All Consuming (Brotherhood by Fire #3) -Jaci Burton Page 0,17

him. “You’re something extra.”

He laughed. “Not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult.”

She was so close he could breathe in her sweet scent.

“Definitely a compliment.”

She lingered there, making him throb with the need to plant his mouth on hers, to taste her lips, to slide his tongue between them until they were both lost. It had been so long since he’d kissed her, so many years he ached with the need to touch her. But he also knew she was wary and needed some time. So he took a step back and focused instead on putting the sprinkles on the cake.

But he’d really wanted to kiss her. And when he heard her sigh of disappointment, he realized he might have missed the opportunity.

Damn.

“It looks amazing,” she said.

“You ready for a piece?”

She laid her hand over her stomach. “I’m still full from dinner. I think I need to digest a little first.”

“How about a walk?”

“Excellent idea.”

It was a nice night. Not humid or too hot, with a little breeze. A perfect evening for a stroll. They took a long walk around the neighborhood, talking about their jobs. He asked her about her day, and she filled him in on what it was like to own the salon.

“It’s a lot of work. I not only do hair and have to grow and maintain my own clientele, but I have to hire stylists and manicurists, do advertising, keep the books and make sure the shop meets code and stays clean.”

Listening to her talk, Kal knew she wasn’t complaining. She enjoyed what she did.

“You love being your own boss.”

She smiled. “I do. When I first started out, I spent years working for other people. I hated it and swore that as soon as I could I’d buy my own salon. So I saved and saved until an opportunity came along to start up a place of my own in Georgia.”

They rounded the corner by the park, several blocks from the house. It was well lit, and there were always people doing nightly walks there. Kal waved to some of the people strolling by. “How long did you have the place in Georgia?”

“About a year before my divorce. I had just gotten to the point where it was full, running efficiently, and then I had to sell it.”

“I’m sorry. That had to hurt.”

“It did. But fortunately, it was in a great location and the new owner snapped it up right away for a good price. Plus selling the house in Georgia and splitting the equity with Landon gave me enough money to open the shop here.”

“That’s a good thing. Other than the divorce, of course. I’m sorry about that.”

“I’m not. Getting out of that marriage was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

He could tell she bore some bitterness about her ex, but he wasn’t sure she was ready to open up to him about it. “You want to talk about it?”

She looked over at him. “My ex? He’s a nice enough guy, but he’s a child. And I already had one kid. I didn’t need another who was supposed to be acting like an adult.”

When he gave her a questioning look, she shrugged. “It’s a really long story. I’m sure you’re not interested.”

He stopped to make sure she could see that she had his attention. “I’m interested.”

She started walking again, so he got back in step with her. She didn’t talk right away, not for about a block. He figured maybe she wasn’t going to open up to him. But then she began.

“We got married too young. I was ready to get out of Ft. Lauderdale, and Landon was my ticket out. He had big ideas about opening his own place. He’s a mechanic. He had cousins in Peachtree City in Georgia, and they were going to go into business together and open an auto repair shop. Big plans, big ideas. It all sounded perfect.”

“But?”

“They started one business, and it did okay for about a year. I thought that was going to be it. That he’d have the success he’d talked about. But he and his cousins couldn’t agree on one single thing, and they fought all the time. On the mechanical side, they were all great. As businessmen, they sucked, so the business failed. Landon decided to go out on his own, start up his own shop. But again, he had a great head for mechanics and he completely ignored the business side, so that venture failed, too. And so it