Her Sexy Marine Valentine. Candace Havens

that way. Mere moments ago he’d had to extricate himself from the clutches of his boss’s daughter. The last thing he wanted was Mari trying to seduce him. But it had been so long. So very long since she’d even felt the urge to—

      Tacos. She had to get the tacos started.

      She switched on the hot place, got out a frying pan and crumbled the hamburger meat into it. After adding some spices and a bit of minced garlic, she started chopping vegetables and shredding cheese.

      This meal was the least she could do for her white knight of a neighbor. When he’d appeared out of nowhere and pretended to be her boyfriend, she’d almost collapsed with gratefulness.

      The ex, Gary, had left a soul-crushing mark on her, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever trust another man. He’d made her believe they had a future together, and then he’d come home one night and said she was boring. That he’d had an affair at a conference and it helped him realize he wasn’t as into her as he thought he was.

      Whatever. The cheating jerk acted like everything was her fault.

      “You’re too vanilla, Mari,” Gary had said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been this bored in bed. I shouldn’t have cheated on you, but after that one night at the convention I knew what I was missing. And then I couldn’t help myself. You’re just not it for me.”

      Queasiness hit, as it did whenever she remembered his words. He could have shot her and left her for dead that day and she wouldn’t have been more surprised.

      It wasn’t the first time a romance of hers had gone down in flames. She’d dated her fair share of Garys, but she’d thought this one was different. Even if their ideas on design clashed, and he didn’t like Mexican food and he demanded the towels be folded in halves, when she liked them another way. Who didn’t go for a three-quarter fold? It always looked nice on the towel rack.

      That should have been my first clue. Still, it didn’t keep her ex’s words from churning through her head in a hateful litany. All right, fine, so she wasn’t an expert when it came to sex, and she’d had to fake the majority of her orgasms with Gary.

      Oh, who am I kidding? I faked them all. But she didn’t imagine she was boring in bed.

      Now Gary was with a model? And she didn’t even know what bygones meant. But she was probably great in bed, which evidently was Gary’s primary criteria when it came to the woman he wanted to marry. Engaged. Already.

      Ugh.

      She rolled her shoulders, trying to ease the tension, and took a couple deep breaths. It’s what she did to release the nerves.

      I’m definitely better off without him. That fact didn’t keep the loneliness at bay, however; and all the good guys in Corpus Christi seemed to be taken or unavailable. Even the hot, sexy Marine from across the street was too good to be true. He had women like the redhead throwing herself at him and there he was turning her down. How could Mari compete with that? Not to mention, what if she did sleep with him and he thought she was boring?

      Why are you even thinking about sleeping with him?

      Come on. How could she not? Those biceps and that smile. When he’d thanked her ex at the grocery store for giving her up, her heart had skipped a beat. She had to remind herself he was too good to be true.

      But it felt wonderful to have him in her corner. And that fish face Gary had made, that was the best.

      No, it wouldn’t do at all for her to think about Brody as anything more than a nice neighbor.

      Although he might be able to assist her with the one thing she needed most.

      She’d seen him in uniform a couple of times and he was breathtaking. After he’d carried in her flooring that day, she kept meaning to take him cookies or maybe bake him a pie. But without a real kitchen it wasn’t easy.

      She stirred the meat and then returned to chopping.

      Her cell rang and she checked it. Mom again. She swiped the screen, making the phone silent. She didn’t have time for this. And she knew it was only her parents checking in. They were still worried about her breakup with Gary even though it had been months ago.

      Her ex’s expression when he’d taken in Brody had been hilarious. As if the idea had never occurred to him that she could attract someone like the Marine.

      Even if she couldn’t, she sort of loved the fact that now Gary would think she’d traded up, silly or not.

      Brody...he was all man. Those biceps under his black T-shirt could not be denied. And when she’d leaned against him, those abs she’d touched were washboard-hard. That was the third time she’d thought about his abs.

      No. Do not go there.

      Admittedly, in hindsight, the lack of sex between her and Gary hadn’t helped their situation. It wasn’t as if he had been initiating things and she was turning him down. They often came home tired. She was always busy with her interior design business and closing on the old Victorian, and he worked for one of the top architectural firms in South Texas. But she’d failed to see the signs. They had been going through the motions.

      Still, it didn’t mean he had a right to cheat. He’d met his fiancée at the convention and told her it had been love at first sight, and that he couldn’t pretend any more with Mari.

      Pretend.

      She took another deep breath. The hurt still stabbed at her chest.

      I’m over him.

      I’m lucky he’s out of my life.

      Her brain believed her. Her heart, not so much.

      Focus on dinner.

      After digging around in her many boxes, she found the small red bowls that matched the plates she wanted to use. It was late January in Corpus Christi, which meant eating outside would be chilly, but fine with a fire. She took some wood from the cord she’d bought, then dashed through the house and stacked it in the fire pit out back.

      Then she set the old wooden harvest table she’d stored there on the deck.

      She opened the garage door to let out the smell from the meat that was cooking, and standing there was the dreamy Marine with a confused expression on his face.

      Not expecting him to be standing there, she jumped and maybe screamed...a little.

      “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. Uh, why are you cooking in your garage?”

      “Long story.” Now she’d have to recount her very ugly history with this darn house. If he didn’t already think her lame, he would soon.

      Oh, well.

      It’s not like you wanted to make him yours.

      Liar.

      “Follow me and I’ll explain everything.”

2

      BRODY FOLLOWED HIS neighbor through her house, which looked like a war zone, and after several tours in the desert, he’d been in a few. It wasn’t junky, but most of the walls had been taken down to the studs. And the wood floor had large holes in it.

      “Watch your step,” she warned as she led him out to the backyard. “There were plumbing issues and they had to rip up some of the boards to find the pipes under the house. One of the five million things that have gone wrong since I bought this place.”

      The despair in her voice was clear. Why was someone like her living in this mess? He’d seen her in heels and brightly colored dresses when she came home at night. Even in her shorts and jersey she was immaculate. It didn’t make any sense.

      “I knew we, I mean I, was in for a lot of work, but I really underestimated the project. If I’d done this with one of my clients, I’d have been fired.”

      They