Page 79 of Poppy Kisses
“He keeps his feelings close to the chest.” Except he didn’t, while at the same time, he did. I shouldn’t want everything from him, but the more he gave me, the more I wanted.
She laughed. “No, after seeing him with you, I really think he wasn’t interested.” She hitched a netted ball bag over her shoulder. “Have a good weekend. See ya Monday.”
“Enjoy summer vacation.”
“I get this week and then summer school starts,” she called as she walked off.
Smiling, I turned. My heart somersaulted. Auggie was giggling and trying to steal the ball from Jensen. For a guy who’d never played soccer outside of gym class, he had hidden skills. He’d always been good at whatever he’d tried. Looking back, I could see how he’d been making up for his struggles in the classroom, trying to earn respect and recognition outside of his academic attempts.
He glanced up and kicked the ball to Auggie. “Hey. You were a rock star out there.”
Auggie veered off, dribbling the ball down the line.
“Thanks. It was fun.”
Jensen’s attention went deeper. “Yeah?”
Was he worried about me? When the soccer debacle had happened in South Dakota, I’d been alone. Now I had Jensen. “Yeah. I’m only fifty percent terrified this will be an epic failure that I’m at the center of.”
“Not every endeavor is a raging success. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep trying.”
“I like being on top though.”
His eyes heated. “I know.”
My arousal flared. Auggie would be asleep in a few hours and then I would be in Jensen’s arms. We started for the gravel parking lot outside of the pitch.
“What are we doing for our date tomorrow night?” he asked.
“You keep making me suffer the punishment of Saturday night dates.”
“It’s awful, I know.” His eyes flashed when he grinned, and my stomach was the one to flip this time.
“Horrible. I don’t recommend it. But I hear Bishop’s is open.”
His eyes lit with interest. “Bishop’s. They have good seafood for being right smack between two oceans.”
“We used to go there before we moved. I was delighted to hear it’s still open.”
“Then we’ll go.”
He put a hand on the small of my back as we walked across the plush grass. “Mom’s coming over to watch Auggie, and I told her if she falls asleep on the couch again, I’m not waking her up to drive home in the dark all groggy.”
“Fair.”
He tipped his mouth close to my ear. “But that means I won’t wait until we get home to get inside of you.”
I shot him a sly look, but my body tingled in all the right places. “There are a lot of secluded spots by the lake.”
“A lot. And since I’ve been out there doing some estimates in the last couple of weeks, I’ve learned about more.”
A shiver traced down my spine. “It’s a date.”
“It’s going to be.”
ChapterTwenty
Jensen
