Extreme Honor by Piper J. Drake Page B

Philly cheesesteak anywhere near Philadelphia.”
    Cruz raised an eyebrow. “Your work doesn’t bring you to Pennsylvania very often?”
    She shook her head. “I’m mostly on the West Coast. Seattle, Portland, several cities in California.”
    She had the sandwich up and had turned her head to the side, trying to fit the entire end in her mouth. As long as they were being honest, Cruz really enjoyed watching her try. How much a lady could fit into her mouth was always an interesting question.
    And he was definitely going to hell for that thought.
    Then her eyes shuttered closed as she had her first bite and chewed. “Mmm.”
    His pants suddenly got a hell of a lot tighter. “Good?”
    “Oh yeah.” She chewed some more, savoring. “That is really good.”
    “Have some cheese fries.” He pushed the carton over to her and got up to get them each a glass of water. She looked like she was about to inhale the cheesesteak and he wanted to be sure she had something to wash it all down before she choked.
    He also needed time to get his stupid grin under control because watching her enjoy a simple sandwich was incredibly entertaining. In all sorts of ways.
    “What kind of cheese is this?” Lyn asked. He glanced back to see her studying the end of a coated fry before popping it into her mouth.
    Bad, bad pictures flashed through his head. Jesus .
    “Cheez Whiz.” Not his favorite, but then Rojas had been the one to actually go for the food. “It’s one of the favorites on-site.”
    “One of?” she asked even as she took another bite.
    Even eating messy, she was cute. Hot. Both.
    He returned to the table with glasses of water and sat down again. “Everyone has their taste. I like my cheesesteaks better with real provolone.”
    “Hmm.” Another bite and a very thoughtful look of concentration as she pondered. “It wouldn’t go over the fries as easily.”
    He nodded. “True. I still like the fries better with Cheez Whiz.”
    She sighed, studying her now half a sandwich. “It’s too bad this is so very bad for us.”
    “Doesn’t hurt to enjoy once in a while.” Life could be short. Painfully so. Living for the moment helped. This was fun, much improved from her indirect attitude earlier. “If you like it that much, we’ll have to make sure to take you into Philly and have you order your own at one of the classic places for them.”
    She chewed some more, swallowed, and took a sip of water. “Aren’t the best places Pat’s and Geno’s?”
    He shrugged. “Probably the ones you hear about most often. There’s Jim’s on South Street too. A lot of places in Philly do a good cheesesteak. I like Tony Luke’s on Oregon Ave.”
    The cheesesteak in her hands had more of her attention than his words did. No issue there. He liked a woman with her priorities straight.
    There was a lot to like about Lyn Jones from what he’d seen over the last day, and he’d rather focus on the positive. The way she could enjoy a good sandwich every bit as much as a swanky meal in an expensive establishment was high up on his list of good things about her so far.
    “You think Atlas would do well on a socialization walk through the city?” She was back to the fries and looking at him with a clear, crystal green gaze. He decided not to tell her she had cheese on the corner of her mouth, or that he wanted to kiss it off.
    “Maybe not today, but not out of the question later this week if he keeps improving.” He glanced at the dog, who was steadfast in trying to ignore them. Normally he didn’t eat in front of the dogs. No need to tease them with what they couldn’t have. But it didn’t hurt their training to have temptation around them sometimes. “I was thinking maybe I’d take you out to dinner and give him the night off.”
    She swallowed. Hard. “Dinner. Like a date?”
    Ah. Maybe not . “That was the idea. Maybe I read things wrong but I thought we had a moment back there.”
    “Oh.” Her fair cheeks flushed pink.