“Smith.”
That was it. Just his name. That was all she could manage, and he watched her as she shuddered. Then again, even louder, as he drove into her, his own orgasm coursing through him, following hers. Then he collapsed onto her, burying his face in her hair.
Once was never enough. So they went for seconds, and then thirds sometime in the middle of the night. When morning rolled around, he hopped into her shower, and she joined him, surprising him by kneeling down and taking him in her mouth.
“Best. Shower. Ever,” he declared when she finished, and turned off the water.
As he toweled off, he stopped to check his phone. He scrolled through his messages casually, then seemed to stop and study one. His shoulders tightened. “I have to get going. I’m late. I have another construction job I’m working on over on Meadow Lane.”
She furrowed her brow. “But I thought you were hiring some guys to help. So you don’t have to do everything yourself.”
“I am,” he said, tapping her nose playfully. “But they’re not hired yet, so it’s still on my shoulders. And then it’s my afternoon at the Burn Center so I am a busy boy.”
“I love that you do that,” she said, as she pulled on a long T-shirt, then sat cross-legged on her bed, watching him dress.
“So when will I see you again?” he asked as he zipped up his jeans.
“I’m working this afternoon too. Day shift. What about tomorrow?”
“What about tonight?”
She couldn’t suppress a grin. Nothing would be better than seeing him again so soon now that they were together for real.
“Well, it’s the first night of the festival. Don’t you need to be dunked?”
“Tomorrow night is for dunking. Tonight I am taking my woman to the Spring Festival.”
His woman. She never thought she’d let herself go there. But here she was, and the words—the title—made her feel as if a fleet of hummingbirds had taken flight in her body.
She’d fallen for him. Against her better judgment. Against all her plans to do the opposite. He’d put himself out there many times for her. She wanted to do the same, and wanted it to be more than her apology the other night, more than asking him on a date. She met his gaze, those blazing blue eyes like a clear sky. A spark raced inside her, and this time it was from her heart, not just her body. She looked at him, scared but hopeful because she was going to open her heart no matter what. He’d earned it many times over.
She walked him to the door, her insides knotted as she practiced the words in her head first. He was about to step outside, but she grabbed his arm. “I’m falling for you,” she said, feeling as if she’d just exposed her hiding place to the enemy.
His phone lit up with a message. He glanced at it in his hand, then at her. He pecked her on the forehead then rushed down the steps. “I need to go, darlin.’”
He took off, leaving her on the porch, feeling thoroughly perplexed.
Chapter Fourteen
Everything is fine. He’s not with another woman. He’s just busy. You didn’t scare him off.
All morning she was filled with worry. But she repeated her mantra, trying to talk herself down. By the time she left for work an hour later, she almost believed it.
The jitters were simply new lover nerves. The fact that he hadn’t returned her I’m falling for you wasn’t something to worry about. They were going to the Spring Festival together tonight; they’d play Skee-Ball, have some cotton candy, and then sneak off to an alley somewhere for a quickie.
Jamie smiled to herself, liking that image. Glad, too, that she’d talked herself down from pointless fears.
On the walk to work, her phone buzzed, and she removed it from her purse to check the message.
Her shoulders fell as she read it.
Hey baby. Can we reschedule? Something came up that I have to take care of NOW. Call you later.
She looked at the time. It was ten thirty in the morning. What could possibly have come up that he had to take care of now? A fire? God forbid. But if it was a fire, she’d have heard sirens, and he’d have said so.
Jamie jammed the phone back into her bag. It had to be an error. A missent message. He couldn’t possibly be canceling their first real date.
Or could he?
She walked through town, looking in familiar store windows on her way to The Panting Dog, trying to reassure herself that she could trust him. He was reliable. He was serious. But already her heart was racing at a rabbit’s pace because this was her fear. That once she went all in, he’d pull out. He’d love her and leave her like he did with the other ladies. As she stopped at a red light, she noticed a familiar profile at the end of the next block. A pretty brunette. An even more beautiful blond man. Then he opened Cara’s car door for her, walked around to the passenger side, and drove off with her.
This is what came up? He needed to spend time with Cara when he claimed he was working and volunteering?
She blinked and squeezed her eyes shut, then open, as if that would hold back the stupid tears.
“Whoa. Easy there.”
Jamie lifted her eyes to Becker as she slammed a glass down hard on the bar. She’d just cleaned the glass, and was now prepping for the dinner shift at The Panting Dog.
“Sorry,” she said, lowering her gaze. She didn’t want her boss to know she was pissed and hurt, though she was having the hardest time keeping her emotions hidden.
“Whatever it is, let’s just dial it down a notch,” he said in a gentle voice.