Contemporary Romance: Passage of Arms - A Military Romance Novel (Romance, Contemporary Romance, Military Romance, Romance Novel Book 1) (8 page)

“Get better at meeting new people. It’s easy. Just ask questions. Do you want to try?”

Giggling, Sarah looked out the window and shook her head. It seemed ludicrous.

“Um, I don’t really know if this is necessary—.”

“It is,” Dave said quickly. “Ask me something. Anything.”

“Um, okay, is this your truck?”

Dave laughed. “And you don’t know if this is necessary. Yes, it’s mine. Now pay attention,” he cleared his throat and looked at Sarah sincerely before turning his eyes to the road, “If you’ve never been to the lake before, what do you like to do?”

Sarah scoffed. “That’s a hard question to answer. I’m busy. I work—I have,” she stopped herself suddenly and eyed Dave. He glanced at her casually.

“A daughter right?”

She swallowed something hard in her throat. “Yes. How did you know?”

“Becky told me you were a single mother.” Sarah sucked in air and stared straight ahead. “Ask me something,” Dave pressed on. Sarah looked out the window.

“Um, I don’t know. Do you have kids?”

“No.” Sarah sighed. She didn’t like this game. “Where’d you live before Tennessee?”

Sarah turned to Dave suddenly and forced a smile. She shook her head, but before she could form any words, Dave continued.

“Bad question? That’s fine. Did you go to college?”

She found herself chuckling. “Yes,” she answered easily.

Dave nodded. “Okay, this is good. What college?”

“University of Miami.”

Dave’s jaw dropped. He looked at her again, taking a longer time. “Are you serious?” Sarah nodded firmly. “Coral Gables?”

“That would be the one.”

“Major?”

Sarah covered her lips and smirked. After a period of silence, she met Dave’s questioning eyes and answered, “Architecture.”

“Wow,” he marveled at the information. “So you’re an architect?”

Chuckling, Sarah tucked hair behind her ear. “Not quite. I can use AutoCAD but,” she shook her head, “I never pursued a professional position with my degree.” Dave nodded with understanding. He fell silent and Sarah eyed him curiously. “So did you go to the University of Miami too?”

Dave grinned suddenly. “See? That wasn’t so hard was it?” Sarah chuckled and ignored his comment. “Yes, actually. I got my graduates from there.”

Sarah’s eyes brightened. “Really? In what?” Dave’s face ran blank suddenly. He blinked and coughed, and then faced the road. “What is it? You can’t tell me?” Sarah joked.

“Oh, that’s not it,” he said, the life coming back to his eyes. “I went there for law.”

Sarah sat up in her seat and leaned towards him on the console. Dave faced the road though and gripped the steering wheel hard.

“You have a graduates in law?”

Dave chuckled. “It’s a Juris Doctor.”

“You have a doctorates?”

He cleared his throat and nodded. “I’m not practicing law though,” he added quickly.

Sarah nodded. “Of course, because you’re renting boats,” she said softly.

“Well, I own most my boats,” he smiled thinly and glanced towards Sarah. “So, two people doing something completely different than our current ventures.” The thin smile grew into a bright grin. Sarah relaxed into the back of the seat and smiled.

“So, what’s your story?” She asked after a moment. “What brought you to Tennessee?”

“Nashville,” Dave answered quickly. Sarah glanced towards him, but his eyes were glued to the road. “The water and the music.”

“Oh, are you one of those guys?” Sarah giggled, and Dave laughed. He looked at her hesitantly.

“Depends. Should I be one of those guys or not? Are they bad?” He laughed a little harder at Sarah’s reaction. She couldn’t stop grinning, despite how she tried to press her lips together to get herself to stop.

“I meant the night scene type of guys.”

“Definitely not,” Dave shook his head quickly. Sarah nodded.
That’s good
. “I like fishing. Love it, actually. Love the water. I think I was born in it,” he looked towards Sarah and met her eyes. “Literally. I’m pretty sure my mother had a water birth.” Sarah was giggling again.

