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I let out a laugh. Cute and funny. “Texas Roadhouse has nothing on my dad’s grill.”
Her laugh was contagious but quiet, like she didn’t want to take up too much space. “So, what do you say?”
I wanted to... But I didn’t want to give her the wrong impression either. “No better plans on a Saturday afternoon?”
“I was actually on my way to supper with my friends. You can join if you want?”
Relief loosened my shoulders. She wasn’t coming on to me—she was helping me feel less lonely. Something I really appreciated, especially in a new town. “If you’re sure it’s not any trouble...”
“Of course not. It’d be good to get to know each other a bit since we’ll be working so closely together.” She added, “But it is just a diner. Nothing fancy.”
“If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me,” I said, reaching for my duffel bag. “Mind if I change?” She had looked so pretty in her flowy sundress, and I didn’t want to look like a schlub in front of her and her friends. Because for some reason... it mattered. She was right. If we’d be working together, it would be good to start things off on the right foot. And if there was one thing I learned from my sister, Liv, it was that if you didn’t pass the girlfriend test, you wouldn’t be making much progress with the kind of girl that mattered.
“Do you want to ride with me,” she asked, “or should I send you the address?”
“A ride would be nice,” I said, selfishly wanting more time to talk to her. “I’ll be down in a sec.”
I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face as I threw on the jeans and a fresh shirt. I wanted to get to know her better—for work.
I jogged down the stairs, the memory of her hips as she walked up distracting me. Those hips had looked so fine swaying side to side. I tried to remind myself I shouldn’t be thinking of her that way and found her in the parking lot next to the kind of car my mom would call a puddle jumper. She opened her own door and said, “It’s unlocked.”
I grinned. “You know my dad would have my head for not getting your door.”
“Your secret’s safe with me, Tex.” She shook her head with a small smile and got in, and me? I was grinning like a damn fool. It had been a long time since I’d bantered with a woman I wasn’t related to.
When I opened the door and got in, I was immediately surrounded by her perfume. It was like a mix of spring bluebonnets and sugar cookies, and it took all I had not to breathe in deeply.
“The lever’s under the seat,” she said. “If you want to scoot your chair back.”
I’d been so distracted by her fragrance that I hadn’t even noticed my knees bumping against the dash.
“Where is it if I don’t want to scoot it back?” I teased.
“Ha ha,” she said, backing out of the parking spot.
I reached down to the lever, giving myself a little more room. My siblings and I got our height from my dad, who’d hit six-four at fourteen years old. I was six-three, and each of my brothers stood over six feet tall. My sister was taller than most girls at five-nine. I guessed her and Hen at about the same height.
When I chanced a glance around Hen’s car, I noticed how nice it looked on the inside. Even though it was an older model, there wasn’t a stain or rip in the interior to be seen, nor a crumb in any crevice.
Catching my examination, she said, “I’m saving for a house. A new car’s pretty low on the list.”
“It’s nice,” I said, but all I could think was how ridiculous it was that the woman who was “single handedly running this place,” according to the Blue Bird corporate office, couldn’t afford a newer car along with a decent home of her own. But then again, California real estate was a beast, from what my brother Gage told me. And coming from a billionaire real estate mogul, that was saying something.
She paused at the stop sign before the main road.
“Let me text the girls.” She tapped on her phone with its cracked screen for a moment and then set it face up in the console. Interesting. She either wanted me to see a text from some other guy or... she had nothing to hide. As she pulled onto the highway, she said, “It’s probably a good thing you came along so we can get to know each other. We’ll be spending a lot of time together on this project.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” I said honestly. “I want to hear about this house you’re saving for.”
She turned onto the road, quiet for a moment. “I don’t need anything fancy...” She took a breath. “But I’m hoping for something big enough that I can stay in for a lot of years to come. Three beds, two baths, a nice backyard but not too big. Of course, it has to have a nice front porch to sit on with my girlfriends. And a garage to hold my tools.”
“Tools?”
She nodded. “I’m not the kind to sit by the phone and wait for someone to help.”
Damn was that hot. Especially in the way she said it—not bragging, only stating the facts.
“What about you?” she asked. “Do you have a home base, or is it apartments and hotels all the time?”