Waiting For Eden (Eden Series) by Jessica Leigh

right honey?  She wants to teach me about her well-met top or something fancy.”
    “Can’t you see , the girl’s just trying to eat?”  James glanced at her, amusement written in the quirk of his mouth.  Alex was rendered mute, still chewing furiously, and she had raised a napkin to her lips to hide the unsightly mastication. 
    “Do you know her or something?” Mitchell questioned.
    “Yeah, we’re old friends.  Got some catching up to do even.  In private.”  He slanted a pointed glance at Lenny.  Alex nodded quickly to back him up.
    Still glaring, Lenny adjusted his cap before striding off to the bar.  “Freakin’ city women.”  Mitchell followed close behind, an expression of bewilderment still adorning his large features.
    Alex finally managed to swallow the last of her food, and cleared her throat.  To her own embarrassment, “James,” was all she managed to croak out, and she felt her cheeks flush.
    “You certainly do seem to have a recurring problem with food.”  James reached across the table and flicked a drop of dressing from the tip of her nose.  “Cooking it, eating it...the works.   Not to mention your little problem with people.”
    “I’m beginning to believe it’s more the people than the food,” she finally managed, after swallowing a long pull of beer.  James Sheldon had the uncanny knack of catching her at her worst moments.  Off guard, self-conscious, and... inexplicably irritable. 
    Alex narrowed her hazel eyes, taking in the strong lines of his face, the baby blues that could make any female heart trip over itself, the firm lips quirked in a lazy grin.  Jamie’s shoulders were broader than she remembered, and she found herself yet again imagining a smooth, hard chest and the cording of muscles beneath his shirt.  Even his fingers exuded strength as he laced them together and leaned forward, propping his chin against them. 
    James narrowed his eyes back at her, mimicking her glare, and his smile only widened as she bristled further. 
    “So d id you break my stove?” he questioned casually, breaking the silence.
    “No!” she huffed.
    “Burn your supper, and then throw the whole works away rather than lower yourself to clean it?”
    She flushed, knowing she had actually tossed primavera due to its very looks in favor of a protein bar.  “Your stove is in my vehicle, I’ll have you know.  I meant to return it all along, I just-”
    “Take it easy, I’m just giving you a hard time ,” he chuckled.
    Alex pushed the remainder of her salad away , miffed.  “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, in or out of uniform.”
    “Touché,” James responded to the jibe.  “Onto the question of the day.  Why have you returned to this little old town?”  His brows furrowed.  “Couldn’t be back for more hiking... that was definitely a fiasco... I’m surprised you made it out of the woods in one piece.  Hmmm... So Alex, could it be that you’ve missed my boyish good looks and irresistible charm?”
    There was no way now she was going to admit she was looking for him.  “Sorry to disappoint you, James.  I don’t go for boyish .  I’m more for the tall, dark, and ruggedly handsome type. ”
    “There you go again, Lovey, you’ve got this thing about youth.  I’m probably older than you.”
    “I’m twenty-eight,” Alex stated challengingly. 
    He stared at her quietly, steepling his fingers. 
    “Well?” she prodded.
    “Twenty-seven,” he finally drawled.  “But... signs sure seem to point that I am much more mature than you.” 
    He had swiftly turned the tables back on her again with a flash of that taunting, sarcastic grin.  Infuriating.  Alex had been sucked right back into verbal sparring with this guy, even though it had not been her intent at all.  She needed to stop this.  Hell, she had come here to apologize.  She’d only made another mess.
    Ginny approached with a huge platter of meat and potatoes.  It was time for