That kiss, hell, both kisses, and sexy bar time, left her breathless and wanting more.
But she couldn’t even show up right. The reality hit of just how out of her depth she was. Tate was something she’d never encountered. He was everything in a man she didn’t know how to handle.
She grabbed her cell off her bed and sent him a text:
RUNNING LATE. WHY DON’T WE JUST RESCHEDULE?
She took a deep breath. She didn’t want to cancel, but she felt so off. Like any minute she’d burst into a wheezing fit.
Her phone pinged with a text from Tate:
I’LL WAIT. TAKE YOUR TIME.
She smiled a little. There was no way she could explain what she was going through and not sound like a moron. So she went with half-truth and hoped the worst she’d sound like is a girl.
I DON’T THINK TIME WILL HELP MY SITUATION.
She glanced in the mirror. Man she looked pathetic. She didn’t stress this much about prom, much less a date-that-wasn’t-a-real-date with the town’s Deputy.
CAN I HELP?
She looked at her reflection and sighed.
UNLIKELY.
Her phone pinged again:
SO IT’S AN OUTFIT ISSUE THEN?
She actually laughed out loud at that. How the hell could he know that?
ARE YOU LOOKING INTO MY WINDOWS?
NO MA’AM, JUST FIGURED IT MUST BE A FASHION PROBLEM SINCE I CAN HELP WITH MOST THINGS…INCUDING BREAKING AND ENTERING LOCKED VEHICALS. ;-)
Damn it! Even his text messages were charming. She could almost picture his grin and she checked the urge to giggle like a tween with a crush as she typed back.
ARE YOU HUNGRY?
He texted before she had a chance to reply to the earlier one.
YES.
OK THEN.
She frowned. What does that mean? Were they on? Off? Dinner was canceled?
Her thumbs flew over the keypad. She felt bad canceling, and honestly she wanted to kick her own ass because she wanted to be there. She just felt so unprepared. She’d been looking forward to this all day and for some reason was having a wicked attack of the insecurities. Maybe because she didn’t want to know the answer to her earlier question about being a dirty secret. Or maybe because if she found out the latter, she may not care and be with him anyway.
I HOPE I DIDN’T PUT YOU OUT COOKING AND ALL…
A few minutes went by and he didn’t text back.
Shit. Was he pissed? Expecting her? She had no idea what to do. When a knock at the door came, she huffed and standing in a skirt, sparkly heels and a bra, she didn’t really have time to deal with whoever was at the door.
She threw on her oversized “Party Naked” tee-shirt she fished from the sea of clothes now on her floor and yanked it on. Throwing her hair up on the top of her head and securing it with a band and she walked to the front door and opened it.
“Oh god, no!” she said, staring down at Tate looking freaking perfect as usual.