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“Now you are just making me hungry.” He chuckles, kissing me on the lips again. This one is slow and sweet, like he is committing it to memory, and at his touch, my body goes liquid in his arms until my stomach grumbles so loudly it is mortifying.
“I think I am making myself hungry,” I murmur against his lips.
“Let me lock up these animals for you, and then we can go.” Pulling back, he starts to walk out the back to get the place locked up for the night.
“Go? Go where?” I ask him, never tiring of seeing his profile or his ass in his jeans.
“I’m taking you out for dinner. To the bar. Burgersmight not be as good as Benny’s, but right now, we need to eat.”
Marmalade saunters into the shed, and he locks the door.
I look down at myself in my t-shirt and jeans. “I need to change.”
“You look fine,” he says, walking back to me.
“I look a mess!” I tell him, waving that off. He is being absurd if he can’t see it.
“Baby girl, you look beautiful. Besides, I want to undress you myself, and if I do that now, we won’t be leaving for dinner…” he says as he stands in front of me, his hand once again gliding around my waist.
“Fine. Let me grab my things,” I say in a mock grumble before I push off him and run inside, taking exactly two minutes to put my hair up in a top knot, spray on some perfume, and swipe some pink gloss on my lips before I grab my bag and run back out to him. He is standing waiting for me, with the passenger door open, and I swoon so hard I misstep on the porch steps and almost face-plant into the gravel.
“Need me to carry you?” he calls out with a wicked smile on his face, knowing exactly why I stumbled.
"No. I am a strong, independent woman. I can take care of myself,” I say, giving him a little sass as I walk around him and jump in.
“Don’t I know it,” I hear him mumble before he closes my door, and he takes me on our first dinner date.
29
TANNER
As I predicted, everyone is here tonight, and they all swivel in their seats to look at me walking into the bar holding Victoria’s hand.
“Why is everyone staring at us?” Victoria whispers to me out of the side of her mouth.
“Because they can’t understand why a beautiful young woman like you would be holding the hand of an old guy like me,” I tell her, only half joking. It is probably what they are thinking, but I would like to think that I have more respect in this town for them to have that as their first assumption. In reality, it is just that we are publicly announcing we are together. Which I know will fuel the town gossip grapevine for weeks.
“Ohhh, well, hello, you two,” Lacy says as Victoria and I slide into my booth at the back. We have a little more privacy back here, but not much.
“Hey, Lacy. Tanner here thinks the burgers could rival Benny’s in the city, so I am keen to try one.” Victoria’s face lights up at seeing her friend.
“Make it two, Lacy, and I’ll take a whiskey. My usual,” I tell her, nodding, and Lacy’s smile stays firmly in place as she glances between us.
“I’ll have a cola, please,” Victoria says, and I watch them as they look at each other like they are having a silent conversation, and I raise my eyebrow.
“Girl code,” Victoria murmurs before Lacy runs off to put in our order.
“So you like burgers and chocolate cake, but you don’t like whiskey?” I ask her, just before Lacy is already back with our drinks. That is one bonus to owning the bar; I always get served first.
“Hmm, it’s like drinking gasoline,” she says, taking her straw in her mouth and sucking on her drink. I pause as my eyes take her in, her neck as she swallows and the small hum of approval she makes. I have to clear my throat before I can talk.
“It is precision chemistry. Mine is a luxury to be enjoyed,” I tell her mockingly. I don’t expect her to like whiskey, but if we are going to continue spending time together, she will need to get used to the smell, at least.
“It’s a bit like coffee.” Sitting back against the booth, she watches me.
“Coffee?” I ask because I am not following her train of thought. It is one of the things I like about her, all these almost quirky things she does. She moves to a small town on her own. Wears a little pink on her every day of the week, regardless of the outfit. Walks up ladders in bright-pink slides and runs around barefoot in nothing but a pink robe. Thinks a pregnant goat is a male, and now puts whiskey and coffee in the same category. It makesno sense to me, but I know it all makes perfect sense to her.
“Well, I don’t drink coffee. It makes me too jittery. But I do like the smell of it and the initial taste.”