“So I guess you’ve got a pretty good tan underneath your shirt then—wait, no, I didn’t mean that,” Sarah tried to correct herself quickly. Dave eyed her with a raised brow. “I meant you’re probably really tan,” she avoided Dave’s eyes and started to fan herself. “Is the AC on? It’s a little hot.”

“We can row down the windows if you want,” Dave offered. He reached for the instrument panel and clicked the AC off with a button, smiling gently when Sarah cast him an askance glance. With the controls on the left door panel, Dave rowed the passenger window down.

“That good enough?”

Sarah forced a smile and nodded. They should have just turned the AC up. With the window down, the road noise made it impossible to hear anything and the wind whizzing past the window whipped her hair across her cheeks. Sarah tried her best to hold her hair down. She squeezed her eyes shut, and then froze. Almost as soon as the wind had begun to rush into the car, it stopped.

Opening her eyes, Sarah looked towards Dave. He had rolled her window up and clicked the AC back on. She felt a gentle breeze hit her face moments later. When she met Dave’s eyes, he offered her the same sweet grin he had been giving her all morning.

“You just seemed like you were having some trouble with your hair,” he sucked in a breath of air and turned to the road. “We’re almost there,” he muttered.

Sarah looked at her surroundings through the window and realized that Dave had already turned off the highway. She sighed and bit her lip. She forced herself to meet his eyes the next time he glanced in her direction.

“You know, I can be an adult sometimes,” she paused, “I meet new people all the time at work. I guess I’m just not…”

“It’s okay,” Dave said softly.

Sarah shook her head. “I guess I just don’t really know what I’m doing here,” she paused, “I guess,” her brows furrowed and she studied Dave’s face from the side. He had turned off several other roads and was now driving into a parking lot. She waited for him to put the truck in neutral and cut the engine.

“Is this supposed to be a date?” Sarah asked with all sincerity.

Dave turned to her and shrugged, and then he shook his head. “Becky just said she had a friend who was really down. She wanted to know if I could try and cheer you up or something.”

Pursing her lips, Sarah tried to muffle the frustration of chuckle that slipped through her lips. “You said earlier that Becky told you I was a single mother.” She didn’t want to call him out as a liar, but she was pretty sure her expression was speaking miles for her.

Pulling the key from the ignition, Dave relaxed into the driver’s seat. “Today isn’t the first day Becky’s told me about you.” He watched her carefully.

“So Becky tells you some woman you’ve never met before is upset and you,” she shook her head, frustrated. “Don’t you have work or something?”

Dave grinned. “Well, I normally have today off,” he shrugged. “The truth is that Becky’s been trying to get me to meet you for some time. Today, I just didn’t have anything better to do.”

Sarah lowered her eyes. She was certain she would have been much better off without knowing that last part. Strangely enough, it helped ease the twisting in her gut. They sat in the car for a few moments before Dave reached out and touched her arm. Sarah lifted her eyes and met Dave’s gaze.

“I’m glad I came though. You seem like a nice woman,” the tempting grin on his face caused a shiver to run over Sarah’s body. Her skin prickled and raised bumps along her arm. Dave frowned. “Are you cold?”

“Oh, no,” Sarah answered back quickly. “Not even close,” she started to rub her forearms, trying to smooth the bumps away.

“Good,” Dave ran a hand through his hair. “So, if you want,” he paused and searched Sarah’s face, “we can take out one of the pontoon boats that were canceled today. It’ll brighten anyone’s day.”

Sarah smiled easily then. “Um…it’s been awhile.”

“Scared?”

“Maybe,” she admitted with reservation.

Dave grinned. “Don’t be. Pontoon boats aren’t like Wave Runners or other boats. They’re little gliders. They’re made to float on the surface of water and feel amazing,” he grinned. “My selection caters to the higher class living in the suburbs here. They’re great for sunbathing, swimming in the open water, wakeboarding, picnicking, or just cruising,” Dave froze for a moment. “Sorry if I sound like a commercial.”

“No, it’s good. I want one.”

