Worth Every Cent (Worth It 2)

“I thought you were only offering me a ride home?” I asked, as I slipped in.

“Think of it as a slight detour. Just for an hour. I know a great spot just outside of town that’ll really make your day.”

I wanted to protest, but my lips wouldn’t move. I looked back at the diner to see if anyone was staring, and I didn’t see anyone in particular looking at us. He backed out of the parking space and rode us through town with the Illinois wind fluttering my hair behind my body. We took the only road out of Stillsville and traveled down the highway a little bit, then he turned onto a dusty road and drove back into some trees.

This place really was off the beaten path.

Soon, the thick forest gave way to a tree-lined meadow that sat next to a gurgling creek. The car came to a halt on the edge of the meadow and my gaze panned over to him. He reached back behind me, his body leaning closer to me as our eyes connected. His eyes fell to my lips and

I licked them mindlessly, then chastised myself for the motion.

His arm came back into view with a blanket in his grasp, and it wasn’t until he stood up that I saw a basket hanging from his arm.

“Come on,” he said. “Lunch is served.”

I shook my head as I stepped out of the car. He laid out the blanket in a shaded part of the field, then set the basket down right in the middle.

“You don’t strike me as the kind of man to own a picnic basket.”

“It belonged to Anton. I dug it out of the attic,” Gray said. “Come on. Have a seat. I cooked us up something nice.”

“Why?” I asked.

His eyes turned up to me as I stood at the edge of the blanket.

“Because I want to spend time with you,” Gray said.

And his words were enough to sink me to my knees.

He laid everything out and it all smelled phenomenal. The beautiful wooded area that surrounded us and the wild flowers that grew in the meadow blanketed us in a scented perfume I couldn’t explain. There was an amazing turkey sandwich and vegetables with ranch dressing for us to eat. He pulled out grapes and cheeses and small chunks of meat. Nuts for us to munch on and dried fruits for nibbling.

The effort and the romance of it all was astounding to me, but I still forced my hopes to stay down.

Until he pulled out a bottle of wine from his own vineyard.

“This is my vineyard’s newest vintage,” Gray said, as he brought out a corkscrew. “I think it needed a little more tweaking, but it’ll be good for a nice fall blend come the turn into August.”

I watched him pop it open effortlessly as I picked at the nuts and dried fruits. He pulled out two delicate glasses from a separate compartment in the picnic basket and poured me a glass. And I had to admit, my mouth was salivating for it.

“Thank you,” I said, as he handed me a glass.

Then he rose his to mine and we clinked glasses.

“So how do you like where you’re staying now?” Gray asked.

“It is what it is. The place you took me to last night was actually Cecily’s place. She lets me crash on her couch whenever I have a late shift.”

“Then where do you stay when you don’t have a late shift? Like today?” he asked.

I felt like a loser. Like a completely incompetent adult. How was I supposed to tell him that I was living out of an extended-stay motel two miles up the damn road from my workplace? Sitting next to the successful and put-together Grayson MacDonald made me painfully aware of how different we were.

“There’s a motel up the road cutting me a really good monthly deal if I follow some rules,” I said.

I expected Gray to comment on it. But instead, he turned his sights back to something else.

“Did you meet Cecily through work?” he asked.

“That and she was my neighbor at one point,” I said.