Page 22 of The Last Love Song
Four days until her doctor’s appointment in Charlotte.
A week and a half until the audition forAmerican Voice.
Getting out of this town would help her condition, she was certain. She knew stress made it worse and what could be more stressful than all the family events this week? She knotted her hair into a messy twist and left the house. Only to find Zach slumped sideways in the driver’s seat of his dark four-wheel-drive SUV.
Sleeping.
She knew for certain he slept since Zach was the kind of guy who stood when a woman walked into a room and who opened doors for females. Yet, right now, his head tipped onto the window, his breath clouding a small patch of the glass with each exhalation. Something was definitely going on with Zach. Instead of climbing into the passenger seat, she tapped lightly on the windshield.
He startled straight.
“Want me to drive?” She should at least offer.
He shook his head and slid out of his seat, coming around to open her door for her.
“Just resting my eyes.” His gaze followed her as she slid into the seat. “You look beautiful today.”
“Now I know I can’t trust a word you say, Mayor.” She eyed him, searching for clues about what he might be hiding from her. She flipped her skirt straight and inhaled the scent of hazelnut filling the interior. Her hand went straight for the cup. “I hope you got one of these for you, too. This is elixir of the gods.”
Savoring the warmth seeping through the cup and easing her stiff fingers, she noticed him still staring at her.
“I mean it, Heather. You are going to dazzle those judges in Charlotte before you even open your mouth.” He tucked a finger into a twisty piece of her hair that hadn’t quite made it into the knot. “I like this.”
It was merely hair that he touched. Dead cells with no sensation of their own. But the way he moved the curl around hisfinger tingled along her scalp and sent a burst of pleasure along nerve endings that should not be paying any attention to him. Her breath stuck in her throat as she tried to think of something to say, and in another heartbeat that lack of air made her light-headed.
For a moment, with his gold-and-amber gaze dipping to her mouth and her heartbeat accelerating like a jet engine, she actually thought he might kiss her. Then he broke the spell by letting go and stepping away with a self-deprecating grin.
“Sorry.” He shook his head. “I know you’re going to let your music do the talking at that audition. But television does love a pretty face, and those judges know that, too.”
He shut her door and then loped around to the driver’s side of the SUV. He hopped in and buckled the safety belt. Thankfully, that gave her time to shake off the wave of attraction that had hit her like high tide.
“Damn straight my music is going to do the talking.” She latched onto the subject with a fierceness that surprised her. Maybe it came from not being able to play this morning. “When I open my mouth, nobody’s going to doubt it’s my voice that got me on the show.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He grinned as he put the vehicle in reverse. “I’m going to keep all my commentary focused on talent and skill. No getting distracted by full lips or—” he glanced her way, his gaze taking a slow path from knee to shoulder “…long eyelashes.”
Her heart skipped a beat and she ignored it. Mostly.
“I’m going to get the wrong idea about dinner.” She sipped her coffee as he pointed the vehicle north, determined to reroute this conversation.
“I’d like to see you get a few more wrong ideas before you go. Maybe make a few bad decisions, too.”
“Okay. Care to tell me why you’re flirting—badly, I might add—with me this morning?” Actually, the flirting wasn’t bad so much as it made her decidedly aware of him. And whereas she wouldn’t mind a friend and a distraction today when her hands hurt and she waited for her car to be fixed, she wasn’t ready to navigate the minefield of a very real, very potent attraction.
“Sorry. I’m on no sleep. That’s part of it.” He steered toward the interstate. “I have less ability to filter thoughts when I haven’t slept.”
She tucked that bit of information aside. Those thoughts were unfiltered? Not calculated flirtation?
“Um…” She cleared her throat as she hit a raspy note. “Why aren’t you going to the Upstream store?” She pointed to the turn toward the main street as he drove past it.
“The ribbon cutting is out at the river. Better photo op. There’s a fishing contest, and a rod-and-reel magazine will be there to take pictures.”
“Ugh.” She tipped her head against the seat rest. “I didn’t dress for fishing. And now I’m captive for hours instead of minutes.”
“I thought you knew. Tiffany has been advertising it nonstop.”
“I knew, I just forgot. I’ve had wedding on the brain.” Along with the audition and her disorder that needed the intervention of a good doctor.
She resisted the urge to flex her sore fingers, remembering how observant Zach had been the night she’d run out of gas and her wrist had been bothering her.
