“Amy doesn’t know.”
“What?”
My face hardened defensively. “She’ll give up London, her dreams, she’ll feel like she has to come home and go back to a legal job to help pay. I need to protect her. She had a bad experience at her old law firm, with one sexist guy badmouthing her and another joining in, making it miserable for her.”
“Oh, I see. That’s awful.” She moved closer. “Tim, I’m on your side, and your motivations are sweet and protective, but doesn’t your sister have the right to know what’s going on?”
“Please don’t tell her anything.”
She pressed her chest with the heel of her hand. “Tim, this could seriously blow up on you.”
I reassured her by taking her hand. “I will tell her eventually, just not now. Like I said, I’ve got everything under control.”
“Well, thank you for telling me. I’m so sorry.”
We were quiet for a minute, and it felt like she knew I didn’t want to talk about Mum’s condition anymore. “What’s the update on that role Amy was going for? I wish I’d kept in better contact with her.”
Tabs had always been friendly with Mum and Ames, but I’d assumed she hadn’t paid them much attention in recent years. Not with the way we’d left things. Knowing she still felt this awkwardness wrenched at my chest.
“I just saw her and Fitzy when they visited,” I said. “She got the role. She’s also hoping for a part in a play, so everything is going so well for those guys. When Fitzy left working for me to follow her down there, I was worried, but that guy had his mind made up.”
A shadow crossed her face at my mention of Fitzy following Ames. Then she brightened again.
“Oh, that’s incredible for Ames. She is so determined.”
“Yeah, she’s a pistol, all right.”
We were at her house now, so I parked and looked over at her. The night was closing in, and the chill tried to cling to our clothes, but all I could smell and feel was her warmth. I didn’t want her to get out. I wanted to sit like this all night. Well, notsit, and not do thenot-sittingin this truck, but…
I wanted to spend more time just the two of us, no camera crews around. I wanted to ask her out…But we had two more weeks of working together, and I wasn’t sure the shoot was a good idea for a budding romance. We might be caught on camera doing something that was bad for our ability to win. If we were spotted being intimate, it might cause more negative comments online since women were clearly treated more harshly than men. And I wanted to protect this new us from the outside world. Plus, I wanted to get everything squared away with Mum’s new home and future, Amy’s future. I didn’t have time for this sort of complication. But not touching Tabithafor the next two weeks, not kissing her, not being allowed to take her hand or have her snuggle into me in the library—how could a man resist that temptation?
Warmth flooded my body at the thought of her soft skin under my fingers, her body burrowed into mine, having her where I could look after her. Everything about that picture felt right and inevitable, and now that I’d allowed myself to think about us being together, for it to be a possibility… Fuck it. Fuck sensible.
“Would you like to go out to dinner on Thursday night in London?” I asked. A much better location than this nosy town, even if I had to drive down after work and drive back early the next morning.
My stomach clenched waiting for her response. I scanned her face for her answer, but I could only find a forehead crease on her pretty features, as though she was wrapping her brain around my words.
She blinked at me, a bit dazed. “Oh. Will you be down there already?”
“No.”
She tipped her head to one side. “Will we be having dinner with other people?”
“No.”
She thought about that for a moment. Was she looking for a way to brush me off? But no, instead of being cautious, she seemed confused. “So, you’ll just be coming down to have dinner with me?”
“Yes. Tabitha—” I leaned closer with a small smile “—I’m asking you out on a date.”
Her face flicked through disbelief, then embarrassment that she hadn’t understood. Finally her lips curled into a small smile. “Oh. Yes. I see.” She shook herself and smiled wider. “I would love to go out to dinner with you. Thank you.”
“Good.” My stomach whooshed stupidly. “I’ll try to find somewhere near your work and meet around six thirty for a drink first? Sound good?”
“Perfect.”
My heart racing, I got out, opened her door, and reached for her. She clutched her clothes to her chest, placed her small, soft hand in mine, and held on tight as she got down from the truck. I had to use all my restraint not to grab her by the waist, swing her into me, and kiss her senseless, but I was worried the affection was too much, too soon, and also that her parents might walk out.
Her hand still in mine, she looked up with a cheeky smile. “Your robe,” she said. She released my hand and clutched at the lapels.
