I glanced up at him. He looked as excited as a five-year-old boy at snack time. Correction. He looked as guilty as a five-year-old boy who was about to steal a cookie.
He looked… adorable.
Maybe I was thinking about this situation all wrong. Yes, Cash wanted me to date him, but nobody said it had to be serious. A fun summer fling might be just what I needed to get through the next few months of dodging real estate and business deals with Grandmother. Because make no mistake about it, I had zero intention of purchasing anything but studio time.
“Saturday is actually a bad day for us,” I said, looking Cash squarely in the eyes. “I just found out that Cash and I will be volunteering all day long.”
Lightning shot through my body when I said the words. I now had a boyfriend. I had ahotboyfriend. I had a hot boyfriend who could cook.
My stomach dropped when Cash silently fist pumped. I couldn’t help but wonder why he looked so excited. Sure, guys had wanted to date me before, but none of them had seemed quite so intent on doing it as Cash. Surely, he wasn’t looking for anything deeper than having someone to share a few fun dates with. Passing the summer months with him on my arm was about as far as I saw our future going.
I couldn’t afford to go deep. My heart had been pasted, taped, and sewn back together more times than I could count. Cash might not have any plans to break my heart, but he had no way of knowing just how fragile it was. I kept that baby packed in bubble wrap and locked up in a safe where fresh heartache couldn’t touch it.
I only ever brought it out when I needed to access some of the residual pain of past breakups to inspire my music. There was nothing quite like heartbreak to bring out the best in a singer-songwriter.
Grandmother talked for a few more seconds, but my brain was on autopilot, which is a nice way of saying that I wasn’t listening to a word she said.
At some point the phone call ended. I’m not sure what either of us said. It was all a blur. Hopefully I didn’t call out another dopeyI love you.
I leaned against the kitchen counter for support. I was no longer single, and I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. My body felt all hot and tingly. But my head was spinning horror scenarios right and left.
“So, we’re official?” Cash asked.
“We’re… official.” The way his eyes lit up when I said the words sent a burst of heat through my veins. I had to change the subject. “Where are we volunteering next weekend?”
“The rescue. It’s bath day before their weekly Sunday adoption event.”
“Dogs? No. No way. Count me out.”
“You told Granny you’d be volunteering with me. No more lying. Remember?”
I was so freaked about the idea of spending the day surrounded by a pack of dogs that I didn’t even care he’d just called GrandmotherGrannyagain. “I don’t do dogs.”
“Then do the cats or the ferrets.”
“Bathe cats and ferrets? I never thought I’d say it, but the dogs don’t sound so bad.”
Cash’s rich infectious laughter filled the kitchen. I didn’t hate it. It was a sound I could really get used to hearing.
He stepped up to me and rested his hands on the counter on either side of my waist. I couldn’t have squirmed out of reach if I’d wanted to, and truth be told, a big part of me didn’t want to.
“Willow Lennox,” he said with his slow Texas drawl, “I am going to enjoy making an honest woman out of you.”
My breath hitched in my lungs. “You are the worst fake boyfriend ever!”
“That may be true. But I’m gonna be the bestrealboyfriend you’ve ever had. And that’s a fact.”
He was close. So close. I tilted my head to look up at him and got a front seat view of his full lips. My mouth went dry, and my heart pounded like it never had before. “We might be dating, but I’m not going to kiss you.”
“There you go again with that obsession with kissing me.” He inched closer to me until I could feel his hot breath on my lips. “I think we just might have to do something about that…”
My stomach was in delicious knots I didn’t understand.
He suddenly pulled back and winked at me. “Someday. We’ll do something about that, someday.”
He waltzed out of the kitchen and grabbed up a few more dishes from the table like he was the busboy king of the world. I stood there watching him and wondering why I felt disappointed about not getting a kiss that I hadn’t even wanted.
Or had I?
