Tall, Strong & Cool Under Fire

“Was,” he echoed. So his guess had been right. But he pushed the envelope a tiny bit further. “As in—I’m not stepping on anyone’s toes by being here?”

His eyes were just a little too green, a little too warm for her. “Would you care?” Lisa asked.

He had his principles and that included never cutting in on another man’s territory once it was staked out. “Very much so.”

Honor was not the first word she thought of when Lisa thought of men in general. She’d learned the hard way that men like her father didn’t exist anymore. They were far too practical. “Why? Because it would get you into a confrontational situation?”

She was the one who was looking for a confrontational situation, he thought. “Because I socialize with married women in a different way than I socialize with unmarried women,” he told her amiably. And then he leaned forward and asked, “Do you find it gives you a backache?”

Her brows narrowed. She had no idea what he was talking about. “What does?”

Bryce nodded toward her shoulders. “That huge chip you’re carrying around on your shoulder. I’d imagine it might make you stoop a lot less if you weren’t lugging it around into every conversation.”

He’d never seen blue lightning flash before. He did now, in her eyes as she drew herself up, a pugnacious tilt to her head. “I don’t have a chip on my shoulder. I’m just careful. And suspicious.”

Something stirred within him and Bryce knew that Riley had been right. He did love a challenge. Any challenge, but particularly one that came dressed in white cuffed shorts and a tank top made for stirring up erotic fantasies in his mind. He leaned in closer to her. “Of people in general, men specifically, or just me?”

Her gaze never wavered as she met his head-on. Only her stomach did a minor flip-flop, but that was for her to know and him not to find out, she thought. “No, maybe and yes.”

He was game. “Why me?”

She would have thought that easy enough to see. “Why are you here?”

He repeated the offer he’d made earlier, in the fire station. “I thought that since you were new in the neighborhood, I’d offer my services.”

Lisa had to concentrate to keep her skin from feeling as if it were tingling, responding to the way his eyes seemed to caress her—while an all-too-knowing smile graced his lips. “What kind of services?”

“Any kind you’d like.” Sitting here in her dining room, it occurred to Bryce that he would very much like to discover what kissing her would be like. He had more than a hunch that the lady wasn’t nearly as cool as she was trying to pretend. “I’m handy with my hands.”

She tossed her head, needing to do something to keep from sinking, knee deep, into the look in his eyes. “I just bet you are.”

“Bet he is what?”

Lisa’s head snapped up, whirling in the direction her mother’s voice was coming from. She hadn’t even heard either her mother or her daughter enter the room. CeCe was right behind Cecilia carrying another place setting for the table. Her mother had her hands full, bringing in a huge platter of pierogi. It was still steaming, with whiffs of heat rising up from the melting pats of butter.

It occurred to Bryce that both mother and grandmother were placing a great deal of faith in the child’s equilibrium. Rising, he quickly crossed to the little girl, reaching for the place setting. “Thanks, CeCe. I’ll take it from here.”

CeCe surrendered the plate and silverware without a word. But the look in her eyes said it all. It was obvious to Lisa that her daughter was completely smitten with Bryce.

Lisa didn’t like what she was seeing here. Her mother was taking all this in and, from the look in her eyes, giving Bryce points. And it was clear that CeCe was already crazy about him. That made it two against one if he decided to make another appearance on her doorstep anytime soon.

Blowing out a long breath, all Lisa could do was hope that she could put him off from trying.

“Bet he is what?” CeCe repeated, looking from her mother to Bryce.

The kid was a sponge, Bryce thought. And probably part bull terrier. He’d be willing to bet that once she latched on to something, she didn’t give up until she got what she was after.

“Handy with my hands,” he told her.

“Like how?” CeCe asked eagerly. She was quick to take the place right beside him at the table. “Can you do tricks?”

“I don’t know about tricks,” he confided even as he produced a coin from behind her ear and then presented it to her. “But I can pretty much repair anything that needs fixing.”

Her eyes as big as saucers, CeCe took the coin from him, staring at it as if he’d just handed her magic in a solid form.

“Wow.” Clutching the coin to her, afraid it might disappear, she looked at her mother. “Did you see that, Mommy?”

Lisa cocked her head, studying their guest. Wondering just how much more there was to Bryce Walker than met the eye. She still had no idea why he’d planted himself on her doorstep. It wasn’t as if she’d encouraged him in any way. The girl within her who had flirted and taken life at face value had long since died. Reality had done that. Reality and Kyle.