Only one other car sat there, and Mariah prayed with all the sincerity of her heart that Lawrence wasn’t out in the orchard with that customer. She wasn’t exactly dressed for picking peaches, as she’d done her hair and makeup, put on a cute pair of khaki shorts and a bright pink camouflage-patterned blouse that morning.
“The goal is the same,” she muttered. “Get Lawrence’s attention.” She’d wanted to look good should she happen to run into him, and that would still be achieved.
She got out of the car, pocketed her keys and phone, and started for the fruit stand where they’d give her a basket and then weigh her out when she picked all the peaches she wanted.
As she approached, she met Duke’s eyes—another brother she’d met a few times as she worked with the Chappells on their big event several weeks ago now.
“You’re up, Larry,” he said, his eyes glued to Mariah.
“Fine,” Lawrence’s voice said from inside the stand. “Then I’m goin’ home. I’m on mowing tonight, and—” He froze as his gaze moved from Duke to Mariah.
Keep going, she told herself.Keep going. Don’t stop. Dear Lord, don’t let me stop.
“Mariah,” Lawrence said, his voice grinding through his throat in the next moment. He reached up and adjusted his cowboy hat. She smiled at him, because he was so sexy in that hat, and when he spoke in that Southern voice, she wanted to melt right into his arms.
He glanced at Duke, but Mariah only had eyes for him.
In what felt like a rush of time, Mariah closed the distance between them and put her palm against his chest. His heart beat steadily beneath that handsome blue paisley shirt, and she felt completely outside of her head as she said, “I’m so sorry, Lawrence. I got all inside my head, and my boss said some things that confused me, and I didn’t want to hurt you.”
He blinked at her, his surprise evident. “Okay,” he said.
Mariah couldn’t go back now, so she might as well keep going. “What doesmowing tonightentail? Would you have time to go to dinner?”
He fell back a step as if she’d hit him with her words. “Uh…”
Mariah didn’t like the sound of that. She looked at Duke, who stood there watching them without any embarrassment at all. Plenty of it heated her face, and she dropped her gaze to the dirt at her feet.
The silence hanging in the air felt like poison, and Mariah shuffled backward. “Never—”
“He can’t take you to dinner,” Duke blurted out. “The mowing means he works all night mowing the hay.”
She looked up at him as he moved between her and Lawrence.
“Duke,” Lawrence said.
“He can take you to lunch, though,” Duke said with a bright smile. “Right after y’all finish picking your peaches.” He turned sideways and looked from Mariah to Lawrence and back, nodded, and went back inside the fruit stand.
Lawrence stared at her for another moment, a smile finally touching his face. He took a step toward her. “Are you free for lunch, Mariah?”
She grinned at him, nodded, and took his hand when he extended it toward her.
* * *