“We could have more done if you’d reported on time.”

She pointed to herself. “Artist.” She pointed at him. “Landscaper.”

She smiled with that pretty mouth of hers and all he wanted to do was wipe the cheer away. He just wasn’t sure if he’d do the wiping with his hand or his lips.

He was still trying to decide when she set her coffee on the bench. Then she stood and stepped up on the bench. The extra foot and a half put her closer to his height, and she gestured for him to come nearer.

“Guys,” he called to his crew without looking at them. “Would you excuse us, please?”

The men headed through the gate they’d erected and pushed it closed, giving him and Carmen complete privacy. Not one to back down from a challenge, Ryan took the three steps necessary to stand in front of her.

“Let’s get something straight, Gunny.” She curled her fingers into the collar of his shirt, leaned in close and spoke in that irritatingly haughty tone of hers. “You’re no longer in the Corps. I am not an enlisted grunt below your rank. The orders and militant expectations end. Now. Do we understand one another?”

Damn, but he wanted to throttle her and kiss her. Every spark that had been detonated at her touch yesterday fired in her eyes as they locked with his. His skin heated more than it had from the morning’s labor. His decision was made for him.

The woman had taunted him from a distance, awakened him with a touch and then haunted his dreams. He’d awoken hard and on edge, looking forward to seeing her. Then when she finally bothered to appear it was in a shroud of arrogance.

“Do you want to know what I understand, Woman?”

“I told you not to call me that.”

Ryan took another step. His toes bumped the bench. “You’re pissed that I didn’t ask nice enough.”

She leaned marginally closer, pinning her hand between them. “You didn’t ask at all.”

“I’m not a soft man. I don’t have the patience for female games like the other men in this town.”

“I am not playing games.”

“You’re just trying to prove you won’t be bossed around by me. That doesn’t make us equals.”

She leaned into his face, unblinking, and shook her head. “I am no man’s subordinate. If you want my help, you’ll take it on equal footing.”

He grinned. “Says the woman standing on a bench so she can have a chance of looking me in the eye.”

“But I have your attention, don’t I?”

“Oh yeah. I wonder if you captured it the way you’d hoped.” Proving the point, he placed a hand at the back of her neck and pulled her close. Her smile was gone, but he was still going to taste her sassy mouth.

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Fiery