I leaned against the door of my car and crossed my arms over my chest. “When’s the wedding?”
“Second Saturday in December.”
So she’d only be around two more months. Probably for the best. I found her too intriguing. “Where do you want to travel?”
Her eyes lit up. “Everywhere! The Netherlands, Peru, China, Ireland, Scotland.” She laughed. “You name the place and I want to go there.”
Damn. I wanted to take all that energy and excitement to bed with me. “You’ll get to all those places, Red, if you’re determined to make it happen.” I could see that it wasn’t just idle talk, that she would live out her dream.
“I know. It’s just seems like it’s taken forever to save the money I need, but I’m almost there.” She eyed her car. “I’ve thought about selling my Mustang, but there’s no way I can bring myself to sell Lady.”
“You named your car?” This girl kept making me smile, and even though I was rusty at it, it felt good.
“You didn’t?”
“Didn’t know I was supposed to. How about Gaga? Then together we’d have Lady Gaga.” I loved how she laughed—deep, throaty, and sexy.
“Please don’t name your car Gaga.”
“Pity. I was rather liking it.” She took a few steps toward her car, and I wanted to ask her to come home with me, help keep my ghost away.
“Well, it’s getting late. I guess I should head home.”
Did guess mean she really didn’t want to leave? I was out of practice and didn’t like being unsure of myself. Put me in a roomful of misbehaving cops and I was confident I could whip them into shape, but I was at a loss as to how to go about seducing one slip of a woman.
“Good night, Dylan.”
There was no one else walking by, and damn if I was going to let her go without at least a kiss. I followed her to her car, opening the door for her.
“I think I should kiss my new girlfriend good night.”
A wide grin split her face. “You mean pretend girlfriend. Thank you, by the way.”
“You’re welcome.” I did some fast thinking. She fascinated me, and I wanted to get to know her. “You know, it might not be a bad idea for us to continue the ruse for a while. Make sure he doesn’t doubt that you’re no longer available.”
“After tonight he’s probably given up.”
“Maybe, but we can’t be sure.” Was I pushing too hard?
“True, and he is stubborn. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to be seen together now and then.”
I hoped for more than now and then, but it was a start. “Can I kiss mypretendgirlfriend good night?”
“Will it be a pretend kiss?”
“Red, when I kiss you, there will be no pretending about it.” I’d asked her twice now, and she’d evaded answering, which I took as her answer. I hid my disappointment, smiled at her, and said, “Good night, Jenny.”
“Wait,” she said when I stepped away.
“Hmm?” I paused, waiting for her to speak.
She grinned, then tapped her lips with her finger. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
“Am I? What’s that?” After her evasion, I wanted her to say it, to ask for a kiss.
“My kiss.”
“Ah, that.” I walked back to her, put my hands on the roof of her car, caging her between my arms, and lowered my face until our mouths were only inches apart. “To set the record straight, this kiss is going to be real.”
