Page 92 of Take Me Away

We walk a few steps from the shop before he stops, running a hand through his hair.

‘I wanted to ask you something,’ he says. ‘And I wanted to do it properly. Not just … assuming.’

My heart starts beating faster. ‘Okay.’

‘Would you like to go out with me?’ The words come out in a rush. ‘On a proper date. Not just sailing or walking on the beach or running into each other. An actual date. Dinner at the pub. You and me.’

He looks so nervous. Kit Harding, who jumps into storms to save people, who lost his wife and raised a daughter and kept going – nervous about asking me on a date.

‘It’s okay,’ he continues when I don’t answer immediately. ‘I know you’ve got a lot going on. I’m not asking for – Christ, I’m making a mess of this.’

‘Kit,’ I interrupt gently.

‘Yeah?’

‘You’ve already seen my boobs. I think a date will be okay.’

His grin is indecent. ‘It’s true, I have.’

I nod slowly, laughing. ‘You have.’

‘And they were perfect, for the record.’

‘So a date, then.’

He’s grinning, rocking back and forth on his toes. ‘Yep.’

‘Perfect.’

I start to walk away. The grin on my face is the goofiest shape.

‘Isla?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Any chance I can see your boobs again on the date?’

I laugh and just keep walking.

‘I’ll take that as a maybe!’ he calls after me.

Chapter Twenty-One

KIT

‘You’re fidgeting,’ Jude says from the doorway, arms crossed like he’s judging a bake-off. ‘It’s the bloody pub. You’ve been there, what, a hundred thousand times?’

‘It’s different.’ I yank off a blue button-down that suddenly looks like I’m headed to a parent-teacher meeting and not a pint with Isla Quinn. ‘This one’s too … much.’

I grab the dark green Henley instead. Worn-in. Comfortable. Looks like I didn’t spend the last twenty minutes losing my damn mind. Like I haven’t spent days counting down to our date while time has crawled by.

Jude’s grinning like an idiot. ‘Because it’s a date. A real one. With Isla fucking Quinn.’

I chuck the discarded shirt at his smug face.

‘Don’t you have somewhere else to be? Preferably far away from me?’

‘And miss this pre-date meltdown? Not a chance.’ He lounges against the frame like he’s settling in for a show. ‘So you do know her last boyfriend was Reid Usher.’