“Then I guess we have the same expectations,” he said dryly. “It will just be sex. No attachments. No strings. No emotions.”
She nodded briefly and held out a hand. “No attachments, strings, or emotions.”
He took her hand to seal the deal. As soon as he touched her, heat rolled through him like a hot prairie wildfire. She seemed to be experiencing the same reaction. Her face flushed and her pupils dilated. His name came out of her lips in a soft, needy whisper.
“Cal.”
He wanted to answer that need. He wanted to pull her over the table and hungrily kiss all the cotton candy pink right off those parted lips. Butthat would set the town gossips to talking. So he released her hand and sat back in the booth.
“Damn,” he breathed.
“Damn,” she echoed him.
He grinned. “I didn’t think Applegates cussed.”
“We cuss. But only in private.”
He winked. “What else do you do in private?”
She hesitated for a moment before answering. “Have secret affairs.”
He laughed and she joined in. She had a nice laugh, musical and lilting. It made him want to touch her again. Instead, he sobered and spoke softly. “Meet me tonight.”
Her smile faded. “Tonight?”
He hadn’t planned to choose tonight for their first rendezvous. But after being with her, he couldn’t wait. “Yes. I need to see you tonight.”
She hesitated for a moment and glanced around. But no one was watching them. Not even Luanne Riddell, who was sitting with Nathan and the rest of her family a couple of booths down. It was like people didn’t even consider that anything gossip-worthy could be going on between them.
Little did they know.
“Where?” Jolene asked.
He’d given a lot of thought to the question and had finally come up with a perfect answer. “The pink house.”
Jolene’s eyes widened. “Emma’s pink house?”
He nodded. “I told Boone that I would help him fix the place up before he puts it on the market. I got a spare key from him this morning and stopped by to check it out. It’s mostly empty. Butthere’s a bed in the guest room.” When she hesitated, he figured she didn’t like the idea. “If you’d rather, we could get a hotel in Abilene. I just figured the pink house would be more convenient.”
“No. The pink house is fine. But won’t people notice our cars parked in front?”
“You can park yours one street over and come in the back door. If they see mine, they’ll just think I’m working on the house.”
She nodded. “What time?”
That was a trickier question. He hadn’t yet figured out how to get away from Cheyenne. If he mentioned he was going to work on the pink house, she’d want to come along and help him . . . and probably spend the entire time trying to talk him into buying the house.
“I’m not sure when I can get away,” he said. “Can I text you?”
“Of course.” Jolene glanced at the expensive-looking watch on her wrist. “I’d better get back to work.” She slid out of the booth, and he quickly followed. They stood there awkwardly.
“Then I guess I’ll see you tonight,” he said.
“Tonight.” She started to leave, but then stopped and turned back to him. “I’m assuming you’ll bring . . .” Her cheeks flamed almost as red as her hair and he figured he knew what she was talking about.
“I’ll take care of it,” he said.
“Thank you, Mr. Daily.” It was funny, but she only seemed to remember to call him Cal when he was touching her. She turned and walked out of the soda fountain. Once she was gone,he thought about heading into the pharmacy to buy some condoms. But he couldn’t very well do that if he wanted to keep their affair secret. So he decided to make a quick trip into Abilene.
