One More Kiss by Katherine Garbera Page A

bodyguards for the affluent in Southern California. Also, when dignitaries are visiting we’re usually the detail assigned to guard them. So that keeps us busy. You’d have two days off a week, unless we are on a mission, and you would work regular hours.”
    “Sounds tempting,” Jay said. Really tempting. It would mean closing one chapter of his life and starting another. Here. This job would give him a way to romance Alysse and do it right this time. But he hadn’t stayed in one place since he’d left North Texas. And he had a really hard time picturing himself in a home.
    “Good, I want you on my team, Jay,” Lucien said.
    “When do you need to know if I’m in?” Jay asked.
    “When are you due to re-up?” Lucien asked.
    “Two weeks. I’m on leave until then.”
    “Why don’t you think it over tonight and let me know tomorrow?” Lucien said. “Then you can come and work with us for a few days, see if it’s really what you want. I’d hate to have you regret leaving the Corps.”
    “Do you regret it? I thought you were going to be a lifer,” Jay said.
    “At first I hated it. I just wasn’t cut out for civilian life, but then, once I got involved with these guys at Company B, I found my place. It’s helped me a lot to be able to still use my skills but to sleep in my own bed each night,” Lucien said. “Plus I have a steady woman in my life. She’s more important than the Corps. For a while I didn’t think she would be. Oh, I’m making a mess of saying this.”
    “Nah, I get it. Women are complicated,” Jay said.
    “You spoke a mouthful,” Lucien said with his smooth Cajun accent, and Jay smiled. They’d had a lot of fun in the old days even when they were on missions, and there was something about working with his friend again that appealed to him.
    “I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know what I think,” Jay said.
    He left the offices a few minutes later and drove toward the Hotel Del Coronado but that wasn’t really where he wanted to go. He wanted to see Alysse again, and if nothing else, at least talk to her.
    Lucien’s offer sat squarely in the front of Jay’s mind. He wasn’t convinced he’d be happy on a security detail, but if he knew he’d be coming home to Alysse each night, maybe he could be.

6
    T HE END OF THE LUNCH HOUR signaled the end of their busy time at the bakery. During the school year they’d sometimes have a rush of after-school moms and kids, but it was summertime and the afternoons were slow-paced. Staci was in the kitchen trying to perfect a recipe she’d been juggling with for days. It was a main course, not a dessert.
    Alysse was afraid sometimes that Staci was getting restless in the bakery. One of her greatest fears was that Staci would move on and leave Alysse alone with Sweet Dreams. She knew she could handle the shop, but she had come to really depend on having her friend around.
    But that worry wasn’t foremost today, she thought, as she cleaned the counter in the empty shop front.
    Okay, so she’d gotten the usual professions of love from men who liked her baked goods. However, today it hadn’t seemed as much fun as it always did. She’d had a hard time flirting, knowing that Jay was back. Since their divorce had been final he’d been in the far recesses of her mind. But last night had changed all of that.
    Meanwhile, her brother had called and invited her to join him and a group of their friends for a bonfire on the beach later tonight. She’d started to make her usual excuses but then decided to go. What was she going to do? Stay home and stew over Jay?
    The doorbell tinkled as someone entered the shop. “Welcome to Sweet Dreams...”
    Jay.
    He stood backlit by the summer sun, looking totally out of place in her shop. He had on a pair of faded skintight jeans, a form-fitting khaki T-shirt and, despite the heat outside, a leather jacket. His aviator sunglasses were on so she couldn’t see those dark chocolate eyes of his.
    Why was he