Page 96 of Will Bark for Pizza
“Beckett?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s up with the redheaded curse?”
“Fuck,” I said, laughing. “What did Nana tell you?”
“Nothing. I overheard her say something about it.”
It was the last thing I wanted to talk about, but I could already feel the tension lightening in Kira, likely at the prospect of talking about anything else but her own life. So I swallowed my pride. “I have a thing for redheads, and they have a thing for messing up my life.”
“No wonder Nana doesn’t like me,” Kira said, the vibration of her laughter rumbling against my chest. It took every ounce of restraint I had to keep my imagination from turning reckless with all the ways body-to-body vibrations could make both of us very happy.
“I’m sorry. The cardsarestacked against you.”
“When did it start?”
“In the fourth grade.”
“Oh, wow, that young, huh?”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t have a crush in the fourth grade.”
“I had a couple,” she admitted. “What was her name?”
“Carly Mitchell.”
“How did she ruin your life?”
“She kissed my best friend during recess.”
“That’s horrible.”
“I was heartbroken.”
“There were others?” she asked, the heaviness she’d held lightening a little more with her curiosity.
“Darci Peters.”
“High school or college?”
“After,” I said. “She was my first wife.”
Kira pulled back from my chest to stare at me, and dammit if my gaze didn’t immediately drop to her lips. I couldn’t decide which was worse—never kissing her and always wondering what it would be like, or kissing her and having my world turned upside down in the best fucking way, only to know I could never kiss her again.
“First wife?”
“Only wife. Now ex-wife.”
“Oh.”
“Jealous?” I teased.
“Of course not.” She nestled back against my chest, but not before I caught the flush spreading across her cheeks. “What happened?”
“We were too young. I enlisted in the Army and sent for her as soon as I finishedBasic and AIT.”
“That’s the school portion?”
