“Nah,” he said, gripping her waist. He could touch her now.
“Yes you did. Whatever you said to him made him treat me fairly in there. That wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t make him understand. I don’t need to know everything you said to him. I just need you to know how much I appreciate what you’ve done for me.”
“It ain’t over,” he murmured through a grin. He knew something she didn’t know.
“What do you mean?”
“I have a surprise for you.”
“What surprise? What are you up to?”
“Maybe I am taking you out for pizza,” he told her, knowing damn well that was not how the night was going to go.
“I do enjoy a good pizza pie,” she said.
“Pepperoni, sausage and mushroom,” he recited.
“Of course you remember my favorite pizza.”
She didn’t know this yet, but she would figure it out eventually—he remembered everything. He clung to every word she said, because he couldn’t help it.
She had owned him from the moment he’d seen her in that Darby parking lot.
Chapter Nineteen
This wasn’t the way to her apartment.
“Where are we going?” Harley asked as she frowned at the street sign they passed.
Cash slowed and turned onto Heath Street. “Pizza place.”
“What pizza place is this way—ooh,” she drawled out as he turned into the parking lot for Hatley’s Bar. The bar where Lance had proposed. The bar where they’d spent their anniversaries. The bar Cash had found her drowning her sorrows in the other night.
“What are we doing here?” she asked softly, unsure if she was okay with this yet.
“You’ll see.” His striking gold eyes sparked with anticipation.
Okay, now she wanted to know. “Do they serve pizza in here?” She didn’t remember ever seeing it on the menu.
“They do tonight. Wait there, Garden Ho. I’ll get your door.”
Baffled, she watched him jog around the truck, and open her door like a gentleman. It touched her that he treated her so sweetly. He was this big, dominant, gruff fighter, but with her, he thought of things to make her life easier, and she appreciated that about him so much.
He gripped her waist and eased her out of the truck, and held there, just inches from her. He’d worn cologne today, and goodness that man smelled amazing.
“Are you happy?” he asked, attention intent on her like her answer mattered.
“Very,” she whispered.
His gaze dipped to her lips, and she could tell he wanted to kiss her. She wanted it to. He told her, “I want to push you too far too fast.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “Not touching you has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life but I understood the why. I still understand it. When you’re ready, I’ll be ready too.” He backed off of her and walked away a few paces, then waited for her.
“You like me,” she teased as she meandered behind him.
“Harley.”