Page 17 of Chasing Forever
He trudged across the sand toward her, beaming. She wasn’t foolish enough to believe it was because of her, but she was glad to have witnessed his shining moment.
“Great job! How was it?”
“Amazing! You really should do it.”
“I’ll leave the heroics to you, but I liked watching.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded and handed over his things.
“I didn’t even think to bring a towel,” he said, looking down. He was dripping wet.
She trailed her eyes over him, trying not to pause too long in certain places. “You’ll dry off on the walk back.”
“Are you coming too? Back to your place, I mean.”
She nodded. “I got plenty of exercise hiking up that cliff.”
They turned and started walking back toward their building, falling into a comfortable silence. She assumed he was reflecting on his big adventure, and she was simply enjoying the day.
When they reached their units, she experienced a wave of awkwardness. Even though she hadn’t jumped, they’d shared something, and she wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
“Thanks for holding onto these,” he said, holding up his shirt and shoes.
“No problem. I’m just glad I was able to give them back to you.”
He laughed and started to turn away, but then he paused. “Hey. If you…if you’re not busy…would you like to have dinner tonight?”
“Together?” Duh!
“Yeah. We can celebrate my surviving a potentially life-threatening jump.”
How could she say no? Think of the research possibilities! “Sure. Dinner sounds good.”
“Great. I’m going to take a quick shower. Can you be ready in half an hour?”
“Um-hmm.”
“I’ll knock on your front door when I’m done.”
“Okay.”
They went into their separate units, and the minute she’d closed the door behind her, she panicked.
“I’m going out to dinner with my muse! What if he asks about my job?” And if that thought wasn’t terrifying enough, the next one was even worse.
“What on earth am I going to wear?!”
Chapter 10
Chase was nervous. You’d never have known he’d been out with two women just a few nights ago. He felt like a high schooler getting ready for prom instead of an accomplished lawyer going out for a casual dinner with his neighbor.
He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to impress this woman, but he did. After his shower, he’d debated what to wear and chastised himself for acting like a girl. It wasn’t like he had a slew of choices. He’d packed for Hawaii—shorts, T-shirts, a few collared shirts, khakis, and a few pairs of shoes. He finally settled on a lime green polo shirt, khaki shorts, and canvas slip-ons.
Next, he’d debated about wearing cologne. He’d used a masculine-scented body wash, but he thought cologne might be overkill. He decided to skip it, but he’d added an extra swipe of deodorant for good measure.
After he’d finished dressing, he grabbed his wallet, keys, and sunglasses and started to head out. But just before he opened his front door, he gave himself a pep talk.
