Page 19 of Forever After All

“Nothing.” Jess gave her attention to Kiwi who had turned back around.

So, she was going to leave him hanging. Her date was a nice guy, but it was a bust. Did that mean she had high standards? Good. She should.

That also meant Linc was completely out of the running. He might live by the straight and narrow now, but he had a lifetime of bad blood behind him.

“Too bad,” Linc said.

Too bad for Henderson or whatever his name was.

Linc tapped the heel of his boot against the toe of the other. He shouldn’t wish her dates to crash and burn, but his jealous heart had a mind of its own.

He cleared his throat. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah,” she drawled.

This was his moment, but the words were mixing with the rocks tumbling in his stomach. The question stuck in his chest like concrete.

Jess propped her hand on her hip. “Spit it out while I’m young.”

Right. Jess didn’t like beating around the bush, but she had no idea about his sweaty palms and the bubbling in his gut.

“I was thinking…wondering if you would go with me to Ridge and Cheyenne’s wedding.”

Jess tilted her head to the side. “Like a date?”

Great. This was a define the relationship moment, and Linc was fighting back vomit.

“Um, I was thinking I could pick you up, and we could ride together.”

Jess quirked one brow up. He was butchering the whole thing.

“And maybe we could dance a little. I’ll take you home after.”

Lord, save him. He’d just brought up dancing, and neither of them were the dancing type. He was really selling the farm on this one.

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

“So, is it a date?” she asked again.

Leave it to Jess to expect nothing but the straight truth from him. He knew better than to be vague with her.

He pulled his hat off and scratched his head. “Well, let’s see how it goes. No pressure.”

She could call it courting or the preliminary round for all he cared. He just wanted her with him, and he didn’t want to give her a chance to ask anyone else first.

Jess’s piercing stare relaxed. “I’ll have to think about it.”

What? Think about it? Was she trying to give him a heart attack?

“When? How long?”

He’d given plenty of thought to the many ways she could turn him down. He hadn’t considered a dangling response.

Torture. Jess was a master of torture, and Linc was caught in her trap.

“I’ll let you know in the morning.”

A whole night of torture? Jess would be the death of him.

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