Page 40 of Love and Other Trials
He leaned down as she rose up onto her tippy-toes. When their mouths met, she sighed in delight.Yes. This.Time stood still for another reason this time, and the eternity in this kiss was something she didn’t want to end.
When he lifted his head, he was grinning. His green eyes twinkled with flirtation, a really good look on him. “You’re peppy this morning. I like it. See you in a few.”
With one last swift kiss, he headed off toward his room, whistling. She closed the door and leaned back against it. Closing her eyes, she took in the moment. The feel of his lips moving over hers. The way she could taste his desire for her and his happiness at seeing her. She ran her fingers over her still-tingly lips.
They were going to have a good day.
She was not going to let her family mess this up.
As she dressed, she checked her texts. Her mother had texted that she and the Three Tornadoes were going to the beach for the day with the boys while the men went golfing. Which meant they’d be going to her grandmother’s house.
Her stomach flipped.
She pressed her hand to it. That was why she was doing this. Forget the insults and the gas tank analogies—God, what had she been thinking? She needed to focus and do her job. Stop letting anything else bother her. Because Tiffany’s reminder about theirdeallast night had chilled her to the core.
With that pep talk done, she went to take Sherlock out, only to have him stand unmoving beside the fireplace.
“Oh, Dax let you out, didn’t he?” She gave her dog an affectionate rubdown as she noted he’d had his breakfast too. “Isn’t that nice? We like him, don’t we, boy?”
He gave a resounding ruff before she retraced her steps to her room and grabbed her things. Dax came out of his room as she emerged.
“You look nice.” His drawl was as lazy as the once-over he gave her, speeding up her heart.
“You’re not too bad yourself,” she quipped, knowing he was checking out her legs.
Yes, she was wearing the same jean skirt as yesterday, but she didn’t think he’d mind. She wanted to look a little sexier, and shorts weren’t going to cut it.
“So before we leave, I have something very important to tell you.”
He stilled and clasped his hands, immediately serious. “All right.”
She bit the inside of her cheek to hide her smile. “Nothing to worry about, but the place I am taking you to will ruin you for chicken and waffles forever. I need to know if you’re good with that.”
His chortle was spontaneous and short-lived. “Is that all? Elizabeth, you had me concerned.”
She waved a hand in the air and headed toward the door. “We’re not doing ‘concerned’ today. We’re taking the day off on that one. And you’re driving.”
“Hallelujah. Because we can outrun your family faster in my Bronco.”
Still, she opened the door a crack and peeked out, making sure no one in her family was waiting on the front porch.
“Is the coast clear?” His enticing whisper tickled her ear.
“Yeah.” God help her, she could feel her knees going weak in relief. Or was that Dax’s hot breath against the side of her neck?
“Whew!” He was nuzzling her in the most moan-inducing way. “I was afraid I was going to have to ignore the law and drive my Bronco onto the beach so I could pick you up out back.”
“You’d do that for me?” She turned her head and patted his cheek sweetly as he nodded with a lazy grin. “Come on. We’re still going to need to run for it.”
She was out the door in a flash, Sherlock racing ahead of her. Dax’s pursuit sounded in her ears, kicking up her heart rate. Another fun moment. They were stacking them up like blocks in Jenga.
He beat her to her car door and opened it for her grandly. “If I may…”
“You may indeed.” She felt the compulsion to kiss his cheek, so she leaned over and did it before he could close the door. When he returned the gesture, she clasped his face in her hands and gave it her all. He was groaning when he broke free, and she had trouble fitting her seat belt into the buckle.
After running around to his side, he had them on their way.
When they entered her favorite place, Sherlock at her side, the three college-aged employees chatting behind the hostess station barely said hello. Usually when you entered a place in Charleston, you heard, “Welcome. We’re happy to have you. How y’all doing?”
