“Does it?” he asks, but I can’t agree.
“And about the whole tour guide thing?” I start to ask but lose my steam. It’s gonna sound even dumber than the whole tour guide for a few days' job he said he had lined up for me.
But Kyle is still waiting for an answer by the time I look up at him.
“Did you really want me to show you around town for days, or was it just to you know?” I ask.
I kind of need to ask.
My ‘can’t get hurt if I don’t care’ attitude is crumbling with each passing moment with Kyle.
Yes, we only just met, but I’m already thinking about the L word.
About a house with a white picket fence.
Lots of little Kyles running around, reminding me just how perfect their dad is.
Their dad. My man.
“Jacinta?” Kyle asks, having to repeat himself as he brings me out of our future fantasy life, long before I’ve even got a handle on our ‘this is happening right now’ fantasy…
“I said, yeah. But no,” he says, smiling to himself again.
“I mean. A girl like you? What was I supposed to do, just let you walk away?” He reflects, and before I know it he’s leaned over to kiss me again.
For the second time.
Not that I’m counting.
Forgetting all about other people seeing us, it’s like the world really does vanish whenever he touches me or kisses me.
Whenever we’re close like this.
“So what about it?” he asks when he pulls back, still waiting for me to explain myself.
“What? Oh, I kinda told my mom that the job was as a consultant… for your archeologist friend,” I confess, wincing.
It sounds even stupider hearing myself say it for the second time in one day.
And judging from the look on Kyle’s face I don’t think for a second that my mom actually believed me.
She couldn’t have. Could she?
He looks genuinely pained, then puzzled, but finally, he just shrugs.
“Okay, we’ll run with that story. I guess,” he concedes reluctantly.
“You’re still showing me around town though,” he adds, and after helping me out of the car I feel his hands slip away as he lets me walk ahead of him.
I can feel his eyes on my body as I walk, making me feel kind of awkward, but only because I remember what he told me.
About what I do to him?
It’s pretty freaking hot having him watch me walk ahead for him.
The place feels deserted but does look more like a country inn than an old mill nowadays.
There was talk of converting the old silos into apartments, but there was a town meeting deciding against it.
Too ‘city’ some folks said. Old timers thought they were hearing things, laughing the idea off as nonsense.
But the outer buildings have all been converted into cozy, clean, and very country looking rooms with the desk clerk recommending the biggest suite at the same price as a regular room.
Once he sees the size of his newest guest, it’s the least he can do.
“It’s just a room for Kyle,” I squeak, almost blowing our cover by even mentioning anything about shared rooms.
“I mean, uh…” I trail off, but Kyle’s already got me covered. Talking loudly about his long drive. How he’s just aching to get into a hot bath.
I catch his eyes, one of them giving me a sly wink in the mirrored glass behind the counter.
You’re not going anywhere that I’m not…
I can feel his words in my mind. Welcoming them in like heat on a freezing night.
Everything about Kyle makes me want him even more.
But as soon as I catch a glimpse of myself in the same glass, the sight of me standing next to him has my doubts rising up all over again.
It just makes no logical sense, I mean. Look at the guy!
He’s freaking perfect, even if he is dressed like a trailer park owner and driving a toy car.
His hair, skin. His teeth.
Not to mention that body.
The man’s perfect.
“Any luggage you need a hand with?” The clerk asks, glancing over the counter, noticing the distinct lack of anything.
For a guy who just drove cross-country, Kyle Lundstrom travels light.
My suspicions are gone, but I can see a dozen springing to life in the desk clerk's eyes as they move from the carpet of his lobby to me, then to Kyle.
And finally back to me again.
CHAPTER NINE
Kyle
I’m not lying about the hot bath.
My old bones are long and strong, but being squished up in that car has left me aching like I haven’t felt since my football days.
But there’s just one thing that would make a hot bath way hotter, wetter, and even better.
And it’s her.
Jacinta plays her part, almost to perfection. And after pretending to get me settled in my suite, she makes sure the clerk watches her leave.
Which I’m sure he does. All the way out of his hotel.