Scar walked into the diner, nervous flutters pulsing through him. Would he be lying to say he’d gone right to sleep? Yes, the truth was that when he’d gotten off the phone, his mind had been going a million miles an hour, circling around this sweet girl who cared if she was doing what God wanted her to do with her life.

He’d been raised Catholic before his mother passed. He was fourteen at the time and never really practiced, blaming God for the whole fiasco. After some of his missions, he had gone to confession. Truthfully, it was the only thing that had helped with all the secrecy and the … he shuddered thinking about the hard things he’d had to do.

As he got to the host station, he gave Bob a half grin.

“Same seat today, sir?” Bob asked.

Scar nodded, and Bob moved him to the normal seat overlooking the ocean.

He couldn’t see Shayla. He sat and didn’t pick up the menu.

Bob was back with a glass of lemon water. “The usual?”

Scar looked around. “Where’s Shayla?”

The manager grinned. “She had car trouble today, so she had to deal with that.”

Scar hesitated only briefly, then stood. “When did she call in?” He hit Bob with one of his “tell me or die” looks.

Bob put his hands up. “About five-thirty.”

It was seven-thirty now, and Scar knew she had a class she couldn’t miss. He moved past Bob. “Rain check, Bob. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

* * *

Scar pulled up to her townhome and saw her beneath the car, a jack holding it up. It all looked very precarious and like the car would tumble down on top of her in one crushing blow. Parking, he bolted from his car and jogged to her. “Kansas, what are you doing?” he asked, bending to try to see.

Her feet stuck out from below the car. “What are you doing here?” she hollered.

He dropped down into a push-up position and stared at her. “I’m here to help you.”

She made a face. “I got it handled.”

He could see the oil pan was about to drop right on her. Forgetting about keeping himself clean, he edged his way beneath the car, catching the oil pan right as it started falling.

She looked at him, with oil smudged on her face, and let out a little amazed giggle. “You totally just saved me. Again.”

Liking the way she said saved more than he wanted to, he waved her away. “I thought you had a tire out. Why are you doing the oil?”

“I fixed the tire. Then I thought I should change the oil filter while I was under here.”

He sighed. “Ranch girls.” It was great that she wanted to do it by herself, but it was obvious she needed help. “Move, Kansas.”

At first, she glared at him, but then she sighed. “Are you sure? I can’t pay you.”

“Don’t you know that God helps good people?”

She gave him a quizzical look.

“Like you.”

With a furrowed brow, she scooted herself out. “You say it so angrily.”

Quickly, he finished changing the oil filter. It had been a long time since he’d done mechanical work on his cars, but he’d grown up fixing everything mechanical, so it came back fast.

When he came out, she looked him up and down, frowning. “How did you not get any on you?” she asked like he’d performed a rare magic trick.

“Talent, Kansas. Talent.” He flashed her a grin.

“Thank you,” she said softly, sincerely.

He couldn’t explain what it meant to him to have a woman truly appreciate such a simple thing he’d done. Just one look into her gorgeous green eyes told him this woman cared about whether or not God liked what she was doing with her life. She was heartbroken from being broken up with by her boyfriend. She was stunningly beautiful even when she clearly had no makeup on. At that moment, he wanted to pull her in and kiss her.

“Sorry,” she said awkwardly, and he realized her eyes were on his bicep.

He did the only thing he could think of to take the awkwardness away. He flexed. “Check me out, no problem.”

Letting out a nervous laugh, she gave him a little push. “Please.”

“We’ll see if you push me around.” He mock stormed over to her and picked her up, putting her over his shoulder.

She giggled and fought him. “Stop!”

“Thought you said you had brothers who tortured you. I guess they didn’t do it right if you can’t get out of this.”

She laughed harder and flailed.

He was having too much fun, even though he kind of felt like an idiot.

“Seriously, put me down!”

He had another idea. With her hoisted over his shoulder, he took off, heading toward the beach. “Let’s wash this oil off.”

She shrieked and laughed. “No! Stop!”

He went in like he was running the field for a touchdown, taking her all the way into the ocean and then thrusting her off of him.

She yelled and splashed in the water. Coming up, she glared at him, but couldn’t cover the laugh bubbling from her lips.

Dang, she was glorious with all the water dripping off of her.

She shoved him, which didn’t matter.

He didn’t move, but gave her a cocky smile. “That’s how a quarterback gets it done.”

She laughed again and bent, splashing him. A huge splash.

But all he could do was stare at her, and she stopped splashing. The air between them sizzled with tension. For a few moments, they both stood there, staring into each other’s eyes.

Scar didn’t know how this had happened, but he was into this girl. Really into her. He needed to take a step back, though. She had just broken up with her boyfriend, and she was so young.

Narrowing her eyes, she put her chin into the air. “Are you going to kiss me or just brag over there?”

The nerve of this girl taunting him made him laugh. He’d been holding back because he didn’t want to go too fast for her. He could still tell he shouldn’t go too fast. Actually, he didn’t want to. Cocking an eyebrow, he said, “The question is, are you going to kiss me?”

A spark of fire lit in her eyes. He realized a challenge was exactly what this girl wanted. She stood right outside of kissing reach, staring up at him.

His heart raced. Every part of him felt alive, awake, ready for anything. He could smell something fruity wafting off her—a lemon scent, probably.

She closed the gap between them and gently put a hand on his face, leaning up.

Unable to not do anything else, he gave into this, snaking an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, but he didn’t kiss her. He waited.

Moving her hand behind his head, she gently brought his face down to hers.

Their lips met. Hers were soft and tasted like mint gum.

Her other hand gripped his T-shirt. Every part of him reacted to her. He had to force himself to keep the kiss sweet and tender, because she was like sweet sorbet ice cream on a hot day that you tasted and then shoved the whole thing inside your mouth. The brain freeze wasn’t worth it, though. No, he didn’t want any sort of brain freeze with this woman.

She tugged back, and her face clouded. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I did that.”

He wasn’t letting her off the hook. “I can.” He pulled her closer, kissing her again, wanting to claim her.

She gave in, and he felt his world shift. Yes, he was being that cheesy. The feel of her body against his was incredible. Like the perfect mission completed. Like the perfect pass to the end zone.

Finally, she pulled back, staring into his eyes. Her breath tickled his throat. “You’re leaving, and I’m staying.”

It was funny at this moment that Scar wanted to blurt, I’ll stay. Just like that. Of course he didn’t, because she was right. He was just here temporarily. “You’re right. I’m leaving.”

Tugging free of him, she gave him a slow smile and turned and started walking out of the ocean. “I have to get to get cleaned up and get to class.”

He followed slowly, feeling like an idiot. Didn’t he have meetings this morning? Lunch with his brother later? But he was here, and he didn’t want this to end. He tromped after her faster, not quite catching up to her. “Wait, when—”

She hurried across the street and waved at him. “Call me for pillow talk.” Then she rushed up the stairs of her townhome and disappeared.