Page 41 of Rescued Heart

She lifted her chin. “Is it Kenneth?”

“No.”

“Michael?”

The light turned yellow, and he finally hit the gas. “Nope.”

“Edward…Alexander?”

He rolled his eyes. “How did we even get on my middle name?”

She sat up straight. “You asked to know if you hurt my feelings, and I want to know your middle name. Thought we were making another deal. Seems to be the way we spend our time together.”

Eddie still hadn’t decided if that was a good or a bad thing. “You haven’t guessed it. However, I won’t be telling you my middle name.”

A frown pulled her brows low. Somehow, she looked cuter irritated than with her perfected fake smile.

He refocused on the road where he was supposed to be looking.

She shifted closer to him. “You’re stuck with me for a while. We might as well get to know each other. I’ll even throw in my actual middle name.”

The next stop sign seemed to come out of nowhere, and he slammed on the brakes. “I don’t like my middle name.”

She threw up her hands. “Who really does? Here, I’ll go first. Mine’s Bianca P?—”

“Bianca, stop.” His fingers squeezed the steering wheel. “No one needs to know my middle name because I’m named after someone who doesn’t deserve to be talked about.”

She slid back toward the passenger-side door. “Sorry I asked, and no, you didn’t hurt my feelings earlier.” Bianca rushed out the words in one breath.

Earlier, perhaps not, but he sure had now.

He opened his mouth to apologize, but her growling stomach interrupted their silence.

She crossed her arms over her body. “Ignore that.”

He knew exactly what would fix his mistake. He made a U-turn. “That’s too bad. There’s a burger place on the way that may very well hold the world’s fastest drive-thru record.”

Bianca drummed her fingernails on the passenger-side door. “Do they have milkshakes?”

Eddie made a left at the junction that would take them by the mom-and-pop restaurant called Tator Lane. “Had a marshmallow one from there last week.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Marshmallow?”

Eddie turned up the radio. “Sometimes the least expected things make the best surprises.”

Only the music in the cab hummed above the engine. Eddie glanced over at her to see her blinking at him.

“You’re right.” Bianca held his gaze. “Not all unexpected things are bad.”

Kind of like the actress beside him.

She was strong. Filled with humor, and surprisingly good with kids.

But she couldn’t be the girl for him.

As if she knew, she cleared her throat. “My friend Frances, she makes the best apple-pie shakes. Though I’d never eat another one if I could have her with me in Last Chance County. But she loves her job as much as I loved mine.”

Eddie flipped down his visor. “Loved? As in you don’t anymore?”

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