“Don’t worry, baby.” He used his thumb to tug my lip free, his mouth curving into a smug grin when I sighed. “I’ll figure out the logistics of your car later.”
He winked at me before shutting the door. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my nerves as he rounded the truck to climb into the driver’s seat. After he started the engine and pulled away from the curb, he reached out to twine our fingers together. “Tell me all about you.”
“Everything?” I twisted in my seat to face him. Laughing softly, I shook my head. “Covering twenty-one years is a lot of story to tell even though I’m going to guess that my life has been boring compared to yours.”
“How about you start with what you love about being a nurse?” he suggested.
“Pretty much all of it.” He’d picked my favorite subject, and the drive to the restaurant flew by as I shared some of my favorite stories.
When we arrived at a cute diner I’d never been to before, he slid into the same side of the booth as me. Then he waited until the waitress—who looked old enough to be my grandmother—had taken our drink order to ask, “Is it what you’ve always wanted to do? Or did you dream of something else when you were a little girl?”
“Nope, as soon as I was old enough to understand what nurses did, it was my only dream.” Up until now, I’d done most of the talking, and I really wanted to learn more about Deacon. “How about you? Did you always want to be a SEAL?”
“Yeah, much to my parents’ chagrin.” He chuckled and shook his head. “When I was in seventh grade and announced that I was going to join the Navy as soon as I graduated high school, they thought it was a phase I’d grow out of. They weren’t too happy with me when I met with a recruiter the day I turned eighteen. I still had another three months to go before graduation, but I wanted to make sure I was as prepared as I could be for boot camp.”
Before I could ask anything else, the waitress came back with a pot of coffee. After filling our mugs and taking our orders—cinnamon pancakes with cream cheese frosting with a side of crispy bacon for me and an egg white omelet with a side of fruit for Deacon—the waitress wagged her brows at me and headed back toward the counter. Startled laughter bubbled up my chest, and I fell against his side while I laughed. Deacon had been looking at me, so he hadn’t seen what the waitress did, which only made the whole thing more hilarious. When I finally pulled myself together, I explained what happened. Then when the waitress returned with our meals, I had to stifle a giggle at the way he side-eyed her.
Looking between the plates she set in front of us, I shook my head at the difference in what we ordered. “Do you always eat so healthy?”
A glint of mischief in his gorgeous eyes was my only warning before he lifted the hem of his shirt to reveal his six-pack abs. “A body like this requires the right fuel.”
“Uh-huh.” I squirmed in my seat, trying to relieve the ache between my legs as my gaze darted back to the meal I’d ordered. “Unfortunately, my sweet tooth gets in the way whenever I try to diet.”
“Hell no. The last thing you need is to go on a diet. You’re hot as fuck just as you are.” He dropped his shirt, any hint of humor draining from his eyes. His hand went to the back of my neck, gripping it a moment to punctuate the point he was making before he slid his palm down my spine to squeeze my butt. “And it’d be a damn shame if you lost this perfect ass. Anytime you walked away from me at the hospital, I couldn’t keep my eyes off it.”
“Well then.” My cheeks heated, but from desire instead of embarrassment. “I guess I won’t worry about my weight when I’m around you.”
He nudged my plate closer to me. “That’s right. Eat up so you can keep those killer curves, baby.”
Since I had only had a salad during my break, I was starving. So that was what I did, barely stopping myself from licking the plate when it was empty because of how delicious my pancakes were. “Great job picking the restaurant. That was amazing.”
“I’m glad you liked it.” He dropped a couple of twenties on the table and then slid out of the booth, tugging on my hand to help me out. “But I better get you home before the food coma hits, and you fall asleep.”
As tired as I was, I still didn’t want our date to end. I hadn't thought much of it when Audrey had told me how lucky they’d been that Deacon was visiting since he’d been available to drive them to the hospital. But now I was worried about falling for a guy who didn’t even live here. The nearest naval base was about a two-hour drive away, and I’d been afraid to ask if that was where he was stationed because if not, then the odds of me ever seeing him again would go way down. After our amazing date, it was time for me to pull up my big girl panties—and my figurative ones were just as thoroughly drenched as my literal panties—and voice the questions I’d avoided until now. “How long will you be in LA?”