Dinner? Who could think about dinner? He’d asked her out. There was no room for dinner in her stomach.
“I’m not super hungry, but I wouldn’t turn down an iced tea from wherever you want to go.”
Gil frowned. “Why aren’t you hungry? You haven’t eaten in hours.”
“I don’t know. If I get hungry later, we have a ton of food in the fridge because you cook for ten and not two.”
He laughed. “You don’t have as much left over as you think you do. I cook for the people who are raiding your fridge at two a.m. They come hungry.”
“Really?”
“I’ve spoiled them. I cook, bring in the leftovers, and they eat them for lunches. That’s when they don’t show up at my house for dinner. Zane and Luke do that a lot. Now I’m stuck with them. You should see my grocery bill.”
He pulled up to a drive-through, ordered a Coke for himself and a half-cut tea for her, then pulled back onto the highway. “Why didn’t you get anything?”
“I’ll wait and eat with you.” He reached for her hand again and settled it back against his thigh. “You can have this hand when you need to take a drink, as long as you give it back when you’re done.”
“Deal.”
They drove around for another ten minutes. Gil’s phone rang, and he answered it through the Bluetooth. “Dixon.”
“Where are you?” Zane did not sound happy.
Gil’s entire body went stiff. “Ten minutes from Ivy’s. Why?”
“Make it five.”
Click.
“Did he hang up on you?”
“Yeah.” Gil didn’t release her hand, but he did increase his speed.
“Should I be worried?”
“I wish I could say no, Buttercup.”
Lord, please let my house still be standing when I get there.
Seven minutes later, they pulled into her driveway. Zane stood in front of her open garage door, hands on his hips, giving his best impression of the grumpy cat. Tessa stood beside him, and it would have been obvious to someone watching from a high-altitude satellite feed that she was furious.
“Crap.” Gil put the car in park and turned to her. “Will you give me one minute to talk to Zane and Tessa before you get out of the car? Please?”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what they had to say, so she nodded.
He pulled their linked hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss on her knuckles. “Be right back.”
He climbed out and jogged to the garage. Zane’s gaze landed on hers, and he held her eyes. She could be wrong, but she sensed he was trying to share some of his strength with her, and while she appreciated it, it also scared her.
They talked for less than twenty seconds before Gil dropped his head, shook it slowly, and came to her side of the car. He opened her door. She swung her legs out, but before she could stand, he knelt beside her.
Ivy braced herself for whatever was coming. “Tell me.”
“It’s bad.”
“I guessed that by the way Zane is standing in the driveway like some kind of avenging angel and Tessa looks like she could make cement catch fire with her gaze.”
“Well, your avenging angel and human flamethrower got here after the police checked the perimeter. The police left, and they decided to peek in the windows.”
