Page 16 of Welcome Home, Cowboy
“Bad week?” she asked, knowing she probably shouldn’t. He was turning into her driveway and she didn’t want to extend their time together. The truth was, he did make her nervous.
“You could say that.” Lawson parked.
“What happened?”
He shook his head, turning to look at her. There was something sad in his eyes; it made her want to reach out and touch him. That could be dangerous, though, because the tension between them was thick.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” he said.
Julie reached for the door handle, begging herself to pull it and just walk away. “When I have a bad day, I do some breathing exercises and yoga. It helps.”
Lawson raised a brow; his lips pulled into a small smile. “Thanks for the advice.”
Julie nodded. “Anytime. See you around.” Then she pushed the door open and hopped out, exhaling as she put distance between herself and Lawson. She needed to do some breathing exercises of her own to slow her racing heart and collect her unruly thoughts, because right now she was in favor of saving a horse. Her hormones were all but holding picket signs to save all the horses in Seaside.
Unlocking her front door, she turned and offered a small wave. Then she slipped inside and exhaled sharply. She had to stop running into Lawson. She’d forgotten the probability of running into someone you didn’t want to see in a small town. She’d just have to start avoiding the local attractions. Until her attraction to him fizzled.
Chapter 5
The clock ticked loudly on the wall in front of Lawson. Work had never been so torturous in his life. His job had always consisted of variously scheduled adrenaline rushes, not sitting at a desk for hours at a time shoving paper from one bin to another.
Torture. He’d rather be caught behind enemy lines. At least then adrenaline, his drug of choice, would be pumping inside his body. His blood right now felt like one long-ass slug. Except when he thought of Julie outside the bar last Wednesday night. Then his blood rushed to all areas of his body. She’d had on tight pants and a tighter T-shirt that showed off two of his favorite things, he remembered. Even more attractive than that was her complete discomfort sharing space with him, and it wasn’t because she hated him. Nope. He could tell when a woman was attracted to him, and with Julie the sparks were flying.
Someone knocked and Lawson looked up at BJ lurking in his doorway.
“What do you want, Johnson?” Lawson asked, straightening. All he needed was one good excuse to use the jackass’s face as a punching bag.
“We’re at work now, Captain. Let’s keep things professional,” Lieutenant Johnson said. He was standing rod straight, exemplifying phony excellence. BJ was anything but excellent, though.
If possible, Lawson hated the guy even more.
“I was told you were looking at my leave request,” Johnson continued.
Lawson shrugged, reminding himself to think things through like Dr. Pierce had taught him to do in his last session with her. “I haven’t reviewed it yet. Might take a while.”
BJ’s expression faltered just a fraction. “How long?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’m taking my new role here very seriously. Reading every word and considering every possible plan of action.”
Johnson tilted his head. “Shouldn’t you be in a helicopter somewhere, Captain? Why aren’t you doing that these days? I’ve heard you’ve been seeing a psychologist. Everything okay?” He feigned a look of concern.
Lawson smiled so wide it hurt his face. What had Dr. Pierce told him? That smiling released chemicals, even when the smile was fake. “That leave request isn’t ready, Lieutenant Johnson. Now get out of my office.”
BJ poked his tongue inside his cheek. “Yes, sir. I’ll see you at Heroes. Oh, and stop trying to steal my ladies. Get your own, Captain Phillips. Or are you having problems getting up for the ladies, too?”
Bastard.
Lawson didn’t reply. He was BJ’s superior. If he wanted to he could cause real trouble for the lieutenant. Instead, he glared at his guest until he left. At least some of Dr. Pierce’s advice had helped. He hadn’t lost his cool and sent BJ to the ER, which would’ve been his preference. Pulling BJ’s leave request out, Lawson signed it because BJ leaving Seaside and Camp Leon for any amount of time was a good thing. Leaving indefinitely would be better. Lawson slid the paper aside and glanced at the clock again with a sigh. He doubted Dr. Pierce’s other advice, or order, would do him any good. Going to an exercise class tonight promised to be even less fun than the first half of his day.
—
Julie sat in the Veterans’ Center parking lot as nervous energy bubbled through her. She hadn’t been this excited about something in a long time. It wasn’t just passing on the exercise she loved. Teaching this yoga class had the potential to do more. And the Marines who returned home from who-knew-what deserved more.
Lawson came to mind. She knew from talking to Kat that he was dealing with some heavy things since returning from his last deployment. She vaguely remembered hearing about an accident he’d been involved in during his time in Afghanistan. He didn’t seem like the type of guy to enjoy it, but she wished when she’d suggested deep breathing and yoga to him at Heroes last week, that she’d invited him to her class. She hadn’t thought she was the yoga type either, until she’d tried it.
Of course telling Lawson about the class would’ve meant spending more time with him. There was a chemical reaction that took place in her body when he walked into the room. Even though she knew getting involved with another man was a bad idea right now, her body wasn’t getting the message. Her body was like a dog begging for a treat. And since her body was obviously starving, she was going to feed it tonight with exercise. Solo exercise, not the kind that involved a certain cowboy Marine with twilight eyes and a jawline that she wanted to kiss for a reason she couldn’t explain. She wanted to start on his bottom lip and sink down to his chin, planting kisses up along his angled jaw straight to his ear. Then she wanted to whisper all the naughty things she wanted him to do to her.
Groaning, she grabbed her yoga mat and headed inside the Veterans’ Center ten minutes early.
