Page 69 of Hit the Ground
“You’re so damn pretty,” I said. I couldn’t not.
“Thank you.” She swallowed hard. “I really like the way you’re looking at me right now. How you’ve been looking at me this whole evening. It makes me feel like…this is real.”
“It is.”
Her nod was slight but decisive. “I know, Cay.”
I glanced at her cast. “What day is your appointment?”
She looked down then back at me. “Oh, it’s the Tuesday after next, in the morning.”
“All right. I’ll meet you there.”
She startled, her fingers flexing in mine. “Really, it’s not—it will be a short appointment. I can handle it.”
“I know you can, but I want to be there. I don’t want you going it alone, and you don’t have to. I’m in your corner now, so let me be with you.”
“You’re busy on the ranch,” she tried.
“I am, but I have time for you. Didn’t you say it won’t take long?”
She sighed and squeezed my hand. “I did say that.”
“So are you going to let me be there?”
“It won’t be particularly exciting,” she warned.
“I’ll be with you.”
She sucked in a little breath. “Okay. You’ve convinced me.”
My mouth hitched. “That wasn’t too hard.”
“You’re pretty good at hitting the exact right argument.” Her fingers wiggled. “I didn’t really want to go alone.”
“And you won’t have to.”
Jesse reappeared a minute later. If he noticed Alice slipping her hand from mine, he didn’t show it.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Ready,” I said, even though I could have sat there a few more hours.
We slid out of the booth and left the diner together. Alice’s car was parked a few spots down from my truck, and Jesse fell instep beside her, telling her about some game he and his friend were planning for the weekend. When we reached her car, he surprised both of us by giving her a quick, awkward, teenage hug.
“It was nice having dinner with you, Alice,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.
Her smile warmed. “I really liked it too, Jess. Maybe we can do it again sometime soon.”
“Yeah. That’d be all right with me,” he replied.
When he stepped back, I didn’t waste the opportunity to hug her too. I pulled her into my arms, my hands splaying on the center of her back, and just like that, she melted into me the same way she had in front of her house.
I lingered for as long as I could, breathing her in, feeling the soft give of her against me, the wispy little breaths she took. The part of me that knew I should step back kept losing the argument.
Finally, I forced myself to ease my hold, staying close enough her spicy scent clung to me as we parted. Her eyes found mine, practically glowing like pieces of sea glass in the sun.
“Drive safe, Allie,” I said, my voice rougher than I meant it to be.
