Page 44 of The Huckleberry Bookshop

“I am sure you’d be fun, but your lack of respect at work isn’t exactly something I look for in a potential boyfriend.”

“Right.” He contemplated how to fix that, while his brain roared the word boyfriend in his ears. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Sorry isn’t enough.”

“I know,” he said in a low voice. “I do follow your diet, though.”

“You cook?” She glanced over at him, her eyes unreadable.

“Yeah.”

“So being cool is more important than showing me respect?”

“No, and the way I’ve treated you is unforgivable and awful,” he admitted, feeling about as big as an ant.

She sighed. “Yeah.”

They rode in silence for a few minutes. Finally, she said, “We want different things.”

“Why? What do you want?”

She shrugged, a shadow crossing her face.

“Love?” he suggested.

“You don’t?” Her tone hinted at disapproval. “No, you probably want action and adventure. Something short-lived.”

“I really do have an excellent business manager, don’t I?” He tried for a smile and she rolled her eyes.

“Fine. Change the subject, Mr. Cool.”

“I wasn’t. He does a good job of making sure that the image I put out there is the one that sticks.”

“What does that mean?”

“I wouldn’t say no to love.”

She gave him an assessing glance before turning off the highway and onto another. “Marriage?”

“You proposing?”

“Well, apparently you got me pregnant with just one look, so you’d better make an honest woman of me.”

He gasped. “Tina! Are you flirting with me?”

She laughed, a rich sound filling the car. “If I am, what are you going to do about it?”

He wasn’t sure, but he had some ideas. “Okay, so you won’t date me. Yet.”

“I never said no.”

Hope rose like waters during a flash flood. “Do you wanna go out with me? Supper tomorrow night?”

“No, thanks.”

“Seriously?” He threw his hands in the air, knocking his ringed fingers against the side window. “You make me go through all of that just to turn me down?”

“Actually, I was thinking about what you said the other day.” She pushed a strand of hair from her eyes.

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