“Um…” Why was it too soon? I’d made it very clear to Chester I didn’t want to be with him, didn’t even want to be in the same state. He had no hold over me. A hot guy was interested in me, and I was questioning?
What was wrong with me?
“There’s a barbecue tonight that half the town will attend, Bessie included.”
I was eager to make friends in this town, and didn’t want to say goodbye to Cord McCaffrey. Still…
“What if I don’t want to?” I asked him. It had never occurred to me to question before. And that was on me. The difference was, I wanted to be with Cord. I didn’t want to go to my quiet apartment and be alone.
His eyes flickered with heat. “Then we’ll do something else.”
Butterflies filled my stomach. He really wanted to be with me. Me—clumsy, barely-ever-dated Rachel. He knew I was a terrible waitress, but had yet to find out the extent of my innocence. Just because I’d been paired off with Chester didn’t mean I had any clue about men. Chester had barely kissed me. Dates had been dinners at the country club with our parents. The only time we spent alone was in his BMW.
He hadn’t had to pursue me. I’d been a given. The trophy wife, perfect for his budding law career and political aspirations. I was untarnished. Perfect. Maybe that was why the whole thing drove me crazy. To Chester, I had been a sure thing as a wife. Except, I hadn’t been a sure thing in bed. I wasn’t naive enough to think that a man who was almost thirty like Chester didn’t have needs. I knew he had to have slaked them with someone else if he didn’t with me. I hadn’t cared before. Hell, I hadn’t wanted to know. I was just glad Chester hadn’t been all that hot for me.
Which said everything. God.
But now, it was very important that Cord really be interested. In me. As a person. As a woman. Because I wanted to be more than smart arm candy. What was the phrase, a lady in the streets, a freak in the sheets? Maybe I didn’t want to be a freak, but I wanted to be… sexy for a man. Desirable. Craved.
The way Cord was looking at me, I felt all of that.
“Sure, I’ll go to the barbecue. Sounds fun.”
His gaze raked over me, and heated. In my diner t-shirt and jeans, I probably smelled like the restaurant, and he was still interested.
“I’ll be a perfect gentleman until you want that to change.” His fingers played with the ends of my hair. I couldn’t feel it, but still, I sucked in a breath.
I want that to change! I’d almost spoken the words out loud.
I didn’t want to say no. “Okay.”
“Great.” Cord put those large hands around my waist again and lifted me from the table. He didn’t let go right away.
No, I hadn’t been hallucinating.
The guy was hella strong.
God, what a turn on that was.
Maybe he was right.
Maybe fate had led me to West Springs.
Even for a debutante like me, born with a silver spoon in her mouth, things seemed to come together here.
Not the waitressing skills, but everything else. The job, the apartment. Bessie. Cord.
West Springs felt… right.
Cord felt right.
“Good. We’ll go now.”
“Now?” I shook my head. “No way. I smell like greasy French fries, and I’m wearing my diner clothes.”
He leaned in and sniffed. “You smell perfect to me.”
I flushed and pushed him away playfully. “I need to go home and change.”
He nodded. “I’ll give you a lift.”
“No, um, my car is in the diner parking lot,” I murmured as he steered me from the exam room. “Um, do I owe you anything?”
Not that I could pay, or dared use my insurance for fear my parents would track me.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Cord scoffed. “Come on, I’ll walk you.” He settled a hand at my lower back and kept it there as he led me out of the building, locking the door behind us. We walked to my car and he opened the door for me and held it as I got in.
“Give me your address, and I’ll come by in thirty minutes to get you.”
“Thirty minutes?” I questioned. “A girl needs some time to look pretty.”
He looked me over again as if he wanted to eat me up. “You’re perfect as you are, but if you want extra time, then one hour. I can’t resist a second longer.”
A second longer.
Cord’s deep rumble made me want to grip his shirt and pull him down for a hot, sloppy kiss. But that was crazy.
I was here to find myself, not a man. But Cord was quickly making me question that.
3
NASH
“Thanks again for helping my mom with that huge armoire. You’ve earned this,” Shelby said, handing me a beer bottle she’d just pulled from a cooler. It was ice cold beneath my fingers.