She moved past me, stopping once she got to the kitchen and turning around to face me. “I handled that wrong.”
“You think?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest and making no attempt to hide my irritation.
“I wrote you back in the notebook, but I didn’t have time to go back home and get it before I came here. So I just wanted to come tell you what I wrote in there today,” she said, clearing her throat and suddenly appearing nervous.
“All right,” I said, my tone softer now. I hated seeing her upset. “Tell me.”
“Well, I don’t think I want to tell you exactly what I wrote, because something hit me tonight while we were at dinner, so I think I’d rather tell you that.” She stepped closer to me, and I shoved my hands into my pockets to stop myself from touching her.
“What hit you tonight, Weeze?” I asked, my gaze locked with hers.
I was exhausted, and I hadn’t slept well in a few days. I hated this distance between us now.
“I should have thanked you for that date—the most amazing date.” Her voice shook. “Because it meant everything to me.”
“You thanked me that night. You don’t need to thank me again,” I said. “I’m not upset about you not thanking me for the date. I’m bothered that you want to act like it didn’t happen.”
“I know that it happened, and I wanted to say it to make sure you knew how much it meant to me.” She sucked in a breath. “This is uncharted territory for me, Clark. And I’m scared about all of it.”
“What are you afraid of?” I asked, fighting the urge to pull her close. If anything was going to happen, she was going to have to admit she wanted it to happen. “They don’t suspect anything, Eloise. I think I did a pretty good job of convincing them we can’t stand one another.”
She shook her head rapidly, and I startled when I saw a tear roll down her cheek. “It’s not about that. I’m scared of my feelings. I’m scared of how much I like you. I’m scared that you’ll reject me. But then I’m scared that you won’t, and that doesn’t work either.” She shrugged. “I’m scared that I think about you when I’m not with you. I’m scared that I asked you to pretend that you hated me, and now you actually might hate me.”
“Weeze,” I said, pulling her against me and wrapping my arms around her. “I could never hate you. I hate that the first woman I have real feelings for is the one woman I can’t have.”
She stiffened in my arms and then tipped her head back to look at me. “I think we should reconsider our options.”
“Yeah? How so?”
“Well, I was thinking about it at the restaurant. I hated how far apart we sat. I hated that we’ve barely spoken this week. AndI realized, sometimes, you have to take risks. And maybe we just take a risk. We see where this goes for the next three weeks while we’re still here. We work hard at practice, and then if we want to spend time together privately, we can do it without anyone knowing it. Maybe this is the gift—being in this small town, where no one pays us any attention. My dad and Randall don’t suspect anything, so let’s see where this goes.”
“Is that what you want?” I asked, tucking a piece of hair that broke free behind her ear.
She nodded. “It’ll probably be a disaster, and we’ll go back to the city knowing we at least let things play out. And if by chance we still like each other then, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
I was stunned that she was saying this. It’s everything I wanted to hear, but I never thought she’d actually allow herself to go there. “One day at a time. No pressure. Hell, if you want to just hang out as friends and spend time together, I’m fine with it.”
“That’s not what I want.” She shrugged, her teeth sinking into that juicy bottom lip.
“What do you want, Eloise Gable?” I said, leaning down closer now. Her breaths came faster now.
“I’m feeling something I’ve never felt. And it might be dumb and risky, but I don’t care. I want to spend the night with you. I want to spend the next three weeks with you. And I want to let myself enjoy this feeling. Even if it doesn’t get to last forever, it’s okay.”
I reached behind her, palming her ass with one hand and lifting her off her feet, as her skirt bunched around her hips and her legs came around my waist.
“That’s all I needed to hear.” I tugged her face down and kissed her.
She pulled back, one hand on each side of my face. “Take me to your bedroom.”
I searched her gaze. “There’s no rush.”
“We’ve got three weeks to do whatever we want, and we’ve wasted enough time already.”
I nodded, pulling her mouth back down to mine as I walked down the hallway toward my bedroom. I set her down on the bed, hovering above her. “This is an unexpected turn of events.”
“I couldn’t stand how distant we were this week. Even if this can’t go anywhere when we leave Rosewood River, I want to savor this. Whatever it is, I want to enjoy it right now. Life is short, and it hit me tonight that I’ve been being ridiculous.”
“I can’t argue with that,” I smirked.
