made her feelings for him clear.
“Listen,” she said, dropping her eyes to where her hand pressed into the steel tabletop. “I meant thank you for the job too.”
“Sure thing,” he said, his voice pitching up on the last word.
“Because you booked me, I’ve had several other jobs come my way, all of them because of you.”
“Oh, you don’t know that,” he said.
She looked up and right into his eyes. Hers were wide and earnest and filled with an emotion he couldn’t quite grasp. Did she…? Maybe he could ask her out again and she’d say yes.
“I do know that,” she said. “Every one of them said you referred me.”
“Oh.” Him and his stupid mouth. Why couldn’t he keep quiet? Even posts on forums and comments on Two Cents were “talking.”
“Ace, I—” She shook her head. “I know you like me.”
“Mm hm.” He wasn’t going to deny it, but he didn’t need to open the door to his heart and invite her inside to carve it out with one of her fancy knives either.
Holly Ann took a step toward him, and he couldn’t help letting his gaze slide down the height of her body. She was curvy and delicious and everything Ace wanted physically in a woman. He licked his lips as he returned his gaze to hers.
“Would you be willing to take me to dinner sometime?” she asked.
Surprise shot through Ace at the speed of light. “What?” came out of his mouth instead of, Yes, of course. Let’s go right now.
Holly Ann ducked her head and smiled, which so wasn’t fair to Ace’s pulse. “Did I speak too fast, cowboy?” She stopped right in front of him and raised her hand to fiddle with the collar on his shirt.
He held very still, though he knew this particular female tactic very well. She was touching him—a very good sign. She was in his personal space—another good sign. A very loud sign. All he had to do was take her in his arms, say yes, and kiss her—and she’d probably let him.
All the signs said so.
“You’ve asked me to dinner before,” she said slowly, her eyes trained on that blasted collar, though it was nothing special. In fact, there was very little special about Ace, and he knew it. He blended in amongst all the other Glovers, many of them with bigger, brighter personalities. He’d tried competing with Bishop and Bear and Ward for a while, but he’d given it up in recent years. He’d still gotten dates, though the women he typically attracted were fairly average themselves.
Not Holly Ann. Everything about her was above average, and she was way out of his league.
She looked up at him, her eyes boring into his while she said, “I’d like to go to dinner with you. Would you be willing to take me on a dinner date?” Once she finished, her eyes dropped to his mouth, and Ace quickly read all the signs one more time.
She was still touching him.
She was leaning into him now.
She’d just asked him to take her on a date.
And she was staring at his mouth.
Can’t get any clearer than that, he thought.
“Absolutely,” he said. He wanted to ask what had changed. Find out if her business really was as stable as she’d made it sound while they’d brought in her ingredients and equipment.
Instead of asking her any of that, he simply did what she wanted him to—he took her into his arms, leaned down, and kissed her.
They both pulled in a breath through their noses, and then Holly Ann kissed him right on back.
Chapter Eighteen
Holly Ann couldn’t believe what she’d just done, though she’d been rehearsing her speech for three solid days. She hadn’t believed she’d actually go through with it. Faced with Ace Glover, she almost hadn’t.
But he was so charming, and so good-looking, and just plain good. She could really only say no to him when he wasn’t live and in-person. It was much easier to deflect his invitation to dinner while they texted. Even over the phone had been easier, though not as easy as texting, to tell him she needed to focus on her business.
He’d stopped asking after that, and weeks had gone by. With every new client she got because of him, he buried himself a little deeper into her heart.
She’d known she was in trouble with the tall, dark-haired cowboy the moment he’d sat down in front of her at church, months ago now. As if he’d been drawn by her, he’d turned