Page 52 of Country Road Romance

“I don’t see anyone out there, do you?”

Jared had to admit that he did not but, as he reminded Charlie, this was also a small town and all it would take was one person and then they would have everyone here gawking at them.

“You worry too much,” Charlie said and then leaned over and kissed him. While Jared was still wrapping his head around that–and trying not to be paranoid about being seen by someone–Charlie got out of the car and bounded off across the park. Once again, Jared was reminded very much of a golden retriever, and he felt his heart do a little backflip.

He got slowly out of the car, still always keeping an eye out in case anyone was watching. As Charlie had rightly pointed out, however, there wasn’t a single person nearby, nor did it look like there was going to be anytime soon.

They leisurely strolled around the park, their hands coming very close to touching but never quite making it. The truth was that he was still nervous about showing such explicit attention to another guy in the middle of his old hometown.

Old habits die hard, I guess,he thought.Particularly the bad ones.

Suddenly Charlie grabbed hold of his hand and led him over to one of the benches that were scattered throughout the park. Jared wasn’t sure whether to feel nervous or excited or some combination of the two.

As soon as they were seated Charlie took his hand in his and planted a gentle kiss on it.

“Jared, I want you to know how much I’ve enjoyed the last couple of days with you. I know that we got off on a bit of the wrong foot, but I like to think that I’ve shown you that I’m not the person that you think I am, or at least not entirely that.”

Jared’s heart was beating faster and faster. For some strange reason he felt like this was the moment in a rom-com where the hero would ask the heroine to marry him.

He’s not going to ask me to marry him,is he?

But no, it was something far simpler that Charlie was going to ask, even if it was no less momentous for Jared.

“I know that there’s a lot standing in the way of a relationship, but, well, I guess I was wondering if you might like to try dating me?” Charlie laughed self-deprecatingly, showing off those dimples that were so irresistible. “I know it’s going to be long-distance, but I think we can find some ways to work it out. It’s just…you make me feel like an actual person, and Iflatter myself into thinking that you have some feelings of some sort for me, too. Or am I wrong?”

This was the moment that Jared would usually tell someone that was interested in him that, while he was very flattered by the attention, he just wasn’t in the market for a relationship. Those exact words almost slipped out of his mouth, but instead he surprised himself.

“I feel the same way about you,” he said. There was a part of his mind that was screaming at him to cut and run while he still could, that this was a one-way ticket to heartbreak, but he kept forging on, some brave, romantic part of himself that he’d almost forgotten existed managing to take over. “I’ll admit that when I first picked you up I thought you were the arrogant golden boy that everyone that I’d always thought you were, but now I see there’s something special about you.”

He paused to gather his thoughts and his courage. “So, yeah, I think I would like to date you. I mean, I have no idea how this is all going to work but, somehow, I think the two of us can figure it out. I’m starting to think there’s nothing we can’t do together.”

Before he could second guess himself he leaned in and gave Charlie a very passionate kiss. When he pulled away, he could feel his own face flushing, and Charlie’s was, too.

“That was unbearably sappy of me, wasn’t it?” he said.

Charlie laughed. “Probably, but I liked it. And besides, you know you don’t have to add a sarcastic remark to every heartfelt thing you say, right?”

“Oh, just shut up and kiss me again,” Jared said.

“With pleasure,” Charlie said.

CHAPTER 16

As he kissed Jared, Charlie’s heart felt like it was doing somersaults. He hadn’t felt this happy about something in a long time, and the fact that Jared seemed willing to at least entertain the possibility that they might try to build something together was more than he’d dared to hope for.

You should learn to have more faith,he reminded himself.

“I don’t have words to tell me how happy you’ve just made me,” he blurted out as he pulled away. “I know that it’s not always easy for you to open yourself to other people, and it means the world that you’ve done that with me. I hope I can reward your trust.”

He noted the way that Jared forced himself not to roll his eyes, and he smiled. Some things, it seemed, never changed when it came to Jared.

“You know,” he said. “It would probably help if you didn’t roll your eyes every time someone tries to be a little vulnerable with you. It’s okay to just feel, you know.”

Jared gave a little laugh. “And that, my dear, is where you’re wrong,” he said. “The best defense against the cold world that we live in is to simply pretend that you don’t care. That way, no one can ever really have the power to hurt you.”

Even though it was said in jest, Charlie still thought there was a great deal of honesty there. It made him sad, to think that Jared had been hurt so often that he thought that he had to erect all of these barriers to keep people out. If it was the last thing he did, he was going to convince Jared that he was worthy of being loved and cared about, that there was nothing wrong with him.

As they sat there in the peace and tranquility of the park, however, it also occurred to him that there were going to be some high logistical hurdles when it came to their relationship. They still lived on opposite sides of the country, for one thing, and he doubted that Jared was going to make it easy on him in that regard.

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