I take another sip of my milkshake to stop myself from agreeing immediately. A little self restraint is good, even though I can’t stop thinking about the way he kissed me. It’s hard to focus on conversation when I know what his lips feel like against mine.
“I guess I could allow it,” I say teasingly.
“Thank you for your kindness, ma’am.” He heaps on a southern drawl, and I laugh as he tips an imaginary cowboy hat to me. “You setting up for school already, or do you have a little time off?”
“I have to train on the computer system, so I’m already neck deep in it,” I say with an excited smile. “I got my office set up today, and Mrs. Geraldine and I are going to go through some of the filing stuff after lunch.”
Bo’s smile is warm, affectionate in a way I’m not used to. His eyes flick over my face like he’s memorizing every line, and my cheeks heat at the scrutiny.
“You look really happy, Kenz,” he says. “I’m glad. It’s not the same around here without you, but I was worried you’d get a taste of college life and ditch this place.”
“I could never.”
I didn’t think about staying away even once. I always wanted to come back—for work, for home, for my family. For Bo.
“Good. You know me, I’d be in shambles if I couldn’t bug you,” he says, his dimples winking as his smile stretches wider.
Something about his words rings truer than I think he meant it to. Maybe that kiss wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment thing. I’ve been trying to figure out what it really meant this whole time, but I’m coming up blank. It just makes little sense that Bo could like me like that, especially after all this time. But why else would he kiss me? Why would he kiss me like he’s been starving for a taste of me?
“You never bug me,” I say, tapping my sneaker against the ankle of his boot playfully. “But I’m not going anywhere. Here to stay.”
He looks me over, dark eyes tracing my form like a physical touch. He opens his mouth, then closes it, looking like he’s trying to decide what to say. It’s a cute gesture, especially when pairedwith the determined look in his eyes, but I don’t know what he’s thinking so hard about.
Is he trying to come up with something to say about the kiss? I have no clue how I’ll survive if he tells me it was a mistake, but I’ve got no control over that. All I can hope is that he says… literally anything else.
“Do you think I could convince you to let me take you to dinner?” he asks.
I blink at him, then laugh, tilting my head in confusion. That’s not what I expected him to say.
“Sure. We can always grab food. I’m training every day this week, but?—”
“No, I don’t want to grab food,” he clarifies, reaching out to take my hand in his. “I want to take you on a date.”
My fingers twitch in his, shocked at his touch and his words. His hand is rough, work-hardened and callused, but it’s warm in mine. His eyes are excited and affectionate and a touch terrified, that same dark brown that I’ve adored for so long.
“A date?” I ask weakly, a tentative smile on my lips. “I—yes. Yeah, you can absolutely take me on a date.”
Well.
I guess I haven’t been overthinking that kiss.
What the hell?
I want to giggle and jump around like a schoolgirl, but I sit here frozen as Bo lifts my hand to his mouth and presses a kiss to my knuckles. His fingers are shaking around mine. I have to be hallucinating, right?
There’s no way this is real.
My cheeks hurt from how wide I’m smiling, and Bo beams right back at me.
“I need to get your number,” he says, not dropping my hand. “I got a new phone after one of the heifers trampled mine, and Ilost all my contacts and wound up with a new number. I didn’t think about it until I went to text you after you left that night.”
I was wondering why he hadn’t texted me back and had been trying unsuccessfully to convince myself that he’d just been busy.
This is a much more reasonable explanation.
“Give me your phone, I’ll put my number in.”
I blush as I hold my free hand out expectantly. I’m not used to talking to Bo like this, but we’re too comfortable with each other for it to be truly awkward. His cheeks are tinged pink, too, and he hands his phone over, a new contact pulled up and waiting to be filled.
