Page 42 of Deception and New Direction

At his confused face,IrealizedIwould need to explain more. “B.O.B.—BatteryOperatedBoyfriend.”

Once realization dawned on him,Ichuckled at the look on his face.Itwas a mixture of surprise, disbelief, and lust.

“Next question.Whatare…”Ibegan to ask before he cut me off.

“Oh no, no, no.Youdon’t get to stop there,” he said, holding his hand up. “Ineed details.Allthe details.Everylast one.Don’thold back on me.”

I chuckled asIsat back in the booth with my arms crossed, giving him my bestnice try, but not going to happenface. “Noway, pervert.That’sall you’re getting.”

I was saved by the server bringing our food out and dove into my meal with abandon.

* * *

When we got back toJack’shouse, we both walked in to a very excited greeting fromDash, who sniffed us up and down, trying to investigate where we had been.

“I’m going to let him out,”Jacksaid. “Whydon’t you go get ready for the night and meet me in my bed and we can watch a movie?”

Did he just insinuate we were going to have sex again?Don’tget me wrong…Ienjoyed sex withJack, butIdidn’t care for men who just assumed that because you slept with them once that it would automatically happen again.

“Sweetheart,I’mnot going to force myself on you or make you do anything you don’t want to do.Ilike women who are mutually attracted to me, want to spend time with me, and find me to be a nice guy.Idon’t need to force it.”

Oh.NowIfelt bad for assuming his intentions.

“Ruthie, you’ve had an intense day.Ifall we do is just lie in bed, relax, and fall asleep,I’mgood with that.”

I felt guilty.Ididn’t want him to thinkIthought badly of him.

“Jack, youarea nice guy.Ijust…Witheverything going on,Idon’t want to complicate things more.”

Yeah, that sounded believable.

“Is that all this is about?Ordo you just not want to take the risk of letting your emotions get involved?” he asked, and it irritated me that he could read me like a book.

I didn’t want him thinking that this was about my fear of emotional attachment—even though it absolutely was.

IfIwere being honest with myself,Iwanted to sleep next to him again.Jackgave me a level of peace whileIslept thatIhadn’t known before, and after the day we had at my granddad’s today,Ineeded it, soIgave in.

After he letDashout, we got ready for bed, andIassumed the position sandwiched between dog and male and fell asleep quickly and peacefully.

16

RUTHIE

The next day,Jackmust have feltIneeded a distraction, because we set off to pick out some new ceiling fans, light fixtures, and several other items for his house.Wehad just picked up the final items and were headed back home.

AsJackmerged onto the highway, the mid-morning sun glinted off the windshield.Ifidgeted with a bag of drawer pulls in my lap.We’dbeen in the home improvement store longer than either of us had planned, debating the merits of cabinet hardware finish and arguing—mostly from me—about paint swatches.Jackreached for my hand, likely seeing me playing with the hardware bag.

AsIlooked out the window, a bright-blueMustangcaught my eye in the side-view mirror.Thecolor had been vibrant enough thatIhad noticed it in the home improvement parking lot, plusIhad always thoughtMustangswere good-looking cars, even if their gas mileage wasn’t great.

But the concernIhad now wasn’t about the gas mileage, but rather the fact thatIhad seen that very car at both home improvement stores, plus the paint store, and it now seemed to be following us.

“Jack.Doyou see that blueMustangbehind you?”

Jack glanced in the rearview mirror. “Theone that’s been following us all day?”

“You noticed that?”

“Kinda hard to miss a bright-blue color like that,” he pointed out.

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