Page 23 of Making Over Maris

He’d seen it before. It was—

“Jack?”

He grunted, rearranging things in his trunk though they didn’t need rearranging.

“Jack!”

Shit. He was going to have to look at her. He braced himself and did it.

And blinked in surprise.

Not revulsion.

It was something else. But he couldn’t quite tell what it was. Their gazes tangled in an odd way. She glanced away.

“What, Sara?”

“Jack, I think you’re ready.”

“Ready?” He swallowed heavily. “Ready for what?”

Her tongue peeped out. He fixated on that flash of pink. She nibbled on her lips as though that would stop her small smile. God. He loved it when she smiled.

Also, he wanted to nibble on her lips.

“You’re ready for tonight, Jack.”

Her words, or something in her tone, sent a lash of lust through him. But it didn’t take much from her to have him thinking about sex. He needed to rein that shit in. Because if he let himself think about it, he would do something about it. And if he was only imagining that tone in her voice and he grabbed her and kissed her and mauled her the way he wanted to—while she was simply thinking about doing his laundry or alphabetizing his spices or eating a cheesecake—that could be bad.

Best proceed with caution.

“W-what’s tonight?”

She fiddled with the strap of her purse. Cleared her throat.

“Sara. What’s tonight?” Please don’t say laundry night.

“Tonight we’re going on a fake date.”

His first reaction was absolute fucking elation. Not laundry night.

She wanted to go on a date.

A date!

And then… A fake date? His gut lurched. Crap. “Okay.”

“I want you to dress in the black jeans and, um, that sweater.”

Was he hallucinating or was a flush creeping up her cheeks? “Okay.”

“Pick me up at six.” She fiddled with the strap of her handbag again. She was obsessed with that strap. He knew it meant something. That and the fact she wouldn’t meet his eyes. And the throat-clearing thing. The book she’d given him on nonverbal clues had mentioned—what the hell was it? He’d have to go home and reread that chapter—

“Jack!”

“What?”

“Are you paying attention?”