“Ready to make a break for it?” I asked, grinning up at him.
“On this ice?” He dropped a glance at my shoes.
“I can handle it.”
He flashed a half-cocked grin. “All right, then. Let’s go!”
We bolted from the restaurant, sliding down the sidewalk, arm in arm in an awkward trot around the side of the building to the parking lot where his truck was parked.
We slid across the black ice to the passenger side. Ross steadied me and opened the passenger door. “Ladies first.”
“Thanks,” I said, hopping into the cab. It was barely heating up, and I placed my gloved hands over the vents as a blast of warm air came sputtering out.
Ross jumped into the driver’s side and flicked a couple of switches. “Heated seats too.”
I laughed. Apparently, riding the bench paid pretty well.
We sat there, idling, as we waited for the fog and frost to clear from the windshield. “You gonna be okay to drive in this?” he asked, turning in his seat to face me.
I met his eyes, and my mouth went dry. They were a mix between grey and blue, but in the dark, they glittered like they were made of lapis. During the course of dinner, I’d gotten so lost in the conversation and trying to figure out what he was holding back that I’d nearly forgotten how handsome he was.
But here, alone in the cab of his truck, bathed only in the glow from the security light on the side of the brick building, it jerked me back to reality. I was only inches away from one of the most breathtaking men I’d ever laid eyes on, and the way he was looking at me left little doubt what his intentions were. My doubts and insecurities from outside the locker room had melted away as soon as I’d caught him checking out my ass before I took my seat inside the restaurant.
I blinked hard, snapping myself out of my dreamy musings. “Um, yeah, yeah—I’ll be fine. My dad’s SUV has snow tires and four-wheel drive.”
“Would it be too creepy if I followed you home? Just to make sure you don’t have any trouble?”
“I don’t think that’s creepy. That’s actually pretty sweet. But it’s unnecessary. I will promise to call you when I’m home. How about that?”
He smiled, but before he responded, I saw a flicker of something pass over his gaze, as if there was another question he wanted to ask me. “All right. How come you didn’t call after that night at the diner?”
My eyebrows flicked up. Bold question. “Call me old-fashioned,” I said, smirking at him. “But I like to be chased.”
He laughed, the sound rich and deep, like a good cup of coffee. “Fair enough. Although, in my defense, counselor, I wasn’t sure what your father would think of me asking for your number right there in front of him.”
I dropped my head back against the seat, and I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped at the thought. “Oh, he probably would have invited you to our family Christmas dinner and put a stocking with your name on it right beside the tree. Probably in Knights’ colors too!”
Ross laughed with me, and I glanced at the middle of the seat between us, wishing I was closer. The heat was filling the cab, but I wanted to snuggle up against him and feel the warmth of his body against mine. “Noted! Next time I go to the diner, we’ll have to arrange that.”
I straightened in my seat, suddenly struck by a new thought. “Hey, what are you doing for Christmas? I mean, if you don’t have plans, we’d love to have you.”
His smile faltered, but he quickly propped it back up. “Are you sure? That seems like a pretty big imposition.”
I waved a hand. “Not at all. Honestly, we’re very low-key. Aunt Maggie will be there, too. And if you like her sober, you’ll really like her once she’s had a few too many glasses of my mom’s spiked eggnog. She’s a nice little church lady, but when she’s pouring rum, she doesn’t mess around.”
He let out another light string of laughter, and the tightness in his shoulders melted away. “I’d really like that.”
“The rum? Or tipsy Aunt Maggie?” I asked with a giggle.
“Both.” Ross’s eyes went serious, and he reached across the cab to place his hand against the side of my face, resting his thumb on my cheek. “But really, I’d just like to spend as much time with you as possible.”
There wasn’t enough oxygen in my lungs to reply, but it turned out I didn’t need to. Ross leaned closer and his lips brushed ever-so-softly over mine, turning me into an official pile of mush and butterflies. The kiss was warm and sweet and much too short. He pulled back, leaving his hand on my cheek, and locked his eyes onto mine. “I’m horrible at this kind of thing.”