Lena passed him the box containing chow mein and kept the box of fried shrimp on her lap. Thad dumped some rice into the noodles and using his fork, took a bite. They'd already finished off the crab Rangoon and pork strips.

But, Lena wasn't giving up the shrimp.

He swallowed, enjoying the way she'd crossed her legs and sat sideways facing him, wrapped loosely in the blanket, as they exchanged boxes. She even balanced the small cup of hot mustard and another one of sesame seeds on her knees.

Lena dipped the end of the shrimp in the mustard and then rolled the piece in the seeds before putting the whole shrimp, up to the tail, in her mouth, and taking a bite. She caught him staring and grinned as she finished chewing.

"You didn't want any more of the shrimp, right?" She glanced down and then back up, innocently blinking her eyes, not fooling him for a minute. "There's only two left. I'm sure the chow mein will be more filling for you."

He laughed, taken aback at how natural his good mood felt with her sitting outside with him, eating, teasing, and making herself at home.

"You can have the rest of the shrimp." He scraped the white takeout box with his fork, scooping out the remaining noodles. "Not that I believe you'd give them up easily if I said I'd at least like to have one."

She leaned forward and pushed his shoulder with the back of her hand. "Stop. I would've given you one. If you had asked. But, it's too late. You already turned my offer down."

They finished eating the rest of the food in silence. He gathered the empty boxes, put them all in the paper sack, and placed it on the fire before putting another log on the flames and returning to the swing.

Lena remained sitting sideways, facing him, and pulled the edges of the blanket together in front of her. "Thanks for dinner. That was the first time I've eaten Chinese food outside. I liked it."

He wanted to know what else she hadn't done and make sure she tried them all. He stretched his legs and set the swing into motion while staring into the fire. It'd been awhile since he took the time or had the time to enjoy the company of a woman. Most of the time, he took one of the women Chuck always had hanging around him, because they required no time or attention. They were looking for a party and sex. Two things that were easy to supply.

"How long have you worked as a dispatcher?" he asked, turning to look at her.

She sighed. "Almost seven years. I actually moved to St. John's for the job."

"Where are you from?"

She glanced into the fire, and the flames reflected in her almost black eyes hypnotized him. "South of Portland. I drove up to take the training classes offered in Portland and applied all over the Pacific Northwest after I got qualified to look for a job. St. John's turned out to be one of two places that wanted to hire me, and I've been here ever since."

"Damn," he muttered.

"What?" whispered Lena.

"Seven years and I've been at the police station at least twice a week over the last twenty-years or so and not once have I seen you." He leaned closer. "Where have you been hiding?"

She tilted her head and looked up at him between her lashes. "Maybe you weren't looking hard enough."

"Would you have wanted me to look? And, before you answer, you need to know that depending on what you say, there's a good chance I'm going to kiss you. Because, that's what I've wanted to do since I looked at you at Vavoom's Bar," he said.

Close enough to her, he caught the next breath of air she swiftly exhaled, he dropped his gaze to her lips. Hell, if he'd ever seen someone as beautiful as her. She made him want to take his time and not fuck up his chances with her.

But, he couldn't wait.

He wouldn't.

He wanted to make sure she understood he was interested.

"Yeah, I would've wanted you to look,' she whispered.

His gut tightened, and he leaned in. Her eyes closed before he captured her lips making his balls ache in pleasure. He slipped his hand underneath her hair and palmed the back of her head, holding her close.

Lena gave a soft purr and opened her mouth. He deepened the kiss and dipped his tongue. Her sweet welcome gave permission for him to stroke, savor, consume. The warmth and smoothness of her tongue danced against his. His cock hardened. Kissing her exceeded anything else in his life at the moment.

She shivered. He slowed, pulled back, kissed her again, and moved his hand away from her head, and reached inside the blanket that'd fallen off her shoulders and found her hand. She willingly clung to him.

"Whoa," she said on an exhale. "I wasn't expecting that."

He leaned back. "Yeah, I hear you," he added softly.

When he'd asked her out, he only wanted more time with her to figure out why he was drawn to her. Her beauty and the mystery behind her fascinated the fuck out of him. He usually stuck to women who enjoyed sex and a good time without any commitment.

