“To kiss me,” Rohan told her with a smirk.
“So, either way, really, you win,” Jalen said.
He took a step closer to her and ran one of his knuckles down her neck. “Of course.”
“I guess it’s a bet then.”
They played through the twelve-hole course, and by the end, Jalen was teasing Rohan about his loss. Though she was more than sure he might have let her win.
She watched as he stepped towards her. He’d dropped his putter, taking her face between his hands. He leaned in, stopping just short. “I guess that means I owe you a kiss.”
Before she could respond, he closed the gap between them, his lips capturing hers. His lips were soft, but Jalen hadn’t expected them to be anything less. It was actually the first thing she thought about when she’d seen him. How soft his plush, pink lips looked.
Jalen sighed contentedly into the kiss as he deepened it. Wondering why she hadn’t kissed this man sooner as her body wanted to melt into his. He gave her a final kiss and pulled away.
“We should bet like that more often,” she told him.
“I agree with you. Though you could just tell me when you want me to kiss you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
The two headed back to turn in their balls and putters. Jalen looked down at her watch and saw that it was almost three o’clock. They had actually made better time than she thought they would, even with her being a bit late.
Rohan walked her to her car, opening the door for her.
“Thank you for working around my schedule,” she told him. “I had fun.”
“I’ll work around your schedule anytime, gorgeous.”
She rose on her tiptoes, and he took the hint and leaned down to kiss her. She was sure that she’d never tire of kissing him. When they pulled apart, she told him she would talk to him later and slid into her car.
Backing out of her spot, Jalen headed towards the twins’ school since they would get out first. She’d placed chicken and dumplings in the slow cooker before she had left for her date with Rohan. That way, it was one less thing Kodi had to worry about while she was in class. She liked to make her younger sister’s babysitting nights as simple as possible.
????????????
Rohan watched as Jalen pulled off before walking to his own car and getting in. He wasn’t planning on heading back to work. Instead, he called his brother and told him he would pick up Alynn from school. He figured he’d surprise her and take her to get ice cream.
Pulling up at his niece’s school, he waited in the pickup line. He still had about five minutes before the kids would be let out. He listened to music, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.
The bell rang, and he looked over as the children started exiting the building. After several minutes, he saw Alynn coming out with a little girl who had a broken arm. Getting out of the car, he went to the passenger side so she could see him. While she knew each of their cars, his, his mother’s, and her father’s, they still didn’t want her to mistake one and get into the wrong vehicle.
He watched as she walked the little girl over to an elderly woman who smiled at both of them. She gave Alynn a little pat on the head as she took what Rohan assumed was the other little girl’s backpack from her.
Once they’d finished their conversation, he watched as his niece looked around. When she saw him, she smiled and approached him.
“Hey, Uncle Rohan,” she stated, giving him a hug.
“Hey, Shrimp,” he responded, returning her hug.
When they pulled apart, he opened the back door for her. When she settled with her seatbelt on, he closed the door and went to the driver’s side.
“How was school?” he questioned.
“It was good. We learned a new song in Spanish today,” she told him. “Do you want to hear it?”
“Of course I want to hear it.”
For the next ten minutes, he listened to her sing. He knew that the song wasn’t that long, and that she had simply sung it over and over. She was just starting on the fourth round of the song when they pulled up to an ice cream parlor.
