“I wish I’d had time to go home and change,” she mused, glancing down at her uniform. “I felt out of place at the meeting tonight.”
“You were wonderful. They all adored you and couldn’t get you involved fast enough. Besides, you look fine.”
“But you changed.”
“Into jeans and a T-shirt, Madison. It’s not as if I dressed up.”
She didn’t appear appeased. “You look nice, except I wish you’d worn shorts because I like your legs.”
Gripping the steering-wheel even tighter, Levi forgot to look at the road. Instead, he stared at Madison. “You what?”
“Drive.” She gestured to the road a bit wildly and he returned his attention to driving.
“I like your legs.”
That was what he thought she’d said. A grin played on his lips as he turned onto the private road that led to the lake. He’d taken the road to the place where they’d fished rather than the fork that led to his grandfather’s old lake house, but there was no way for her to know that the likelihood of them meeting another car was next to nil. Keeping his eyes on the road, he asked, “As in?”
From the corner of his eye, he saw her shrug.
“As in you have nice legs.”
Nice. Ugh. But he didn’t let the nasty “nice” word affect his fun. “You a legs woman, Madison?”
“Since meeting you.” When he briefly turned to look at her she once again gestured in front of him. “I seem to like everything about you, except maybe your driving habits.”
He laughed. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
A wry look on her face, she glanced down again, her gaze raking over her uniform-clad body. “I’m too short, too flat-chested, too—”
“Too wrong.” He reached across the division between their seats, took her hand into his and gave a reassuring squeeze. All without moving his gaze off the road. “You’re a very sexy woman, Madison.”
She didn’t pull her hand free of his, but he felt the hesitation in her grasp. “Who you didn’t notice until you literally had your arms around me.”
“Not true,” he quickly denied. “I noticed you the day we met, remember?”
He didn’t have to look at her to feel the heat coming off her cheeks. Then there was how her hand trembled in his and he clasped it more securely, wondering why it bothered him that she might pull away.
“That’s right. Me and my Woodstock scrub top.” She glanced down again, studying the brightly colored shirt she wore. “This one, actually.”
“I noticed.” He noticed everything about Madison. Had from the beginning even if he hadn’t acknowledged that to himself until recently. “Was that intentional?”
“I didn’t know you were going to ask me out to dinner when I dressed at the crack of dawn this morning,” she reminded him, a bit of her usual spunk in her tone.
“True.” He grinned, taking the turn-off. He’d like to take her to the small lake-house, but if he did that he had this feeling they’d never get around to eating because he’d also like to show her his bedroom. His bed. Between his sheets. He cleared his throat. “Did you go for a run this morning?”
“I did.” She didn’t elaborate. Just stared straight out the window as if the passing scenery fascinated her.
“I’ve been looking for you in the mornings, hoping we could run together.”
“I didn’t alter my run time.” She continued to stare into the thick woodlands.
“Even though you knew you’d bump into me if you did?” Why was he pressing her like this?
Because he wanted to know.
He wanted to know everything about Madison and what motivated her.
“Especially because I knew I’d bump into you if I did.”