Dahlia waited for Cy to say goodbye to his family. He embraced his mother and gave his brother a clap on the back before ruffling his hair. “Remember what we talked about,” he said while the teen protested.

“I will. Just quit doing that.”

Dahlia put her coat on and went with Cy out the door into the cold. Freezing rain coated the ground in a slick finish. She started to slip when her feet touched concrete at the bottom of the porch steps. She flung her hand out to catch hold of a rail. Cy’s hand closed around her arm.

“Thanks. I could have taken you down with me, you know.”

“Then we’re going down together.”

“Is cushioning my fall part of the package deal?”

He aided her to the passenger side of the car. “Keeping you safe is part of the deal, isn’t it? I’m sure somewhere that includes preventing slips and falls.”

She settled in the safety of the passenger seat. She watched Cy cross over to the driver side with no problems walking on the ice. “Showoff. Are you secretly wearing snowshoes?”

“I once stayed at a mountain base in Afghanistan. There was plenty of snow and ice for me to trip on until I learned to walk on it.”

His reminder of his military background made her think about his mother. “I know your mom is glad that you’re home. Of course she’s proud of you for serving, though.”

He backed the car out slowly from the driveway. The windshield wipers cleared a fine layer of ice that settled on the glass while he was inside the house. “I think about how everything happened while I was away. My parents divorced. Jeff started getting into trouble. I hate that I couldn’t be there for them.” The volume of his voice went down.

Dahlia studied him. Did he think it was his fault that his family went through those problems? “You seem to be very close with your mother and your brother.”

“It hasn’t always been that way. I guess, like any kid in high school, the last thing I wanted to do was be around my family.”

She remembered how eager he was to go to basic training and the fight they had because of it. She winced at her immature responses at the time. “Being in the Special Forces was one of your goals.”

“I don’t regret going after it. Still, what I saw overseas made me learn to appreciate what I have here.”

She played with the zipper on her coat. Why was she starting to get fidgety? Everything Cy was talking about was old, water underneath the bridge. So why was she reacting as though it happened recently rather than ten years ago?

They made it to her house. She grabbed the car door handle. “I think I can make it to the front door without falling on my face.”

“You sure? It doesn’t cost extra for me to lend a hand. It’s included in your security package, anyway.”

“And I thought you were just being a gentleman. I should have known better.”

Seeing the change in his facial expression, she realized her teasing came off a little too snarky. “I didn’t mean you weren’t a gentleman or not polite or anything. It was just, you were making a joke, so I thought I’d counter and-”

“I got what you said. I knew it was a joke.” He stopped talking for a moment and gave her a serious look. “You don’t think I’m that uptight, do you?”

He got out of the car while she stammered for a response. When he came around to her side of the car, he had a smirk on his face. “You do think I’m uptight. Look at your face.”

“I do not. You don’t see anything.” When she shut the door, she viewed her expression in the reflection of the window.

“I saw that. You were trying to cover up how you feel.”

“I wasn’t doing... I get it. You’re putting me on the defensive. Nice try.”

“I still like teasing you.” Without being asked, he helped her to the front door.

Dahlia opened it so they could both come inside. “It is getting pretty bad out there. Let me check the weather report.” She took out her phone and opened the app. “We have a freezing rain warning until eleven.”

“That’s about 30 minutes from now.”

“You can hang around a bit if you want. I can brew some tea. My stove isn’t as fancy as your mom’s single serve brewer, but it’ll get the job done.”

“Water’s fine.”

She shrugged and went to get a bottled water from the fridge. When she came back into the living room, he had unzipped his coat. He didn’t sit down. She sensed a hanging tension in the room. “Cy? Is there something the matter? You seem a little different.”

He accepted the bottled water from her, unscrewed the cap, and took a swig. His face clouded over with an emotion before it was hidden again beneath the rigid planes of his face. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you this before. It meant a lot to me that you helped out my mom while I was out looking for Jeff.”

Suddenly embarrassed, she looked down at her feet. “Don’t mention it. I liked talking with her.” She raised her eyes again.

His smile came out and softened the planes of his face. “I may just have to buy my mother some purple eyeshadow for her birthday. She deserves it after tonight.”

She pictured him standing over a makeup counter trying to decide which eye palette to buy his mom, and giggled. “I’m glad it all worked out in the end.”

“You’re amazing, Dahlia.” His hazel eyes focused on her with a clarity and depth she hadn’t seen before.

She stopped thinking humorous thoughts about him. There was nothing funny about that intense look he gave her. She felt the tension come into the room again. This wasn’t the kind that made her fearful. It was laced with excitement, an electric energy that found her pulse and made it start to jump. She remembered that feeling before from when they were much younger.

Did her feet take her closer to him? A second ago, he was arm’s length away. Here she was now, staring at him face to face. She didn’t have to reach out to touch him. She merely lifted her hands and placed them on his chest. There, she felt his heartbeat. It increased its pace.

She hesitated for a moment as she experienced the warmth of his skin radiating from his shirt. He leaned in and she felt his hands on her back. He got rid of the tiny remaining distance between them in one fell swoop by sweeping in for a kiss.

She could only describe what happened next as an electric jolt that started at her lips and spread through her body when they made contact. His lips were soft and firm at once. For a moment, she relived their first kiss. However, this was something more. Something stronger, and definitely more adult.

She tasted him as he made the kiss go deeper. His arms tightened around her waist. Pressed against him, she didn’t want to step away. Dahlia put her hands behind his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. She felt his heart beat faster. Hers was catching up to his in a fast, dancing beat. She could hear it in her ears as he moved from kissing her mouth to putting his lips on her cheek and down the side of her neck.

She felt the back of her knees bump against the couch. She fell down and he got pulled along with her. Her fingers grazed the buttons of his shirt collar. They continued to kiss before he pulled away and stood.

“I should leave.”

Dahlia felt like she got ice water thrown in her face. “Why?”

He straightened his jacket and zipped it up. “Sorry for doing this to you, Dahlia. This was my fault. With everything that happened tonight, I also got caught up in the nostalgia of us.”

She got to her feet. “Caught up? I wanted to kiss you. You didn’t want to kiss me?”

“Of course I did. This isn’t going to work. We need to stick to the mission.”

“Is that all I am to you, just some task or responsibility you need to take care of?”

He moved his head in the negative. “It’s just an expression.”

“Come up with a better one because I don’t understand.”

“We can’t let things like this happen. I have to focus on my job to protect you.”

“You keep saying that. There’s no one around right now that you need to protect me from.” She started to feel embarrassed for letting her feelings for him manifest, especially since he was shutting his and hers down. “I hate how you keep rejecting me and then expecting me to pretend like it’s perfectly okay. Just go.”

He went to the door. When he turned to look at her again, he wore a torn expression. “Again, I apologize, but we can’t get distracted.”