Jesus! He was an ass. She liked him, why? Who the hell knew, but she liked him, enough to want to sleep with him, again. He wanted to puff out his chest and crow. But this whole her being in charge thing was not happening. He may not have two good legs but he still had his balls. She was as skittish as a mouse in a cat house now. He needed to back up, a strategic retreat, so he could storm her defenses.

“Come here.” He tugged her on top of him and she let out a little gasp but she came willingly. “I didn’t mean to scare you, sweetheart.” He was strumming his fingers through the little wispy curls that had escaped her kerchief.

“I know.” Her eyes were closed concentrating on his touch. He was a bastard but he wanted her attention even if he didn’t deserve it. The little dog yipped and struggled to get out from between the two of them.

“You know he won’t break if his feet occasionally touch the ground.”

“I didn’t want him getting in your way but I think maybe he needs to go out. We can go out back.” She made a move to get up and he let her but he liked holding her, the way her body meshed with his. The scent of her had stayed on his damned pillow for days filling his nights with erotic dreams.

Okay, she had some of that damsel in distress thing going on, but she wasn’t like any woman he’d ever known. She was softer in most ways but tougher in others. She’d dealt with some pretty heavy loss in her life.

While he was fucking around in his head she had snapped the flexi-leash on the dog. There was no goddamn way he could call the thing Bitsy.

“Wanna come with us?” She was back to being shy, couldn’t blame her though after she’d see-sawed back and forth so much emotionally.

“Sure. I’ll keep watch.” She smirked at him and he grinned back. Damn, he did love teasing her.

The slider off the kitchen led to a plain patio of pavers. The last of the sun shone through the remaining clouds. A bright turquoise table and two chairs sat out there and a damn big brick grill that looked almost as old as the house. The thing looked like you could put logs in there to start the fire.

“You use that for barbecuing?”

“No, I don’t really grill much. But my father loved it. He built this to his own personal preferences.”

“Stuff like that is why you don’t want to leave, isn’t it?”

“I suppose. Every time I look at it, or work in the sewing room, or go down to the basement and see all the dumb things I didn’t ever think about, I remember them.”

“Tell me about your husband.”

“Oh, he never lived here. The plan was for me to live with my mother until he came back stateside. We were saving for a house but...”

He reached for her hand. The pain in her eyes tore him up and he wanted her to know she wasn’t alone. He didn’t expect her to plunk herself down on his lap, not that he was complaining. She tucked herself around him. Maybe she needed to talk about him, hell if he knew. It couldn’t hurt to ask.

“How’d you two meet?”

“I was twelve, he was thirteen, and he walked up to me on the playground and told me he was going to marry me.”

He started sputtering. “I gotta admire a guy who knows what he wants. Admire his taste too.”

“We started actually dating when I hit high school. He was such an honorable man, even as a teenager. My dad died young so Bill was the man in my life. He would always make sure the drive and walk were shoveled. Anything mom needed done around the house, he’d do. If she tried to pay him he’d refuse the money and say he was just taking care of her so she could take care of me. What sixteen-year-old boy does that?”

“He sounds like a hell of a guy.” There was no way he could live up to that kind of saint. She was lost in the memories so she wasn’t paying any attention to him now.

“He never pressured me to have sex though he must have wanted to. What teenaged boy doesn’t? We were each other’s firsts. On our wedding night, no less. We got married as soon as I graduated high school. He tried to find work that would pay him a decent living to support us and not having much luck. My mom was diagnosed with cancer by then and I was taking care of her. That is when he decided he’d enlist. He was just that kind of guy.”

He had been rubbing her back as she talked and now she curled back to his shoulder and rested her head there.

“I didn’t deserve him.” It was said so quietly if there had been the slightest breeze he would have missed it. He stopped the roar before it left his chest. Why the hell wouldn’t she deserve to be treated like that?

“What makes you say that?” He concentrated on rubbing her back, just soothing her. This wasn’t the time for anything else.

“I didn’t know, and he couldn’t ask.”

“Ask for what?”

“What he wanted, in bed. He was a wonderful man and I loved him more than just about anyone in my life but…” She took a deep breath. “He was a lousy lover. Not his fault really. We just were both shy and too young and... Oh God, why am I telling you all this?”

“Because I’m bossy and I asked.” He smiled, thank Christ she smiled back. The dog had wandered over to the back of the chain link fence that separated her property from Snell’s. The rat faced weeny picked then to walk out of his garage. He glared at them curled up together and then saw the dog.

“Don’t let that thing pee on the fence. It will burn my flowers.”

“I don’t think he’ll be a problem. We have bigger things to worry about than your flowers.” He wanted to high-five her for talking back to Snell.

“If you would just sell your place. You wouldn’t have any of these problems.” Jameson didn’t like the implied threat but there wasn’t anything there to actually take offense to. Either because of the threat or hell, maybe he just wanted to, he pulled her closer and tipped her to him so he could kiss her. He heard Snell swear under his breath but Candy seemed oblivious. The kiss lit a fire in both of them. She smoothed her hand over his shoulder and down his chest as she kissed him deeper. He couldn’t help but smile even as they continued the kiss.

The little dog squealed and came running to jump up on them.

“Did you...” Candy jumped up to take the guy on. Snell had already turned his back to them and was walking away. Her eyes held fire defending her little dog. She would have made a good mom, sweet but tough, defending her kids like a tiger when they needed it.

“Let’s take this inside.” Candy walked in front of him cooing to the little beast in her hands. He took a quick look over his shoulder back at Snell. The anger came off the guy like sparks. He couldn’t help himself and smiled at the weasel’s back. Yeah, if the guy wanted to fight he’d taken on a much bigger army than he suspected.