“So, what do we think that cashier’s story is?” I pull the kitten from my pocket and buckle my seatbelt. “Scorned by a cowboy, definitely. Or was it her little brother whose wrist you sprained?”
Air cuts across his teeth with a quick inhale. “I might’ve left halfway through our first date.”
My heart flip flops. Gripping the belt strapped across my chest, I turn to him.
“First date?Did you pick her up during her spare block and go to the corner store to get a slushy? Or go watch a high school football game?”
“I’m already the guy who ditched the pastor’s daughter halfway through our date,andI accidentally hurt some other kid. Please don’t say that shit so loud. You’ll make people think I’m a predator.”
There’s something hot and turbid and clenching in my stomach. For once, I shut up. My palm drags down the kitten’s back, a little rougher than I intended. And when I steal a glance over at Lucas, I realize how fucked I am.
I’m jealous.
I’mjealous?!
Jealous of him going on a crappy date—so crappy he left halfway through—with a girl who looks like she still has a curfew.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
I lick my suddenly chapped lips and exhale a little louder than I mean to. No doubt it comes off as pouty, but I’m praying he reads it as disgust. A way more understandable reaction.
“It was ablinddate, for the record.” He tosses a hand onto my headrest and twists in his seat to back us out of the parking spot. “My realtor, Margaret, wouldn’t stop trying to set me up on dates after I moved to town, so I finally agreed to go. Jenna, the cashier, wastwentyat the time—in case the FBI are listening in on this conversation. Nothing illegal, but the date was awful.”
“So bad she’s giving you the death glare in the grocery store.”
“I don’t know why. I left early because she was obnoxiously hung up on her ex.”
“Now she wants you, because she saw us together. Us girls tend to want guys we can’t have,” I say, unwrapping a piece of gum in hopes it’ll stop the tension headache that all this jaw clenching is bound to induce.
His eyes saunter down my body, too slow for somebody who’s driving. “Do you want that?”
I gulp. “I mean… yeah.”
If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be setting myself up for heartache by spending all week with him. One night six months ago left me comparing every guy I’ve met since then to Lucas. How ruined will I be after this?
“Damn. Ruthless to say you want a different guy while I’mright here.” He slaps the leather truck seat next to his thigh to punctuate the last two words, shaking his head with a funny look.
“Your body might be here, but I don’t know where the hell your brain’s gone. What are you talking about?”
“You want what you can’t have. You can have me. I’m right here, but now you’re saying you don’t want that.”
I laugh awkwardly, assessing the situation to see how to play this. Is he seriously hurt? Or just dicking around?Fuck, I can’t tell because he’s wearing his trademarked cocky look with his arrogant jawline, suckable lips, and enviable eyelashes.
“But Ican’thave you,” I practically shout. The chill girl vibes have been compromised.Fuck.“I mean… I can for a few days, but we turn into pumpkins or whatever when the clock strikes midnight on Boxing Day.”
“Pumpkins?”
“Or snowmen. Cinderella but make it Christmas-y.” I flail my hands, clearly losing any semblance of composure. “Anyway, mycomment doesn’t pertain to you. I want a fictional man from one of my favourite books to sweep me off my feet—thatis what I meant when I said I want a man I can’t have.”
Yeah, sure, Eira.I’m mentally rolling my eyes at myself.
“Right. Duh.” His fingers drum on the steering wheel. “My comment was stupid. Ignore that.”
Ignore his comment? As if.
You can have me. I’m right here.Thanks to those words, I’m going to require a few business days to loosen whatever’s cinching around my heart like a corset.
Chapter eleven
