Page 18 of Definitely (Maybe) Dating
“Then why did you follow me out here?”
“Because you looked . . .” He faded off, and suddenly she wanted to know exactly how she looked.
“Go on,” she challenged. It had never mattered to her before, but for some reason, with him, it mattered. She looked down at her clothes, at the scuffs in her boots and the mud splatters on her blazer—she could even feel her hair frizz from the humidity in the air. She scratched the inside of her wrist.
“Cold,” he whispered, and she could tell that wasn’t what he was going to say. And just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, she felt a warm coat slide over her shoulders. She opened her mouth to tell him she was fine when she realized she was shivering.
Only, not in the way he thought. It was a head-to-toe shiver that had everything in between going toasty warm.
“I’m fine, really,” she said.
“Humor me.” He tugged the edges of his coat and pulled it closed. “Think of it as a perk of hiring a professional chauffeur.”
She sank deeper into his coat, which was still warm from his body and smelled like cool summer nights and a dependable man.
She lifted her camera and Josh gave a large, playful grin which she snapped, but instead of lowering it, she waited until the cocky driver faded into something real.
“My answer is still no,” she said. “Even if I wanted to say yes, you’re in the wedding party, it would be unprofessional.”
He thought about that. “If I were just your driver and you weren’t on the clock, would you want to say yes?”
“Why me?” she heard herself asking for the second time that night.
“I was inside alone, watching everyone dance, and I saw you out here alone watching them too, so I thought maybe we could be alone together. But if you want to tell me to fuck off, I’ll go.”
Fuck off was her modus operandi. So, never in a million years would Piper ever agree to dance with a guest at one of her jobs. But being surrounded by all the bliss and happily ever after had left her feeling lost.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.” He didn’t step closer, didn’t crowd her, and his gaze never left hers to wander. A real Prince Charming for a girl whose car was a POS Pumpkin.
“You’re a man, the rules are different.”
He considered that, actually considered what she’d said, his earnest blue gaze going serious when he finally answered. “They shouldn’t be.” He moved back, ever so slightly. “Since I discovered I had a niece, I’ve started looking at the world differently. Seeing things I never noticed before.”
His answer was as surprising as he was fascinating. Most men discounted or ignored the different rules of play. He’d not only acknowledged them, he’d seemed to have grown from them. “Like how it could be perceived if I dance with you.”
“Know that I didn’t mean it in any way other than wanting to share a dance with a beautiful woman and I’m sorry.” His apology had her stumbling. Piper had apologized for a million things over the years, but she’d seldom been on the receiving end of an apology. People with her background rarely were.
“Maybe when I’m not working, you can ask again?”
“Maybe works.” His grin popped those double-barreled dimples, then he handed her a business card.
She flipped it over a few times. “What’s this?”
“In case maybe turns into a yes and you want to try being alone together over dinner sometime.”
She read the card and snorted. “You’re a lawyer?” Of course, he was a lawyer. “You really are Satan’s spawn.”
“I prefer Satan’s Keeper’s offspring. And being a lawyer means I know how to argue my case.”
“What case are you going to argue?”
“That, Trouble, is a debate for another night. And before you toss the card in the trash with every other card you probably get at these things, you never know when knowing an ADA might come in handy.”
She studied his card. “District attorney, huh?”
“AssistantDistrict Attorney.”
