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“Hi. I just got back in town. But Grandma called while I was gone and she wants you and me to come to lunch on Saturday. Can you get free?”
“She wants to hear more about us dating?”
“That she does. Can you go?”
“I’ll see what I can do. How was your trip?”
“It was okay.”
Was it her imagination or had he hesitated? “Are you sure?”
“It was fine. Let me know if you can do Saturday. If not let’s pick another day. Grandma wants to see you again. Since we’re dating now, she says it’s the perfect excuse to get you to come over.”
“That’s sweet, but you know I’d have gone to see her if I’d realized she wanted me to.”
“You’re the sweet one.”
That shocked her. “You’ve never called me sweet before.”
“Sure I have. You can be very sweet—to horses, dogs, and old ladies. I gotta go. See you Saturday.”
Damaris didn’t see Nate again until he picked her up Saturday to go to his grandma’s. She’d thought a lot about what had happened between them. Or rather, what hadn’t happened. Why had Nate said they could be friends with benefits and then totally shut her down when she would have agreed to it? It made her curious, but it also hurt her pride. Nate wasn’t immune to her. She knew what it felt like when a man was turned on and he’d definitely been hot that last kiss they’d had before he backed out.
The more she thought about it, why shouldn’t they have fun if they were going to pretend to be together? What was the harm in a casual sexual relationship with a man who was a friend? One who she trusted as much as she trusted any man besides her brothers.
But she trusted him as a friend. Could she trust him as a lover as well?
When it was over—and it would be over eventually—and the sexual desire had burned itself out, they could go back to being friends. Platonic friends. That was doable, wasn’t it?
*
Nate wasn’t quite sure how today would go. After he picked up Damaris, he stopped for takeout fried chicken from the Diner. His grandmother loved fried chicken, but she said she didn’t want to eat out. She said she’d rather stay home where they could talk, and she might actually hear them. Something which Nate admitted was hard to do in the noisy restaurant.
He also admitted to being nervous about pulling off this thing. Grandma was very sharp. He didn’t doubt she could spot a fake a mile away. Since it was anything but fake on his part, he hoped that would be enough to fool her. “What are you going to say if she starts asking about how we started dating after being friends for so long?” Nate asked Damaris.
“I told you the first four times you asked me.”
“Tell me again.”
He wasn’t looking at her, but he could feel her roll her eyes. “I’m going to tell her you asked me to be your pretend girlfriend.”
“Very funny. What are you really going to say?”
“That you asked me out on a real date and took me to the nicest restaurant around, which is Blue where, by the way, you owe me that dinner. We had such a good time we went on another date and pretty soon we were seeing each other all the time. Exclusively.”
He nodded. “That should satisfy her for now.” He hoped. Once at his grandmother’s he parked the Corvette in her driveway and went around to open Damaris’s door, but she was already getting out. For a change she wore a skirt—a short, snazzy red number—and a sleeveless black-and-white polka-dot top. She also wore heels rather than boots, which was unusual for her. He almost drooled when he saw one long, bare leg and then the other emerge from the car. And the rest of her was pretty damn mouthwatering too.
He’d accuse her of trying to kill him, but she probably had no idea of her effect on him. Or how resolved he was not to make love to her until he believed it would be more than sex to her as well. She’d have a hard time believing it since as far as she knew he was still the same guy who slept with nearly every woman he went out with. For a while he had, first because that was what he had done for a long time, but later because he was trying to burn Damaris out of his system. It hadn’t worked.
Oh, he’d definitely enjoyed himself. And he hadn’t stopped dating. He’d just stopped sleeping with them. The woman he wanted was Damaris. If he couldn’t have her, he didn’t want anyone. Something he’d never thought would happen to him. But then, Damaris wasn’t like any other woman he’d ever known.
She was beautiful, but so were a lot of women he’d dated. She was smart, with a tongue that could flay a man alive if she wanted to. But she also had a huge heart. For her family. For her friends. For animals of all kinds. He knew who found most of the abandoned dogs on the ranch and kept them. And who nursed the kittens whose mother had gone missing. Who’d fed them at all hours and forced her brothers to help. All of the Walkers were crazy about animals, but Damaris carried it to the extreme. She and Grandma had bonded over their love of animals.
Grandma answered the door wreathed in smiles. Nate hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Grandma, you remember Damaris, don’t you?”
“Of course. Hello, dear. I’m so glad you came.” She held out her hands and Damaris took them.
“Thank you so much for inviting me, Mrs. Kershaw.”
