As casual as could be, she picked up her coffee with the hand he wasn’t squeezing into submission. “Really.”
“Oh. All right then.” Exhale, inhale. It’s a simple process. “Good. Great.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” With effort, he relaxed his grip, though he couldn’t quite bring himself to let go yet.
“Clearly you didn’t expect me to say yes.” She turned her hand over and laced her fingers with his, changing the tenor of their conversation with a simple gesture. “I’ve been propositioned in more ways than you can possibly imagine.”
He smiled. “This doesn’t surprise me.”
“You know which one way no one ever tried? The truth. Just saying a simple—let’s do it for the hell of it. Not saying that would’ve worked nine times out of ten but the attempt would’ve been nice for variation’s sake.” She rubbed her thumb over his, sending a blast of heat up his arm. “You were honest. I like that.”
Guilt slammed into him as she let him go to pull her wallet out of her purse. “Kim, wait, there’s more—”
“Do you have change for a twenty? I don’t have anything smaller than ten.”
“I’ve got it,” he said distractedly. “Maybe we should discuss this more thoroughly.” He absolutely did not want to, but he hated lying to her. She was so sweet and beautiful and he’d loved every moment he’d spent in her company so far, even the crappy ones. She deserved more than a half-truth told to serve his own ends.
And his own very excited, already half-hard dick.
“How about a five? Do you have a five?”
“Kim, I’ll handle the bill.”
But she was already sliding out of the booth and striding to the cash register to make change. She walked like a sexy, fully confident woman who had no doubts about her worth. That alone made her more attractive to him than any other he could remember.
God, he wanted her. Badly enough to do something she might regret. Not him. He could never regret anything about Kimberly O’Halloran—despite the fact she had the power to get him fired on the spot once she learned of his deception.
Bottom line, he didn’t know if he could stomach saying something that might drive her away. Virgin sounded a hell of a lot worse than inexperienced. Even his guilty conscience couldn’t compete with the possibility of her turning him down. And he could always admit the truth afterward. He was simply delaying the big reveal.
She came back to the table and set down a stack of bills on top of his twenty. “That’s one hell of a tip, big spender.”
He jerked a shoulder. “So it is. Damn good pie.”
“That you barely touched.”
“We can eat more later.” He flashed her a grin that hopef
ully didn’t convey his nerves and slid out of the booth. “Ready to go?”
“Sure.”
Was that his imagination or had she sucked in a breath? Was she nervous too? He didn’t know why that made him feel better.
Putting his hand on the small of her back, he led her outside into the moonless night. No snow either, though the frosty air felt ripe with it. Or maybe he felt ripe…on the verge of bursting. Not the prettiest analogy but too true.
“Follow me to my place?” he said as he walked her back to the rec center lot to get her car.
“Don’t trust me to lead the way, huh? I have mad directional skills, this morning’s SOS call aside.”
“I have no doubt of any of your skills.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and took the keys from her to unlock her door.
“You won’t by the end of tonight.” She smiled and lightly patted his chest. “You’re not the only one with talents when it comes to injectors…and other things.” She slipped into the car and wiggled her fingers.
Grinning, he shut her door and crossed the street to the diner to get his own vehicle.
All the way home, he kept tossing glances at the rearview. Her headlights washing over the dark interior of his truck reassured him somehow, strengthening his resolve. This wasn’t a mistake. He wouldn’t let it be.