Page 54 of Keep On Loving You
But first, she needed a shower. Badly.
Kat broke their connection first. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
His eyes flashed with a completely different kind of hunger. But, when a second later, his stomach growled, they both laughed and started to pack up their gear into the back of the car.
“If I wasn’t so hungry, I’d be looking for another reason to bail on family dinner.”
“Really? It’s not like you to miss any.”
“True.” She shot him a look. “But nothing is normal right now. But…it’s just that they feel like a lot right now.”
He winked in her direction. “You know they love you and just want to make sure you’re okay. Besides, I’ll be there. I got your back.”
“Thank you,” she said as they started the drive down the mountain road and back into town. “Not just for that, but for everything. I feel like I’m saying that a lot lately, but I can’t thank you enough for everything you’re doing for me. I know it means you’ve been taking so much time out of your own life.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Kat. I’m enjoying every single moment of it and honestly…” He kept his eyes on the rough gravel road but reached over to take her hand. “I think I might be enjoying our time together a little more than I probably should.”
Kat’s stomach flipped. “What does that mean?” She hoped she knew what it meant. Would it be any easier to feel the things she was feeling about Andy if she knew he was feeling the same things? Of course it would. Together, they could deal with any of the challenges that being together for real would bring. Together, they could do?—
Before he could answer, the notifications on his phone started playing through the car’s speaker system.
“We must be back in service.” He pulled his hand away and reached for his phone, just as it started to ring. “I’ll turn it?—”
“Call from Jess.” The car’s Bluetooth system announced the caller who’d unknowingly intruded on their moment.
“Jess, huh?” After running into the two of them at the Sugar Shack over a week ago, she’d wanted to believe Andy when he told her that they weren’t on a date. And even if they were, she had no business feeling jealous about it at all.
She’d done her best to pretend it was nothing and put it out of her head.
Still.
She never had been a good actress.
“I thought you weren’t dating?”
“We’re not.” Andy reached forward and pressed the button to ignore the call. “She’s actually?—”
“It doesn’t matter.” She forced a smile to her face. “You know what matters right now? Family dinner. Are you sure you want to subject yourself to that after today?”
As far as segues went, it wasn’t a good one. But the last thing Kat wanted to talk about after the day they’d shared together was Andy’s dating life. He didn’t owe her anything, and they’d never actually set any boundaries for theirsituationship,so it wasn’t like she could say anything without sounding like a crazy person.
Besides, it was probably a good thing that Jess’s call had interrupted them before either of them said something they couldn’t take back. The last thing she needed right now was anything else making life more complicated than it already was.
Chapter Nineteen
After a quick shower and change,Andy and Kat walked into the big house. If it weren’t for the promise of barbecued ribs with corn on the cob and all the fixings, Andy might have found an excuse to beg off the dinner. And judging by how exhausted Kat looked, too, he wasn’t the only one, which was the real reason he was there. Kat needed support, and as long as she did, he’d give it to her.
He gave her an encouraging smile and swallowed back the urge to squeeze her ass as they walked through the foyer into the bustling kitchen, where they were greeted with hugs from the women.
“I didn’t think we were going to see you two today,” Charli said. Without asking, she handed them each a glass of water while Lucy put a bowl of chips out for them. “You must be exhausted.”
“I’ve heard about that hike,” Noa, Asher’s new fiancée,said with a shake of her head. “You two must have trained for a long time.”
“Not so much,” Kat said with a mouthful of chips.
“But we did it.” Andy reached for some chips. “And you killed it, Kat. Really, that scramble at the end is no joke.”
“Thanks, Andy. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
