Page 14 of Her Intense Protector

“Actually, I hadn’t met Max when I did the training, I was talking about my normal lieutenant. I’m on loan from the Omega Sky SEAL team. Baron Kostya is who I’ve served under for the last four years. He’s an amazing leader. That’s not to say Max isn’t. I just haven’t worked with him as long.”

“I didn’t know that you were on a temporary assignment with Asher and his team. Why is that?”

“One of their guys, Zed Zaragoza, was injured and has been out of commission for a while. He should be coming back real soon, then I’ll go back to Omega Sky.”

Sam’s heart skipped a beat. “You mean you won’t be in Virginia anymore?”

“Sure, I will. My team is based at Little Creek.”

“Oh, that’s the same place Ash is at. Got it. I’m kind of catching on. It seems like you guys are in Coronado or Little Creek.”

Ezio nodded as he changed lanes. Sam liked watching his profile in the dim light of the Jeep. She’d never thought she was hung up on looks, but apparently there must be a basic womanly part of her that was impressed with a square stubbled jaw, strong shoulders, and muscular biceps.

Down girl.

“You work in downtown Norfolk, right? How is it compared to working in Boise?”

“Believe it or not, the populations are almost identical. I’m just leery of the first hurricane.”

“Yeah, those can be something else. You’re lucky that your apartment is in the middle of the complex, should get less damage that way.”

“That was on Asher, he and Eden went apartment hunting with me.”

Ezio nodded. “Should have figured.”

As they drove up to the restaurant, Ezio chose valet parking, another odd move as far as Samantha was concerned. By the time the valet was helping Samantha out of the passenger seat, Ezio was there to escort her into the restaurant. She’d never been here but was immediately charmed by the ambiance. The black and white nature photos on the wall were fantastic.

“This way,” the hostess said as she seated them at a table that overlooked the water.

“I’m so glad we could pick up where we left off,” Ezio said after the hostess took their drink orders.

Sam didn’t know how to respond to that, and it must have shown. One hand was toying with her water glass, and the other was resting on the table. Ezio placed his palm over the back of her hand.

“I’m so sorry, I should have been more upfront on how I left things. I was called away on a mission the day I sent that last text, but that’s not an excuse for my abruptness or for not calling you back.”

Sam’s hand quivered under his touch. She thought about pulling away but wanted to hear him out.

“What was the reason?”

He sighed. “I didn’t think we had a real shot for two reasons. One, you lived halfway across the country. But the real reason was that I didn’t want to be your rebound relationship.”

It took everything she had not to move her hand. She thought about his words, really thought about them. “What if I told you I still haven’t had that rebound relationship? Would you still be here tonight?”

Ezio’s hand tightened on hers. He gave her a long look.

“What if I told you that since meeting you, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head?” he asked softly.

Sam felt herself smile. “I’d feel pretty good about that. But are you sure you’re not freaked about the rebound thing?”

“Should I be? It’s been almost a year since your almost-wedding. One of the things I learned about you is just how smart you are. I would think by now, you’d know your own mind.”

She arched her brow. “And don’t you forget it.”

The waiter came to take their orders. They both picked up their menus and quickly decided what they wanted.

“So, tell me, how do you like Virginia?” Ezio asked after the waiter had left. “I seem to remember you being really close to your parents and grandparents.”

“I was. I mean, I am. But I got this fantastic offer. I worked on three hotel projects with the same customer in the Pacific Northwest. They really liked what I was doing. They’re expanding to the East Coast, and they hired Lawton because they needed a powerhouse architecture and design firm to handle the scale, but they wanted me involved. They told Lawton that I had to be part of the package.”