“I might not finish for several days.”
He shook his head. “You were hooked. You’ll finish it by tomorrow if not sooner.”
“Not necessarily.” But he was right. Again. “Even if I finish it tomorrow, how can I justify going to your cabin for dinner?”
“Because we won’t play it like that. You just say you want Granny to check the authenticity of an Irish character in a manuscript you’re reading and all you have is the hard copy, which is the absolute truth.”
“That works. In fact, I don’t have to read your book in secret, do I? I can say it’s a submission, which it is.”
“Just don’t let anybody see my name on it.”
“I can manage that.”
“So the manuscript gets you over to my place, and then you text your folks to say Granny invited you to dinner.”
“What if they need the truck?”
“Don’t take it. I work eleven to five tomorrow. I’ll pick you up on my way home.”
“It’s not on your way home.”
“I’ll make a small detour. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do. The point is, we’ll have dinner, she’ll go to bed and we can decide if we want to go to bed, too.”
Her heart started playing the bongos. “That’s crazy.”
“Might be crazy good.”
She didn’t doubt it. Did she dare indulge herself for a couple of hours? “I can’t stay the night.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’ll take you back long before your parents wake up. No one has to know except Granny, and even she won’t know for sure.”
“You could only pull that trick once.”
“I know.”
“So that’ll be it. One and done.”
“That depends on whether I’ve sufficiently scratched your itch. If I have, we’ll call it quits. If I haven’t, I’ll dream up another scenario. Are you in?”
Anticipation made her shaky. “I’ll think about it.”
“You’re in.”
“I didn’t say that!”
His smile widened. “No, but your eyes did.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Rance wanted to kiss Lani again, but he’d discovered that kissing made him desperate for something he couldn’t have right now. “We should head back.” He picked up the mug lying in the snow. “I’ll take yours.”
“Tell Granny I loved her hot chocolate.”
“I will.” He walked toward the sleigh and she fell into step beside him. “There’s more if you want some before we leave.”
“I’d rather just go. I want to get back to your book.”
“Excellent news.” Shoving the mugs into the backpack, he zipped it. “I guess that means you don’t want to drive, either.”
