Page 3 of Love Me Forever

"I do. People tell me that often, but I didn't expect you to pick up on it so quickly."

"Oh, I picked up on it earlier. This was just confirmation.”

“You’re one to talk. You were trying to convince the clerk to give you my taxi, right?”

She blushed, pressing her lips together. “I figured you missed the plane.”

“Did you now?”

“What's your name, by the way? I wasn’t paying attention when the clerk mentioned it."

"Travis."

"Nice to meet you, Travis. Thank you for rescuing me tonight. I had the exact same problem last time."

"How did that work out?" I didn’t like the idea of her alone in the dark, searching for a ride.

"I pestered a friend in town, and he came and got me."

“The same friend couldn’t come and get you now?” For some reason, knowing some other guy helped her bugged the shit out of me.

“I didn’t get a chance to call him. Your idea sounded... reasonable, and I didn’t want to bother him again.”

“So we went from gutsy to reasonable?”

She grinned. “There’s no reason you can’t be both things.”

I looked at her appreciatively. I liked a woman who didn’t back down from a challenge.

We approached Oceanwell Bay a few minutes later, and I insisted we go by her bungalow first. Our driver told us it was on the way, which worked out perfectly.

"What are your plans for tonight?" I asked her as we approached the address.

It was late, but we both needed dinner. And this woman, this Bonnie, intrigued me.

"Oh, I don’t know. It’s been a rough travel day, so I think I'm going to take it easy. Go home, get a shower, read a book, and go to bed. I need to wake up early, at five thirty."

"Five thirty in the morning?" I knew that was a redundant question, but the early hour surprised me.

"Yes. Such is the glamorous life of a vet assistant, but I don't mind. I've missed my animals. I can't wait to see them tomorrow."

"I thought you worked with wildlife. How can they beyouranimals?"

“Some of them need greater care, so we take them in for a while before releasing them. There's an ongoing debate in the scientific world if it's helpful for them to actually have so much human contact. It could impact their life once we release them back into their habitat, but I can't see how cuddles could ever hurt anyone."

This was an unexpected side to the sassy woman from a few minutes ago. The wistfulness in her eyes spoke volumes of her love of these creatures. Bonnie intrigued me.

"Have dinner with me," I said.

Her eyes widened, and then she had the most unexpected reaction. She burst out laughing. Not good for my ego, but once she calmed down, she said, "Yet another example of the ‘guts’ department."

The driver made a strange sound, and this time I couldn't tell if he was laughing or choking. Maybe he was choking while trying to fight laughter. Either way, why was he listening to our conversation?

"All right, so you convinced me with your logic of accepting car rides with strangers, but I am curious as to how you'll argue that it's a good idea to have dinner with a stranger." The coy look on her face indicated her sassy was coming out once again. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, looking at me with her big, gorgeous eyes. Once more, I had to fight my impulse to tilt forward and take a closer look. I couldn't see clearly enough in here anyway—it was too dark. But her lips beckoned to me.

"If you have dinner with me, I wouldn't be a stranger anymore. I'll be a handsome man who takes you out." I poured on all the Maxwell charm.

Bonnie nodded, and I was close to claiming victory, but then she whistled. "It's one thing to agree that you’re gutsy, but calling yourself handsome is on another level entirely. You know what they say about singing your own praises?"

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