get it over with.” He grinned a little. “Is that what I should do? You know, do the worst first, so you can enjoy the rest of the evening? That’s what you’re saying, right?”
“No.” She drew the word out, then gave her head a small shake. “Yes. That’s exactly what I was saying. Do the worst first.”
He felt his lips turning up as a smile he couldn’t quite stop spread across his face.
He bent down, brushing his lips over her temple, feeling heady with the knowledge that she did indeed want him to kiss her.
He also liked the idea that she was nervous.
And he liked even more that her hands had come up and gone around his shoulders, and she was doing something to the back of his neck that he didn’t care if she never stopped.
But it probably wasn’t a good idea to have their first kiss on Mrs. Hudson’s doorstep, with her front door hanging wide open, and six kids waiting on them to get there, as well as a bunch of men hoping to take Pastor Gus away.
“I don’t think I have enough time to kiss you the way I want to. So I think we better wait.”
“You just want to torture me.”
“Busted. Is it torture?”
She nodded. “Pretty close.”
“Good. I didn’t want to be the only one feeling that.”
“You’re not. And I think it’s sadistic that makes you feel better.”
“Sadistic. And she still wants me to kiss her. I think I like you.”
“I think it scares me that you do.”
“I think I’m the one that should be scared. Falling for a woman who likes sadistic men.”
She shook her head. “Don’t make ‘men’ plural. Because it’s not.”
“Good. I’d be kind of upset if it were.”
Her eyes were serious when she looked at him. Her smile had faded. “Me too.”
“That’s not something you have to worry about. I’ve got other faults.”
“Nobody’s expecting perfection.”
“It’s a good thing, because you’re not getting it with me.”
“I don’t want it.” Her look became sincere. “Because I’m not perfect. It would be terrible if someone as imperfect as I am got together with the perfect man. It makes me feel inferior just thinking about it.”
Her thumb ran up the side of his neck, and he kind of forgot to breathe. Thankfully, he didn’t lose the thread of the conversation.
“You’re not inferior. I have the thought that I don’t deserve you run through my head about a hundred times every hour. Not even sure what you are doing standing here with me.”
“I’m wondering why you’re determined to torture me all evening, and I’m hoping that you change your mind. That’s what I’m doing.”
“Remember? Sadistic.”
“Remember? I don’t care.”
She felt warm and soft under his hands, and he wanted to just pull her close and hold her and forget about the kids and the men and the responsibilities that he had, just spend the evening holding her and talking to her, telling her about his dad and the company and the things he needed to do, and ask her if she’d be interested in doing any of that with him and, if not, if there was any chance of them being together if he stayed in Cowboy Crossing or followed her around the country wherever she went, which he’d do if there was even the slightest chance she’d take him.
He almost had to think there was. She wasn’t the kind of woman who was going to stand on the porch and talk about kissing while she was holding him when she wasn’t interested in at least some kind of relationship.
Maybe she wasn’t thinking permanence, but he hoped with all his heart and soul that she was.
He could hardly wait to ask her. But he closed his mouth around the words.
When he talked about it, he wanted to have enough time to have a full conversation. He didn’t want to rush, and have a misunderstanding, and not be able to talk it out.
And he was serious about the time it was going to take him to kiss her.
He didn’t have nearly enough time.
“Do you need to say goodbye to Mrs. Hudson?”
“No. She’s finishing up the pantry, and then I kind of think she might be spending a little time online.” She gave Preston a grin that made his brows pull together.
“Online? Mrs. Hudson?”
Athena nodded. “I think it’s serious.”
“It?”
Athena nodded again. “I believe she has a budding romance, and she’s going to spend some time online with him.”
“Mrs. Hudson. A budding romance. And she’s meeting the man online? Why