Free The Sound of Consequence (Puget Sound ~ Alive With Love Book 1) by Susan Ann Wall

“How’d you know about the Jäger?” she asked.
    “It was still on your tongue when you kissed me at the club that night,” he said through that mind-numbing sexy smile.
    The vinyl moaned as Stacie leaned across the table. “Oh.” 
    Studying his lips and the sexy smile that seemed to be a permanent fixture on his face, she caught herself licking her own lips. Owen’s gaze dropped to her mouth, the tension growing between them. Stacie was ready for him to meet her halfway and dive into the kiss. Instead, he lifted his gaze and let out a long exhale. Taking that as a cue to get the getting to know you conversation started, she sat back and smiled.
    “So how does a Ragin’ Cajun end up in Seattle?” She figured it was smart to get the spotlight focused on him. There was nothing really exciting from her life to share. That’s why she was starting a new one.
    “I guess I could ask the same thing of a Swank Yank.” He caressed her hand gently with his fingers, sending butterflies spiraling low in her belly. The temperature in the room spiked about a hundred degrees.
    “Yes, but I asked first. Besides, what makes you think I’m a Yankee?” she asked just as Trudy and her obnoxious gum returned with their wine.
    “Thank you,” they both said as she dismissed herself. Owen pushed his glass aside, his attention never leaving Stacie. She had to reach across the hand he was fondling to pick up her glass.
    “The almost-but-not-quite Boston accent gives you away. You do a good job pronouncing your r’s most of the time.” His delicious lips curved into a shape begging to be kissed. “Occasionally it slips. Classic New England.”
    Stacie took a sip of wine. “Oh,” she said, putting the glass down and fiddling with the stem. She’d never had a heavy accent, and for years denied having one at all. She lived her entire life in Maine, except for the four years when she went to college in Boston, so no amount of denial would keep the New England from lingering on at least some of her words.
    Owen held up his glass in toast. “Here’s to the Ragin’ Cajun and Swank Yank,” he said.
    Stacie raised her glass to his until they clinked lightly. “Che-ahs” she said, playing up the New England drawl.
    Owen gave his wine a sniff and took a long pull from the glass. “Not bad for the house,” he said.
    “You’re avoiding the conversation,” she said. Though if he wasn’t interested in talking, they could skip this formality, head back to his place, and get down to business.
    “I came to Seattle to start a new life,” he said, never losing eye contact with her. “I was in the army, ten years. Then I got out and moved here.”
    Stacie found it interesting that he too was starting a new life. The army sounded fascinating. Even though some of her students had joined the military after graduating, a few coming back to visit during their leave, she’d never known anyone who had been in longer than a few years.
    “I had been stationed at Norfolk Naval Station for a special assignment when I first enlisted and I met my buddy Bryan. He was in the navy at the time. Well, still is. That was about eight years ago. We stayed friends, even after I left Norfolk. He’s stationed here at Bremerton and invited me out to stay with him after I was discharged, hooked me up with a job and once I was on my feet again, I bought the condo. I work three shifts a week, twelve hours, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Some weeks I pick up extra shifts.” Owen picked up his glass and took another drink.
    This was great. All logistics. That was a cue she could follow until adequate time had passed and she could suggest they had back to his place for less talk and more action. “What do you do in Bremerton?”
    “I’m a security systems analyst.”
    Like she knew what that was. He laughed a little, obviously reading the ignorance in her expression.
    “I basically work with software. A lot of the software used at the Naval Station is