Page 117 of Her Marine
“There’s this new physical therapy assistant at the hospital,” Ziggy started as they waited for their server to bring the check. “I think he’s been flirting with me.”
“You think?” Journee asked.
“Yeah, it’s hard to tell because it’s so subtle, but he doesn’t do those little things with other coworkers.”
“Do you flirt back?” Gena questioned.
“I respond to the compliments or the accidental little brushes when he passes by, but I don’t initiate the flirting.”
“Are you not attracted to him?” Journee inquired.
“That isn’t it. He’s very nice to look at. It’s just the last relationship I was in ended in a catastrophic trainwreck, and I wish the ground he walked on sucked him in like quicksand. Admittedly, it’s slightly less since he saved my brother’s life, but I don’t know if I’m ready for another relationship.”
“It’s fine if you aren’t looking for a relationship, but be sure to communicate that to him,” Gena informed Ziggy. “And if you want to try to hang out as friends, that’s fine too, but communicate your intentions.”
Journee nodded, agreeing as their server returned, laying the check in the middle of the table. She and Gena both reached for it.
“I’ve got it,” Gena stated.
“Please let me,” Journee requested. “It’s the least I can do for rescheduling at the last minute.”
She slid the check from under Gena’s hand to her side of the table. She opened her purse and reached inside to pull out her wallet. When she opened it, she found a card in the middle of her wallet with a sticky note that said,Use me, and have fun. Taking the sticky note off, she found that it was Killian’s credit card, and Journee figured he must have slipped it into her wallet while she’d been in the shower.
Journee placed it into one of the slots, pulled out her debit card, and placed it on the bill. She wasn’t about to use his card and have to forge his signature, as sweet as the gesture was, because it would be her luck that she was asked for some identification.
The server took the card, processed the payment, and brought it back with the receipt for her to sign. Journee put the card away as Ziggy left a tip on the table.
“It’s the least you can do since you didn’t even attempt to pay,” Gena told her.
“I have parents who pay for me when we go out, a big brother who pays for me, and now a big sister. At no time will it be necessary for me to pay for my own food.”
Journee snorted as Gena thumped her daughter’s shoulder. The three left the restaurant—their next destination, a shopping center nearby.
«-•-•-•-•-•-•-»
Killian was sitting on his couch when Journee returned a few hours after leaving. He’d gone out himself a couple of hours after she’d left but hadn’t been out that long since he only had a quick errand to run before she returned. He’d been back home fifteen minutes when she walked through the front door with a couple of bags in her hand.
“Hey Tigress, how was lunch?”
“It was good,” Journee responded, sitting the bags by the door. “Ziggy gave me her key in case you weren’t here. Be sure to give it back to her.” She placed the key on the table by the door.
He nodded. He hadn’t parked where he usually did when he was home—instead, parking off in the corner by the trees where it was shaded. Journee looked through her purse before coming over and sitting beside him. She gave him his card.
“I didn’t use it.”
“Why not?” Killian questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“I didn’t want to forge your signature.”
“Good choice because I had every intention of reporting whatever you spent,” he responded sarcastically, and she bumped him with her shoulder. “What’d you buy?” he asked, tossing the card onto the coffee table.
“I bought a few blouses, a couple of pairs of jeans, some slacks, and this ginger-colored dress. I need to make sure I wash it later because you’re taking me out tomorrow.”
“I’m starting to notice that you like bossing me around.”
“And I’m starting to notice that you enjoy it when I do,” she responded with a smirk.
Killian wouldn’t deny it. He always enjoyed it when she gave just as good as she got. When she teased him the same way he did her. However, it’d only heightened when he’d gotten out of the hospital, and she was taking care of him. Her first priority was his well-being, and she didn’t shy away from chastising him when she thought he wasn’t doing what he was supposed to.