Meeting her knocked him sideways.

He had no idea what Lena wanted from him or why she'd agreed to come over, but she sat beside him, and he'd kissed her. Now, he wanted her to stay.

"What are you thinking?" she whispered, still facing him on the swing.

He let his chin fall to his chest. His body still aroused, he thought about yesterday, meeting Lena, today, kissing her, tomorrow, wanting to make sure he had time with her.

"You're a mystery to me." He huffed, amused that the words came out of his mouth.

She lifted his hand and held it to her chest. "I can tell you something about me that will push the mystery away."

"What's that?"

"I have a sweet tooth, and I brought dessert." She smiled, changing the mood. "Do you have some roaster sticks for the fire?"

He nodded. "In the house."

"You get those." She kissed him quick. "I'll get everything else ready."

She hopped off the swing. He followed, knowing she'd brought ice cream with her when she'd shown up, and wondered why she needed roasting sticks.

Lena stopped at the sliding door. He reached around her and let her into the house, enjoying the sway of her ass in her hurry to prepare dessert.

"Where are your bowls?" She opened the freezer and removed the carton of vanilla ice cream.

"Left side of the sink." He pulled the second drawer on the kitchen island open and retrieved the long metal sticks.

She placed the bowls on the counter and pointed to the top drawer. "Spoons?"

He nodded, entertained watching her. She was the first woman who'd taken over his kitchen. He liked the atmosphere she created with being at his house.

After dishing up two bowls of ice cream, she pulled a small package of graham crackers out of the bag she'd carried in earlier. She flashed him a grin and crumbled the crackers, dumping the pieces over both bowls.

"You're going to love this." She took two Hershey candy bars out of the sack and broke them into bite size pieces and added them to the bowls before tossing him a bag of marshmallows. "Can you stick three on each stick?"

He chuckled. "S'mores ice cream?"

"Trust me, it's better this way than the already made kind." She walked around the kitchen island. "While we roast, the ice cream gets soft. Once the marshmallows are toasted, we add them to the bowl, stir, and eat."

He slid the door open and walked to the fire pit with her, handing her one of the roasting sticks. She squatted down beside the fire ring and stuck her marshmallow above the flames. He stood and leaned over because he enjoyed the view from above. A woman. A fire. Her smile.

"Do you do this often?" He took in her purple painted nails and wondered what it'd feel like to have her rake his back with her fingers.

"Once in a while." She glanced up at him. "But never over a real fire. I use the gas burner on my stove and a marshmallow on a fork. It's not nearly as much fun as the real deal."

"You have a backyard. It's not hard to put in a pit, or you could buy one of those free-standing fire pits. Roasting is better with wood than on a stove with gas." He rotated his wrist when flames developed on the marshmallow, and he brought up the end of the stick and blew the flames out before putting it back above the fire to get the other side.

Lena lifted and blew the flames off her marshmallow. "You like yours burnt, too?"

"Only way to eat them," he said.

He'd made her smile.

Because he was watching her, he missed the moment his marshmallows caught on fire again.

"Better hurry before they drop off." She pointed at his stick.

He jerked the flaming balls up and lost one in the fire. Lena laughed. He blew and eyed the marshmallows on her stick safely out of harm's way.

She stood and grabbed his hand. "Let's get these inside before they lose their warmth."

Inside the house, she used her fingers to pull off each marshmallow into the bowls. Holding her empty, but sticky, hand out to the side, she slid his bowl in front of him. He had something more enticing to eat standing in front of him. Wrapping his fingers around her wrist, he brought her fingers to his mouth and wrapped his lips around her thumb, slowing sucking the marshmallow off her skin.

Her brows shot up, and her jaw dropped, opening her mouth. He moved to her index finger, and the weight of her arm became heavier as she succumbed to his tongue stroking and his mouth sucking. He'd always had a craving for sweets, and he could see himself becoming addicted easily if Lena was involved.

"I...wow." Lena shivered and blinked, breaking eye contact with him. "You don't waste time, huh?"

He pulled her finger from his mouth. "Not when I know what I want."

