But they still had things to settle between them. He broke the kiss, taking dark satisfaction in her groan of protest as he lifted his mouth from hers. “You don’t want your family to get their hopes up about what?”
She gazed at him, her mouth swollen from his kiss, her eyes dreamy and soft. “That I might, um, fall for a local man and, you know, move back home.”
He couldn’t seem to stop touching her. With the tips of his fingers, he combed the hair back from her temple and asked gently, “I can’t believe that they’re going to get their hopes up because I take you out to dinner. We all have to eat. Sometimes men and women eat together in a restaurant. It doesn’t have to be life changing. It’s only dinner. And your mom and your grandma and wise old Winona, they all seem like pretty sharp women to me. They’re not going to start planning the wedding just because you’re seen around town with me.”
She let out a little groan and rested her forehead against his chest. “You’re right. I know it.” And then she looked up to meet his eyes again. “But I’m not ready to go public with you.”
He dropped his arms from around her and stepped back off the blanket. “When, then? Whenwillyou be ready?”
“I can’t answer that. I...” She seemed to catch herself. And then she bit the corner of her lower lip and confessed, “Okay. That’s not so. I’m notevergoing to be ready. I can’t do that again. Not now, anyway. Maybe eventually...” She might have used the wordeventually, but he heard her real meaning in her voice. In this case,eventuallymeantnever going to happen.
“You can’t do what again?”
“Get stars in my eyes. Start thinking that...” Her voice trailed off. She sucked in a deep breath and said, “Jameson, I want to be with you, but it’s really not going anywhere beyond the end of August. I don’t want to have to talk to my family about how I like you a lot, but it’s only for now. I just want you. I want you and I think you want me and I’m willing to be with you for the summer—discreetly.”
“Discreetly. You mean in secret, sneaking around so no one will know.”
“Fine. Yes. If you want to put it that way.”
He wanted to agree to her terms. He wanted that so bad.
But he also wanted a chance for more.
How could he get more if she wouldn’t even say yes to dinner at DJ’s Deluxe? “No. That’s not good enough.” Dropping to a crouch, he swiftly rolled up the blanket. “Come on.” He rose and tucked the blanket under his arm. “I’ll take you home.”
Chapter Five
After Jameson dropped her off at the apartment and drove away without once glancing back, Van found Callie inside at the stove. She’d cued up her favorite country-and-western playlist and she bounced around to Haley Mae Campbell singing “Highway Honey.”
“Spaghetti and Italian sausage, anyone?” she asked between verses.
Van longed to grab her and hug her and cry on her shoulder. Instead, she put on a bright face and replied, “Let me wash my hands. I’ll cut up the salad.”
“I bought a bottle of red.”
“We are so livin’ large.”
“Do the honors and screw off the top? I like my wine to have a chance to breathe.”
Twenty minutes later, they sat down to eat.
Callie held up her juice glass of red. “A toast. To you and me and this elegant meal.” Van tapped her roomie’s glass with hers, and they both drank, after which Callie said, “Whatever it is, you should just tell me. We’ll eat our dinner and drink more wine and I will share with you all the wisdom of my twenty-five years.”
Van should have known her friend would sense her need to talk. She set down her glass. “It’s Jameson.”
Callie made a show of widening her big brown eyes. “Shocker.”
“As in you’renotshocked at all?”
“As in when he looks at you—fireworks. And when you look at him? Same. I’m just not getting why you don’t follow up on that.”
“Long story.”
“I understand.” Callie’s teasing tone had gentled. “A story of three players who broke your heart. And the boring guy you decided to settle for, who ended up dumping you, too.”
“Even when you say it kindly, that hurts.”
“Am I wrong?”
