With pleading eyes, I looked at my aunt. Then I laughed. Again. Awkwardly.
Turning to Wade, I said, “I wasn’t, Wade. I’m not interested in your ass. Well, I mean, not that you have a bad ass because you don’t. You have a great ass.”
His smile grew, and I closed my eyes.
Oh. My. Gosh. Jesus, take the wheel.
“Um, you ready to go?” Wade asked, and his gray eyes seemed to sparkle. It was clear he had been attempting not to laugh.
Holding my head up, I nodded. “If you are.”
Aunt Vi chuckled as we made our way down the porch steps. Turning back, I shot her the finger. She might have been my aunt, but she was the first person to teach me how to flip someone the bird.
“That’s my girl!” she called out.
Wade walked to the passenger side of his truck and opened the door. Holding his hand out for mine, he winked and said, “She’s a different character, isn’t she?”
With a sigh, I replied, “You have no idea. The things she taught me with my Ken and Barbie…I’m convinced she is the reason I write romance.”
His laugh rumbled through my body, making my chest squeeze. When he grabbed my seat belt and pulled it out for me, I had to force myself not to lean in and smell him.
I took the belt. “Why, thank you, cowboy.”
He smiled, those dimples on full display.
Lord. Help me right now.
The urge to wrap my arms around his neck was insane.
Wade lingered a little longer than he probably should have before he stepped back and shut the door to his truck. I watched him walk around the front, and I swore it looked like he was talking to himself.
Taking in a deep, calming breath, I pulled my laptop out from my bag and opened it. Wade climbed into his truck and started it up.
“You don’t mind if I work, do you? I’m writing a book and I can’t seem to shut the voices off in my head.”
“I don’t mind at all.”
“How about music? Would you mind if we listened to my playlist?”
Wade smiled and reached over to his stereo. “Let’s Bluetooth so I can hear what inspires you.”
“Okay!” I said with probably a little bit more excitement than the situation warranted.
Once my phone was synced to Wade’s truck, he started down the driveway. I closed my eyes and let myself enter the world of Mike and Amy.
“Damn it!” Wade said. He pulled over and grabbed his phone.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I need to check on something.”
Peeking over to his phone, I watched him pull up what he was looking for.
Oh. My. Gawd.
I slowly lifted my eyes and stared at him. He smiled, and my heart melted. Like in a puddle. Right there on the floor of the truck.
“You watch April?” I asked, my voice slightly shaky.
Wade peeked over at me. “I know, it’s stupid, but I’m invested. I feel like if I don’t stick with it until the end, I’ve somehow failed April.”
Swallowing hard, I placed my hand over my stomach to calm the butterflies. “You’ve been watching from the beginning?”
He looked my way. “Well, kind of.”
The way his cheeks were flushed was the cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen.
“I’ve been watching her, too!”
His eyes lit up. “No shit?”
“Yes! I’m actually obsessed. I usually have it pulled up on my phone, truth be told.”
“Me, too! Just don’t say anything to your brothers or I’ll have my man card revoked.”
We started laughing.
“Well, she’s not in labor yet. I thought for sure she’d have the baby on April first,” Wade said. He placed his phone down and started driving again.
With a tilt of my head, I asked, “So, you pulled over just now to check on her?”
He gave a half shrug. “Yeah. Figured I had better check before taking off.”
I nodded. “I’ll pull it up in another window on my laptop. I have a hotspot on my phone.”
“A girl after my own heart.”
His words shouldn’t have made my chest feel so tight, but they did. Boy, did they ever. In the few weeks I’d known Wade, he had affected me in more ways than I could count.
I could barely hear Amelia’s tapping fingers on her keyboard over the sound of her playlist. The girl had good taste, although I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how she typed in a moving vehicle.
I pulled into the parking lot and put my truck in park. “I’m gonna run this sample in. It’ll be less than ten minutes.”
Amelia shot me a smirk and then giggled. “Make sure no one checks out that ass of yours.”
I turned back and winked. “I’ll be quick.”
I walked into Ralph Minor, Inc. and glanced around. Ralph’s son, Tyler, went to Texas A&M with me and Trevor. A younger lady glanced up from her computer and flashed me a welcoming smile.