Page 53 of The Heart Shot
By the time he came back, I had clicked out of my romance novel, vowing to never open it again…at least not in public.
A chocolate glazed donut appeared on the table in front of me.
“It wouldn’t be a Saturday morning without a proper donut,” Jameson explained, taking a seat across from me.
“I’m surprised you were free this morning,” I said with a smile, looking for any way to distract myself from the warm fuzzies in my stomach. Saturdays were usually the day that “adults” did work around the house—things they had been neglecting all week.
Me? I still ignored all the things I needed to do on Saturday, especially when the sun was shining, illuminating the vibrant colored trees, and infusing warmth into my bones despite the chill in the air outside. Some things were more important than projects around the house.
I tried to wait a socially acceptable amount of time before stuffing the donut in my face.
Jameson reached his hand across the table and swiped his thumb across the back of my hand. “I wouldn’t miss a chance to see you.”
Well, that’s certainly not helping to distract me.
“I figured after the busy week you had, you would’ve had other things to do today.”
He brushed my hand again. “Those things can wait.” Even though I was the one to invite him here, he tilted his head and asked, “Do you regret that I’m here?”
No, and that’s what scares me.
But I couldn’t tell himthat,so I gave a small shake of my head instead.
His smile lit up the dark parts of me. “Good, because I was dying to see you.”
I bit my lip. “Then why haven’t you asked me on our secondrealdate yet?”
His mouth quirked to the side. “I wasn’t going to rush through the dates so that I only had a short time to get to know you, Elsie. Our time together the last couple weeks may have beennon-dates,but they’re every bit as important to me as the actual dates.”
Swoon!
“Besides, I was planning our second date for tonight.”
“Tonight?” Sweat instantly pooled in my palms and I begged the Niagara Falls pits to stay out of the sweat party my body was suddenly having.
His dimple deepened. “Yes, tonight.” At my hesitation he leaned forward. “I’d like to cook dinner for you at my place.”
His place?
Though we had spent many of our evenings together, neither one of us had ventured into the dangerous territory of being inside the other’s house. It seemed like a line we shouldn’t cross if I wanted to keep an expiration date on this thing between us. Being in his house was another layer of intimacy that would make it even harder to say goodbye at the end of this.
Smitten Elsie held an invisible hand over my mouth so I couldn’t say no.
You know you want to go,she crooned in my mind.
It didn’t matter if she was right. This had disaster written all over it.
And yet I nodded, barely squeaking out, “Okay.”
I wished I could frame the smile that spread across Jameson’s face and keep it in my wallet to take out on hard days.
“Great! Are you allergic to anything?”
“Um, shrimp.”
“Got it. No shrimp. Anything else?”
I shook my head, struggling to form words.
