“I don’t know,” Nora shrugged. “We didn’t really make plans to see each other again.”
“Well, see.” Jade giggled. “That is the beauty of the scavenger hunt plan. Now you two won’t have a choice but to see each other again. You’re gonna have to. For the race.”
“For the race,” Nora conceded the point, but up until that moment, she hadn’t obsessed about the fact that Jack hadn’t texted her at all.
Wasn’t that a bad sign? Wouldn’t a man who enjoyed kissing her want to contact her again and nail down when they would be doing more of said kissing? Nora pushed those negative thoughts out of her head and turned the conversation to something much less male-orientated. They talked about their next canoe excursion, and though it was difficult to keep Jack out of the conversation since they rented their canoe from him, Nora managed it.
She didn’t think of Jack at all until the man showed up on her doorstep that very afternoon.
* * *
Jack Hayes stoodon her front porch, grinning at her like the cat who ate the cream. The smile suited him just a bit too well, and Nora was suddenly very aware of a few things.
The first was that she was very much inexperienced when it came to dating. She had kissed only a handful of guys in her life, but she had never actually had sex. She was still a virgin, and she was dying to know if Jack could sense it in her.
That wasn’t possible, though, was it?
Besides, it didn’t matter if she had never slept with anyone before.
She wasn’t going to sleep with Jack. So they had kissed a few times, and they were partners in the scavenger hunt, but that was hardly the basis for a relationship. Sure, they liked the same kinds of books, but Jack Hayes had been in Half Moon Key a long time. Wouldn’t he have asked her out before now if he was into her?
Could a kiss really change that much between them?
“Hey,” he said, grinning wide at her. There was a small bag in his hands which he lifted up a bit. “I come bearing gifts.”
“What?” she asked, tossing her unruly mane over her shoulder. “Why would you bring me a present?”
“Well, to be completely honest, it’s more of a present for the both of us, but I really do think you’re going to enjoy this.”
“Oh?” She took the bag from his outstretched hand and peeked inside. It was a book. Nora slowly pulled it out, but she didn’t need to see the title to know what it was. She could sense it. She gasped when she saw the glossy, embossed letters on the book. “How do you get this?” her voice was a barely audible whisper.
“Let’s just say I know some people.” He chuckled low, sending the butterflies in her stomach into an absolute flurry of activity.
“You know RJ Phillips?” The wonder was still present in her tone.
Jack continued to laugh. “I do know RJ Phillips. You could say he’s a family friend, or at least, you could say that if I had a family.” He took the book from her hand, kicked off his sandals, and comfortably made his way into the living room as if he had done just that multiple times.
Nora watched in fascination as he sat on her couch and flipped the novel open. “What are you doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked with a grin. “We’re going to read this together.”
Her jaw unhinged, but she couldn’t produce words or saliva to swallow against the torrent of emotions rising inside her.
Nora wanted to retreat into the comfortable shell she always used to defend herself against life and its unpredictable events.
But there was another part of her clamoring for something different.
A part of her wanted to sit beside the beautiful man and soak in the moment. When was she ever going to get another shot like this? The man she had been obsessing over for years was sitting on her sofa, holding the newest novel from her favorite author, suggesting they read it together.
She would have to be insane to deny herself this.
Slowly … because she was still feeling more than a little shy … she sat on the couch, leaving a fair amount of distance between them. Jack clicked his tongue, took her by the thigh, and dragged her closer to him until their legs touched.
Nora didn’t know what was hotter: the way he had manhandled her or his heated skin pressed against her.
Jack opened the book, cracking its spine as he did. He cleared his throat and began to read the first chapter. His voice was deep, and though he did a fairly good job at changing up his intonation for the characters, Nora couldn’t focus on a single thing that came out of his mouth.
It was all so much stimulation for her poor, loved-up brain.