Page 98 of Colt

Her teeth come down on her plump bottom lip. “That happened fast.”

“No shit,” I manage.

I can’t ask her to stay over tonight for a hundred reasons. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to.

My system is flooded with her. The way she smells and how her hair falls in her face and the sound of her throaty, unguarded laugh.

More.

More of this openness. This connection.

“Pick you up at six?” I’m overly aware of my lips. How I’d like to press them to hers. “Frisky Whiskey comes on at eight, but figure we could grab a bite beforehand. Maybe take a drive.”

But seriously, I don’t know who the fuck this man is. The one making a solid plan for a solid night out with an incredible woman.

A woman I’m still determined to hate during the workday, by the way. Gotta pump the brakes somehow. Once she’s finished her job, she’s going back to Fort Worth or whatever other fancy place she wants to end up in. A woman as smart and ambitious as she is wouldn’t be caught dead in a small town like Hartsville.

Hating her is an act of self-preservation. I already lost someone who meant a lot to me. I’m not sure I could survive that again.

I figure Lainey and I can date and still keep things casual. Why not have a little fun while we can? Surely she’ll be gone long before I’ll have time to do something as stupid as fall for her.

Surely.

“I’d like that.” Then Lainey surprises the shit out of me and presses a kiss to my cheek. “Promise me one thing.”

“Name it.”

“No cigars. Or dip.”

“Dip?”

“I saw that ring in your back pocket.”

“You mean my nicotine patches?”

She blinks. “That’s what that was?”

“Dip is gross. That’s one bad habit I never got into.”

“Thank God for that, because I’m one more you just added to the list.”

I realize we’re still holding hands. My heart beats thickly inside my chest.

“You’re not bad. You’re real. And clearly that turns me on in a big fucking way.”

The expression on her face changes. Not in a negative way. She just looks emotional.

Show me.

Tell me.

I want to know everything.

“Thanks for saying that,” she says at last. “And thanks too for tonight.”

“Welcome anytime.”

She finally drops my hands, then moves to grab her bag. I follow her down the steps to the driveway, where her Volkswagen is parked.