Dave laughed, and then sat straight, “Actually, I have a great evening cruise package for couples. Would you like to see it? It’s a meal, dessert, fun,” Dave grinned as he asked Sarah excitedly. Hesitantly, she half shrugged and nodded.

“Okay, sure,” she nodded with more certainty than her voice gave. “Sure. I can do this. And I’m dressed okay?”

“Absolutely,” Dave smiled brightly and looked her over again. “You look great, hold on,” He hopped out the truck seconds later and shut the door. Sarah watched him as he rounded the back of the truck to get to the passenger side. He opened the door and offered his hand to help Sarah down.
Just like Adam would have done…

She followed him into the small office building that sat just to the right of a weathered boating dock. They weren’t the only ones in the parking lot. Two other trucks had come into the lot towing boats. They pulled in and waited in the line where a small group of individuals were helping an older couple lower a single motor fishing boat into the water.

Inside the office, a young man sat behind a tall counter. They approached him from the rear. He lazily supported his head with one hand and elbow while the other was resting in between his lap where he held his cell phone.

“Hey,” the young man called lazily. He turned his attention back to the phone.

“Alex, I want to take out the canceled reservation for a few hours, can you get it ready? And do we have any evening cruise dinners in the cooler?”

Alex let his eyes linger on his phone before he finally sat it down on the counter and stood. “I think there’s one or two left. Should have an order coming in this afternoon I think since we order yesterday, right?”

“Yeah,” Dave moved to the counter and lifted a book. He ruffled through it quickly, “alright, thanks. Go out to the back and prep that pontoon, would you? I’ll help you connect it to the truck in a few.” Alex nodded, and left the room quietly.

“Anything I can do?” Sarah offered as she walked towards the countertop. Her heels clicked on the tile floor. Dave glanced towards her, and then closed the book. He dropped it on the middle shelf and shook his head.

“Nope,” he smiled. “This’ll be your day to completely worry about someone else getting things done. Give me twenty minutes and we’ll be all set and ready to hit the water.” He smiled at Sarah and wet his lips. “The waiting area’s on the other side of the counter. There’s some coffee and water, and,” he turned and felt beneath the counter, “here’s the remote for the TV. Just no Maurie or Springer.”

Sarah chuckled and watched Dave head towards the same exit Alex used to make his leave. She pushed through the counter gate into the front waiting area and looked around the small shop. Several hundred feet away, and probably five minutes access by car, she saw the dock of another boat rental company through the edge of the greenery that came down to the water’s edge.

Inside the office was cool, much cooler than the budding summer air outside. The semester was nearly over for many. She could see the lake filled with tons of boats in the coming weeks as school let out and summer was officially under way. Taking a deep breath, she walked the small space of the lounge a few times before her attention was taken with the window. There was a commotion outside.

She moved towards the window and pulled a blind down, eyeing the large F-350 that she had ridden in earlier. It looked like Dave was driving. He was backing the pontoon boat into the lake. Sarah’s eyes widened as she watched Dave and Alex communicate to lower the boat onto the ramp. They had a slew of watchers, of people envying the boat. She couldn’t blame them, it reeked of privilege and high class.

The boat was half in the water and half out before Dave left the truck and began to help Alex near the hitch. From the bed of the truck, Alex moved to retrieve what she assumed was the cooler. Dave followed him onto the boat and after a moment, the two stood together conversing.

Releasing the blinds, Sarah sighed deeply and retreated to the counter where she left her purse. She rummaged through it absently and found her phone. She had an email. Swiping at the screen, she quickly navigated through the menu to pull up her email app. It was from Bruce.  Opening the email, her eyes greedily devoured the short message.

Hey,

Sending an email like I said I would. I’m really sorry about this. There’s an issue with a shipment of supplies back in Florida. I’m flying out later this evening, but can come back in a week or so. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see you then.

Bruce

Sarah read the message again, and then a few more times. It seemed pretty straight forward, but she was pulling miles of information out. He must live in Florida now. That was a ways from Tennessee, but clearly, he had business in Nashville that was starting to bring him into town.