“Since my presence is such an issue, I’m amazed you came.”
“Like I said, I thought you’d be married by now. That would’ve solved everything.”
“Explain that to me again.”
“I’d see you with the love of your life and maybe even a couple of adorable kids. You’d be doing exactly what you should be doing and I—” She stopped herself but likely not soon enough.
“And what?”
“You get the gist.”
“If I would just play my expected role you can forget about me?”
Evidently honesty was her default setting tonight. “Yes.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” He pulled out his keys. “Given what you just said, I should withdraw my invitation.”
She gulped. “Please don’t.”
“I’m not that noble. But what I have in mind isn’t going to help your cause.”
Chapter Seventeen
Jordan’s quick intake of breath and the subtle quiver of her body as Luis handed her into his truck was exactly what he was going for. Hearing that she desperately wanted to forget him pricked his ego. He wanted to make sure she never did.
He wasn’t proud of that, but he might as well not kid himself. His intentions weren’t entirely honorable.
Comments like he’d just made were a double-edged sword, though. His blood ran hot as he rounded the truck and climbed into the cab.
Satisfaction was a thirty-minute drive away and they had to check on Fudge before they could get busy. His jeans pinched. Time to cool his jets.
He started the engine and switched off the music. “How’d you like the laser show?”
“Loved it. Fireworks are beautiful, but I’ve always hated the noise, even before I found out how it terrifies animals. Points to Mustang Valley for switching.”
“It was Dad’s idea. He lobbied hard for it.”
“After seeing the ranch today, I’m not surprised. Wish I’d met him.”
“Too bad I stood in the way of that.”
“That’s my fault, not yours. If I’d been braver….”
“Or if I hadn’t made a move on you in the first place.” As he drove away from town, he glanced in the rearview to check for lights from either the van or Adam’s truck. Nada.
“You think you started it?”
“Sure. I’m the one who knocked on your motel room door and asked you to dinner.” The road behind him remained empty. They were giving him a nice long head start.
“If you hadn’t, I would have knocked on yours. I wanted to continue the conversation we’d had at the end of the afternoon session. Things were just getting interesting.”
“So we would have had dinner one way or the other?”
“Yep. And once we found out we were both unattached….”
He chuckled. “I spent the rest of that meal trying to remember if we’d passed a convenience store on the way to the diner.”
“You were so cute, pretending you were going in for cigarettes. I couldn’t believe you were a smoker.”
