Chapter 7
Jace was starting to believe that Kip had been right about his advice. Not the advice about dinner, rather the suggestion that he tell Amy why he was here from the get-go. Which sucked, considering he hadn’t taken the advice. Jace liked Amy Nelson.Reallyliked her. They’d had a perfect date so far. Dinner had been filled with genuine laughter, engaging conversation, and a whole lot of chemistry.
Chemistry he shouldn’t explore until he told her about why he’d come.
Their time at the orchard had offered more of the same. Grazing each other’s arms, wrists, and fingers as they picked berries and apples. Holding long, lash-batting (by her, not him) glances during the wine tasting. Even now as they lay sprawled over a thick blanket on the quiet hillside, the chemistry was sizzling. The sky— alive with the colorful splendor of sunset — offered the perfect view. A strip of red and pink along the horizon, accented by the silhouette of a hundred perfectly lined trees. The colors fused into the deep, dark blue overhead so gracefully it was hard to decipher where one color ended and another began.
But the best part about the sunset was the way it touched Amy’s skin, causing it to glow. And her eyes—those deep, amber wonders had drawn him in years ago, and their power hadn’t faded in the least.
Jace pondered the dreaded detail he had yet to unveil. He’d planned to ease into the topic when talk of his current employment came up. Something he figured would happen at the beginning of their date. So far they’d covered about everythingbut.
Of course, that might be his fault. Jace had caught himself bringing up new topics to purposefully lead away from the present, mainly because he wasn’t sure how to broach the undesirable subject:Hey, baby, thanks for going out with me. Did I mention that your name is becoming a hot topic on a human trafficking site?
He pushed the thought aside and sucked in a deep breath of fresh, fruit-scented air.Just enjoy the night with her, Jace. You’ll bring it up later.
“You want to know what I always thought?” Amy asked, breaking into his musings.
The question ignited a spark of intrigue. He glanced over, caught sight of Amy’s gorgeous Mona Lisa grin.Of course,he wanted to say. Jace wanted to know about everything that was going through that mind of hers. “What?”
“I always thought that, whichever woman ended up with you, she’d be the most cursed woman alive.” She laughed. “Or any of the Burns brothers for that matter.”
“Oh yeah?” She’d really started to warm up to him, hadn’t she? Especially since… since thewine tasting!Jace shrugged from his back onto his side with a grunt. “Why’s that?”
The dark pupils of Amy’s brown eyes were dilated. She rubbed her nose with her hand. “They’d be cursed, because they’d be with men who were…ridiculouslyattractive, for one.” She laughed loudly. “Like, movie star charisma and good looks.” She grinned wide, released an audible sigh, and kept those baby browns fixed on him.
“Huh,” he managed.
Yep.The wine had definitely affected her. Forget the fact that they’d sampled a measly two ounces of three different wines; she was feeling it. Not drunk, of course, but buzzed.Lightweight.
“Of course, I noticed other things too. One time I watched you rip into Belder for starting crap with a group of scrawny freshmen in the hallway. You told him you’d kick his butt if he laid a hand on even one of them. Which was funny because you were friends with Belder. I’ve never forgotten that.”
She nudged in a bit closer, then dropped her gaze to his mouth.
Jace’s pulse pounded like the base of a rock song as his eyes drifted to that pretty pout in return.
That sweet scent of her toyed with his senses as he pulled in a breath. Dang, she was tempting. Those beautiful, innocent eyes batting flirtatiously. Her breath, a blend of bottled wine and the fresh berries they’d picked and brought along with them.
She was expecting a kiss; it was obvious. And heaven help him, he wanted that kiss more than anything.
“And while we’re admitting things,” she said, “I should tell you that I gotallof your messages. You know, on Mybook.”
Jace lifted a brow. “Allof them?”
She giggled, brought her mouth to the side of his neck, and sighed once more. “All of them.”
Whoa.Jace gulped. The feel of her lips on his skin, especially along the sensitive curve of his neck, set him ablaze. But the dark, haunting topic was working its way in too, attempting to snuff out the flame.
Her fingers curved around his bicep, reminding him of the wine cellar. For years he’d dreamt of how that kiss might have gone, and now she was offering a second chance.
Messages, Jace. Wake up!If she gotallof his messages, did that mean she already knew about his job assignment? He’d sat down to write Amy after talking with Sutton last night, and in one of the drafts Jace had mentioned his real reason for reaching out. He just couldn’t remember if he’d ever hitsendon that one…
The idea was enough to snap him out of the spell. He pulled back the slightest bit to look at her. “What messages?”
“You erased them after you sent them, but they went to my email so I was still able to read them.”
His heart thundered a new sort of beat. “I can’t even remember what I wrote in the other ones,” he admitted, hoping it’d prompt her to reveal more.
“It was nothing really. Just like,” she cleared her throat, “’hey, what’s up?’ Or, ‘I’ve been wondering how you’re doing.’ Stuff like that.”
