He grinned, the mud cracking on his upper lip. The poor man. “Absolutely. I do have to go to an event in Bartlett, though.”
She raised her brows. “Event? I didn’t know Bartlett had such civilized things as events.”
“It’s tomorrow night. It’s…” He hesitated, chewing on the side of his lip. “…a formal dinner fundraiser thing. A man I treated the other day and his wife invited me.”
Zane at a formal event in a suit and tie? The thought was enough to make her jealous of any and all who would be attending.
“Will you come with me?” he asked.
“You want me to go? As your date?”
He stood and opened and closed his hands, looking at them with a question in his eyes. “If I weren’t so dirty, I’d pull you close and let you know just how much I do want you to come with me as my date.”
She gasped and stepped closer to him, easing herself next to him so that her hips and legs ran the length of his. Wrapping a hand around the back of his neck, a surge of wonder overtook her.
“Or I can cancel and we could spend some time together...just you and me.” His eyes blazed with heat.
“You gave them your word.” She pressed a kiss to his lips, and to be fair, it did taste slightly of dirt. But that didn’t matter. She wanted this man.
“I’ll be telling them no now,” he whispered faintly as he tried to stand from the tailgate and stumbled a bit at the force of her kiss.
She pressed a finger to his lips. “No. You should go.”
“And you can come with me?” His gaze swept over her, and he rubbed his thumb and forefinger on a lock of her hair.
She took a step back from him. “I really wish I could,” she said, taking another step back, but her gaze stayed on his. She brushed off the front of her, glancing down to see the mud that had imprinted on her clothes from their close proximity. Good. It was proof of where she’d been, like he’d branded her.
“But I’m busy all day. It’s that school gala I’ve been helping with. It will take up pretty much the entire day. But I’ll see you soon.”
She tilted her head to one side, memorizing this electricity between them, this look on his face that was pure desire mixed with care for her.
Something shifted, though, his eyes growing wide for a split second. “This is the date with the doctor.” It was a statement, not a question, and there was a seriousness to his tone.
“It’s not a date,” she protested. Her friends had jumped to conclusions.
He swallowed hard. “So now you’re messing with the semantics of it all?”
“I’m not messing with anything. I have to help with the food and décor all day, and then I’ll go to the event that night. But notwithDallin Conforth. He’s asked for my help. And, to be honest,he asked me to join him at a tasting the other night, but I told him I couldn’t.” Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I’m really glad I didn’t go.”
“The other night? In the middle of the road?”
She nodded. “KNO got the wrong idea. It’s not a date tomorrow. Just something I have to do for school.”
Skepticism crossed his face before he rearranged it into a smile.
She said goodbye and climbed into Lorelei’s car, giving him a quick wave.
Chapter 19
Zane drove to the event in Bartlett Saturday evening, all the while wishing he wasn’t going. His suit felt tight against his middle, and the air was unseasonably hot. He should have canceled.
But then what would he have done? Sat at home, trying not to think about Mabel with the good ol’ doc? Trying not to wonder why she didn’t ask Zane to go. Not that he could have gone since the events were on the same night.
And Conforth wasn’t just a doctor, he was an anesthesiologist. While Zane himself was a veterinarian school dropout.
If that thought didn’t deflate him, he didn’t know what would.
He arrived in town, realizing that in the dark, Bartlett wasn’t half bad. Of course, its main street was the ugly stepsister to Silver Plum’s award-winning style. But it was better than he usually gave it credit for.
