith

Captain Lucas Taylor was her father, a friend of Zane’s from the Navy who had called in a favor. The remark could’ve been interpreted as snarky or bitchy but the way her expression turned soft and the way her eyes danced when she mentioned her father, made the comment teasing.

“You’ve assumed correctly,” I told her.

Her glossy lips pinched but one side remained hitched up.

I followed her into the kitchen and looked around.

“Did you do all this, too?”

She didn’t break stride when she said, “Yeah. The kitchen was outdated. But the cabinets were custom made, even if the made part of that was in the seventies. So all they needed was sanding, stain, and some distressing so the door fronts that were beat-up wouldn’t stick out. The countertops were a bust but those are easy enough to replace and nowhere near the cost of replacing cabinets. The appliances were so old they’d come back into style if I’d been going for vintage. But I wanted sleek and modern so they had to go.”

Whatever look she was going for, it was shit hot.

Dark-stained cabinets with a black glaze that highlighted the distressing she’d done. The granite was black with crazy cool gold veining. Gold cabinet handles and drawer pulls tied everything together.

I rounded the bank of cabinets that delineated the kitchen from an eating area with a four-top table dominating the space and stood opposite her

“It’s badass, Aria. You did a great job.”

She stopped looking at her cabinets and tipped her eyes to look at me from under her lashes.

“Thanks.”

That was shyandcute.

And fuck me, I felt that straight in my dick. The only reason I shoved the feeling aside was the same reason I was ignoring howgood her ass looked in those jeans, and her smile, and her pretty eyes and gorgeous face.

Her father was a close personal friend of my boss.

The shy slid away, flirtatiousness sparked in her eyes, and I knew she was going to say something smartass that was going to make it harder to ignore how much I totally dug this chick.

I’d been in her presence all of three minutes.

Fuck me.

Time to get to work.

“When did you get the first letter?”

Aria’s gaze went to the countertop and she mumbled, “Straight to it.” Her eyes lifted, her lips twitched, and unfortunately she continued, “No lube, no foreplay, just stuck it right in. I didn’t take you as that kind of man.”

Any second now she was going to see what kind of man I was.

“Aria, Aria, Aria,” I teasingly chanted. “Never had an occasion where I needed the assistance of lube. My apologies.”

Her smile turned playful when she asked, “And the foreplay?”

“The reason I’ve never needed the assistance of lube.”

One of Aria’s perfectly arched brows lifted.

“So you say.”

It was a damn good thing the wide expanse of the granite counter separated us—double duty—hiding how much my cock was enjoying her banter while providing necessary distance between her sweet body and my attraction.

“I’d be happy to show you but your father and my boss are friends. Not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Haven’t heard that excuse since before I left Japan.”

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