She stepped over to the sink, washed her hands, and dried them on the dish towel. Returning to the kitchen island, she stirred her bowl. Then, she stirred his bowl and brought the spoon up to his mouth.

"Try it." She gazed at his lips.

He opened his mouth and leaned forward, closing his lips, then dragging the ice cream off the spoon. While savoring the mixture, even the coldness of the dessert couldn't cool the warmth on his tongue from licking her body.

She lowered the spoon, raised her hand, and wiped his lower lip with her thumb. "What do you think?"

He wanted to kiss her again.

He wanted to get her naked.

He wanted to put his cock in her pussy.

"Good," He licked his lips. "Let's take the bowls into the living room. I don't want the ice cream to make you colder outside."

She followed him into the other room, and after he sat down on the couch, she took the spot next to him. He ate in comfortable silence, content to have Lena near him. Halfway done with his dessert, he looked into her bowl and found her keeping pace with him. That alone impressed him. He enjoyed sharing a meal with a woman, something he hadn't done much of, considering he rarely dated. Usually, a few drinks and music was all that was required to jump into having sex.

He set the empty bowl on the end table. When she moved to take hers to the kitchen, he took the dish and placed it inside of his, stopping her from leaving.

"Thanks, for that." He put his arm along the back of the couch and rubbed her neck softly. "It was good."

She sighed, and her chin dropped lazily to her chest as she let him rubbed her neck. "Tell me something."

"Okay."

She turned her head. "How did you get to this place you're at where you ask a woman you'd only met once to come to your house to eat Chinese food outside by a fire?"

"I liked what I saw last night," he said.

She straightened her head. "I mean, why hasn't some woman snapped you up? Or, have you gone down that road before and now you're dating?"

He appreciated her being straightforward. "Never been married. I've had a few relationships over the years that lasted a year or so, but it was more for convenience—"

"Sex?"

He chuckled. "You could say that."

"Hm..." She crossed her legs. "Are you against relationships?"

"Not that I know," he said, wondering what she was getting at with her questions.

She turned and kissed him.

He only got his hand back on her neck to kiss her deeper when she pulled away. "I should go home. It's getting late, and I worked today, so I'm beat. I think the food and your company relaxed me and I'll be able to go home and sleep."

"Sleep?" He stood following her off the couch. "Do you work tomorrow?"

She shook her head and grabbed her purse off the chair by the door. "I have the next two days off."

He leaned against the wall beside the door. "Then, stay."

She stopped in front of him, put her hand on his chest, and inhaled deeply. "I can't."

"Are you sure about that?" He was usually good at reading people. Lena wanted to stay. Her questions about what he was after were her way to make an excuse to leave. He couldn't understand what he'd said that turned her away. He'd told the truth.

"Positive." She stretched to her toes and kissed him. "I like you. A lot. You gave me a date like nothing I've ever had before, and I enjoyed myself. But, I have no interest in being another woman that you collect...for sex."

"Lena," he muttered.

"Don't." She placed her finger over his lips. "I'm going to go home, crawl into bed, think about the fun I had with you tonight. I want to remember you, our kiss, and be able to enjoy the excitement I have happening inside of me that is hard to contain when I'm around you."

"That doesn't sound like you want to walk out the door." He tagged her wrist. "Stay."

She looked down at where he held her arm. "No," she whispered.

He let her go.

Lena opened the door and walked outside. He followed her, staying on the porch. Halfway to her car, she turned around. "I've been in a few relationships, Thad. It's always my fault they end, and I'm okay with that."

He shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned against the siding of the house. "Maybe you were dating the wrong men."

"Maybe." She tilted her head. "I do know what I'm looking for though. If you ever decide you're interested and want to hear me out, you know where I live."

She turned around and headed toward her car. He stayed where he was, making sure she got in her vehicle okay and watched her back out of his driveway. When he could no longer see any evidence that she'd turn around, change her mind, and spend the night with him, he went back in the house and sat down on the couch.

Somehow, he'd done most of the talking tonight, giving her parts of his life, while she handed him little about herself. What she'd done was make him more curious.

Lena Hollis remained a fascinating mystery to him. Her decision to leave, to go against his wishes, only made him more determined to get to know her better.