She groaned. “You know what I mean.”
Fiona laughed. “I also know that none of those dates matter now that you have Leo.”
Kaydee’s heart fluttered in her chest. “I don’thaveLeo. We’re just friends.” She almost got away with that statement, but heat rushed into her cheeks.
“Friends my ass.” Fiona’s gaze narrowed. “Just what did he work on this weekend? You or your house?”
Both. “The house, of course.”
“Are you trying to tell me you two didn’t kiss?”
She lifted her chin. “I didn’t say that.” Her blush took away any chance she had of keeping that secret from her friend. Good thing she didn’t want to keep it a secret.
“Yeah?” Fiona leaned closer. “How was it?”
“Wonderful.” She sighed as the memory of his mind-boggling kisses warmed her from head to toe. “It was as if the world just faded away. I didn’t think brain fog was real until he kissed me.”
“So…he kissed you more than once?”
She nodded.
“How many times?”
Not nearly enough. She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. A couple on Friday. A few more on Saturday, and once yesterday, before he left.”
Each time, they were more and more amazing. If his grandmother hadn’t been on the porch with her grandfather, she would’ve invited him to her place last night. Hell, she would’ve grabbed his hand and tugged him across the street straight into her house so she could give in to the urge to climb his body. Naked.
“Then my idea is spot-on,” Fiona said, bringing Kaydee’s mind back to the present.
She bit her tongue for a full thirty seconds before giving in. “Okay, what idea?”
“Since the building you’re checking out for me today is halfway between here and Joyful, why don’t you invite Leo to lunch?”
She widened her eyes. “I couldn’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because…it’s…I… What if he doesn’t want to?” she finally said. “He started his new job today. I think they’re ripping things out or something. I don’t want to seem like a pest.”
Or pushy. Kaydee really liked Leo and was warming up to the idea of having some fun with him. Two years in Dallas could be a lot more fun with him in it. Last thing she wanted was to ruin that prospect.
“Honey, the man kissed you every day for the past three days. You are not a pest. You’re an obsession. Trust me. New job or not, he’ll want to see you.”
The property she was viewing for Fiona was about thirty-five miles south of town, which made it thirty minutes north of Joyful. “I don’t know, Fi. I’m not the type to put myself out there.”
“Isn’t Leo different? Isn’t he worth taking that chance?” her friend asked, pushing Kaydee’s phone closer. “Go on. Call him.”
Could it be that simple? Was her friend right? Would Leo actually agree?
Even though the possibility was slight, Kaydee decided she couldn’t pass it up. “Okay. I’ll do it. But I’m going to text him instead.” She couldn’t bear to hear him reject her. It’d be easier to read. Right? Gathering courage, she scrolled through her contacts until his number appeared. They’d exchanged them months ago, in case she needed to contact him about his grandmother.
Only, this had nothing to do with Ava.
Before she lost her nerve, Kaydee typed out a quick explanation about her visit to Lansbury, asked him to lunch, then hit send. “Oh my God. I can’t believe I just did that! Is there a way I could stop it?”
“No.” Fiona chuckled, wiggling the phone from Kaydee’s grasp before putting it on the table. “It’ll be okay. He’s going to accept. Trust me.”
When a whole minute went by without a response, the nervousness fluttering through her stomach turned into a tight knot. “Dammit. I shouldn’t have done that. Now he’s trying to come up with a way to turn me down.”
