“I like the look. It’s like if Miley Cyrus hooked up with Tinker Bell.”
Jamie Lynn looked down at herself and laughed because it kind of did look like that. She pointed to the donut left in the box. “You going to eat that one?”
He looked at it and shook his head. She snatched it and stuffed it in her mouth.
“How can such a little thing eat so much?” he wondered aloud as he tucked his phone into his pocket.
She shrugged, and they walked out together to his pricey sports car. “You’re going to make us go in your douchy car, aren’t you?” she asked.
He looked seriously wounded. “Most women fall at my feet when they see my car.”
She stepped back and looked at it. “Yeah, no,” she deadpanned. “Not me.”
“Yes, I see that. There’s not much that impresses you, is there?”
“If by that you mean fancy cars, you’re going out with the wrong girl today, Pretty Boy.”
“I’ve known that for a long time,” he said as he clicked the fob. “That you’re not into fancy cars and expensive dinners, I mean,” he amended hastily, “not that I’m going out with the wrong girl today. I’m exactly with the right girl. I’m glad you gave me a chance to show you I can be the right guy,” he concluded with a wide smile that showed off his brilliant teeth. Her heart warmed for a moment at his sincerity, and she quickly looked away and stepped into his car before he could see how affected she was by him. Something about this man made her feel like a bumbling idiot. She never felt this way around anyone else, and it was very disconcerting—she wasn’t sure if she liked or loathed the feeling.
—
He closed the door behind her and walked to the driver’s side. “So, where are we going?” he asked.
Jamie Lynn didn’t answer right away. In fact, she seemed lost in thought as she looked out the window.
“You didn’t plan anything?” he asked incredulously. He had taken the day off. Didn’t she understand how big a deal that was? He never took a day off. He did want to go out with her, but his plan had been to have a nice quiet dinner late in the evening, not to spend the morning driving all over Tarpon Springs while his work piled up back at the office.
He swallowed his irritation, because he really did want to show her a good time. Plus, not two seconds ago he’d noticed how the fortress that usually surrounded her had cracked a tiny bit, and he relished it. He remembered what her brother had said, and decided that even though the woman sitting next to him was a ball-busting, tough-as-nails, confident little pixie, she was also someone who needed to be treated with tenderness. So he sat back and patiently let her have her moment to think.
“How ’bout the park on Meridian and Third?” she said finally.
He eyed her questioningly. A park?
“Don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud, Pretty Boy. It’s a park. It’ll be fun.” She sat back and let him drive.
He didn’t like it when she called him Pretty Boy. Mostly because he knew she said it under the presumption that he was some sort of pretentious rich man who lived a perfect life. Maybe he had had a charmed life, but it certainly hadn’t been perfect.
His phone buzzed from the phone holder, but before he could answer she picked it up. “Did I mention it’s a phone-free date?” she said, tossing it carelessly into the backseat. Before he had a chance to protest, she pointed and squealed excitedly, “Oh, pull over there, at the corner!” He followed her instruction, pulling up at the curb. “Stay here. Be right back,” she said, without giving him a chance to say a word.
The woman was a tornado, and he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to keep up. Reaching behind his seat, he picked up the phone and hid it in his pocket. Normally he commanded a staff of at least twenty employees and people cowered around him, but now he found himself hiding his own phone for fear of what this tiny woman would say or do. He chuckled to himself as he settled in to wait. Ten minutes later she was back with three bags full of stuff, including…“Is that a fishing pole?” he asked.
“Don’t worry,” she said as she pushed the rod into the car at an awkward angle, half of it