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Yeah. I can do that.

The words rose almost all the way to his mouth. Mac took another drink instead.

They ate in comfortable silence for a while. Too soon, they were down to the last slices and the server offered to box them up. He brought the box and the folder at the same time. Jodie reached for the folder, but Mac got there first.

“Oh, no. We discussed this,” she said.

“We argued about it.”

“And I’m paying.”

“You’re not. I already did.” Mac slid his card out of the folder and tucked it into his wallet.

Jodie’s eyes went wide. “What? How? When?”

“When he brought me my second beer and I reached for it, I passed him my card.”

She stared at him. “That is deeply underhanded.”

“I prefer resourceful.”

She was still laughing when they stepped outside. Dusk had settled over Lyons, the heat of the day finally giving way to cooler air rolling down from the mountains. Music still drifted from the patio behind them, softened by conversation and the scrape of chairs across concrete.

Jodie handed him the pizza box while she navigated the step down to the lot, then took it back without argument once they reached level pavement.

Progress.

Their vehicles were parked side by side, but neither of them seemed in much of a hurry to get into them. Mac shoved his hands into his pockets before he could do anything stupid with them. He’d spent two hours watching Jodie laugh, listening to her talk about horses and rodeo and the life she might have had, and trying very hard not to stare every time she licked pizza sauce from her thumb.

He wanted another date. A real one.

At Lavender. Ask her now, dumbass.

Before he managed it, Jodie smiled up at him. “Thank you. Even though you’re a dirty, rotten check thief.”

“You’re welcome.”

Her smile softened. Mac’s pulse kicked up. She was close enough that he could smell those cactus flowers again, mixed with the warm salt of her skin, close enough that if he leaned down⁠—

Her gaze flicked to his mouth. Mac stopped breathing. She looked back up, and the brightness in her eyes pulled him half a step closer before common sense caught up.

He could kiss her.

God, he wanted to kiss her.

Instead, because apparently he had developed an impressive talent for ruining his own life, Mac said, “I’ve been thinking about Sand Wash. With Arden out, you said they’ll be short-handed. I know horses. I can drive rough country.” He shrugged. “I could volunteer.”

“Oh. Um.” She paused.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“That wasn’t nothing.”

Jodie adjusted the pizza box against her hip. “It’s just that we’ll probably be camping out at Sand Wash.”

“And?”