Good Girl (Love Unexpectedly 2)

Or maybe not. Because she’s still looking at me.

“Yes, exactly,” she says, surprising me. “Trouble is, I don’t think I’m his type.”

You are, I want to say. You absolutely fucking are. I just didn’t know it till I met you.

“Don’t worry, Ms. Smith,” Finn says with a grin in my direction. “From where I’m standing, I’d say your odds are looking very good.”

Jenny

It takes me a while to figure out why I’m so buzzy on the drive back to the house when I only had two drinks over the span of three and a half hours.

And then I realize. It’s not the whisky that’s got me buzzing. It’s the guy next to me. The way he smells, the way he smiles, the way his big hands move easily over the steering wheel…

Oh dear.

I’m in way more over my head than I thought if I’m lusting over the way he drives.

Tonight was…the best. I can’t remember the last time I felt more relaxed and happy. I try to tell myself it’s because Finn’s freaking hilarious, but I know better.

Finn’s great, but he’s not the reason I had such a good time. It was Noah and the way he stayed close, making me feel safe but never crowded. The way I felt him looking at me when he didn’t think I noticed, the way he didn’t even flinch at the casual intimacy of me picking all of the jalapeños off my portion of the nachos and put them on his plate.

It was the way he smiled even when I got the sense that he didn’t want to, and in the way he gently but politely shook his head no to a woman who clearly propositioned him at the bar.

Tonight wasn’t a date. I know that.

But I was able to pretend, and for a girl who hasn’t been on a decent date in a really long time, that’s enough.

Sort of.

Still, I want so badly to reach across the truck and hold his hand. Actually, more accurately, I want him to reach across and take my hand.

He doesn’t, and I try not to be too disappointed when we get back to the house, signaling that the night’s come to an end.

On one hand, I love that we simply enjoyed each other’s company for once. Not fighting, not circling each other like wary animals in heat. It was both comforting and alarming to realize how much I enjoy his company.

And yet he hasn’t touched me. Not once the entire night, and I expect that’s deliberate. I haven’t touched him either, because if I’ve learned anything from my time spent with this guy, it’s that once I

start to touch him, I have a hell of a time stopping.

“You okay?” he asks as he turns off the ignition. I realize I haven’t moved, even though we’ve been parked for several moments.

“Yeah,” I say, forcing a smile.

“You seem a little lost in thought.”

“Well, I am a girl,” I say.

He laughs. “That you are.”

“I like your laugh,” I blurt out.

His laugh breaks off abruptly. Whoops.

“I mean, I’m not like naming our babies or anything,” I correct. “I’m just saying you have a nice laugh. I don’t hear it all that often.”

Noah says nothing as he watches me with those unreadable dark brown eyes. Then he looks away, the hard, defined planes of his face glinting like granite in the dim light coming from the outside porch light.

I resist the urge to sigh as I get out of the car.