Mother, Please! - By Brenda Novak & Jill Shalvis & Alison Kent Page 0,43
trash can, taken aback at the wave of regret that hit her.
“A bill, huh?”
With a little jerk, she turned and faced…Jason Lawrence. He stood there in his faded Levi’s, a dark T-shirt with an opened plaid shirt over the top of it, and a wide smile. He had his sunglasses shoved on top of his head, which left his hair sticking straight up. In his hand was a stack of mail.
She glanced at the letter in her hand again, and felt her heart tighten. “A bill would be preferable to this.”
“Really?” He reached for the pink envelope, but she yanked it behind her back.
“It’s none of your business.”
“No,” he agreed quietly, watching her face. “It sure isn’t. I just thought I might help you get rid of it, since it’s upsetting you.”
“I’m not upset.”
“If you say so.” He cocked his head and studied her. “You work hard today?”
“I suppose.”
He laughed. “I imagine you work hard every day, don’t you?”
“I like my work.”
“Listen, why don’t you let me buy you a drink? You can relax a muscle or two, maybe even breathe all the way in and out—”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t seem fine.”
“You don’t know me.”
He scratched his jaw, the sound of his stubble making her fingers itch inexplicably. “I think I have a pretty good idea of who you are.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Do you?”
“You’re the woman who works from sunup till sundown because work defines you. You love your job and don’t understand others who don’t work as hard as you do. You go home most nights and look around at your quiet life and think, it’s okay that I’m alone, I have my work. You eat, also alone, you watch a little TV, and then you fall into bed, exhausted, staring at the ceiling wondering what it would be like to have someone hold you. Then you wake up in the morning and laugh at yourself, because you don’t need anyone to hold you, you’re fine, and then you start all over again.”
She could only stare at him. How did he know? How could he possibly know?
“How am I doing?” he asked softly.
“I don’t watch TV,” she said. “Much.”
He laughed. “Come with me tonight, Mel. Come enjoy yourself, away from the vet clinic.”
“Are you saying I never enjoy myself outside of work?”
“Are you saying you do?”
“All the time,” she lied.
“Really.” He leaned back against the row of mailboxes, crossed his feet and took a lazy, easygoing stance as he called her on that lie. “Tell me the last thing you did just for fun.”
“That’s easy. I…” Honestly, this couldn’t be that hard. “Well, I—”
“Don’t hurt yourself now.”
The man was insufferable. “Just last night I took a bubble bath,” she said defiantly.
“Woo-hoo, party time.” Moving away from the mailboxes, he dumped his junk mail into the trash, then smiled at her, a slow, drawn-out smile that somehow made her pulse accelerate. “I’ve got a radical idea, so don’t pass out. How about trying something else that’s fun within twenty-four hours of your bubble bath?”
She eyed him. “What do you have in mind?”
“So suspicious. Dinner is what I have in mind.”
“Dinner,” she repeated. That didn’t sound so difficult. “I don’t know….”
“Too much fun for you?”
She had to laugh. “Okay, but just food, right?”
“Are you saying wild animal sex is out?”
She opened her mouth, saw the teasing glint in his eyes and let out a breath.
Stepping closer, he tugged lightly on a lock of her hair. “Relax, Doc. I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do.” Serious now, he looked deep into her eyes. “Ever.”
She looked down at the pink envelope in her fingers. Her mind wanted her to trash it, but apparently her heart had a bigger say in things, because she tucked it into her purse, which for some reason, made Jason smile at her.
Then he led her out of the post office and into the bright, warm sun, where the rest of the evening loomed large and terrifying in front of her.
THERE WEREN’T MANY CHOICES for dinner in town. They could eat at the Serendipity Café, the Taco Bell Express, or at the bar at the Bulls Inn.
Deciding that none of those would do, Jason pulled up to the only grocery store in Martis Hills. He turned off the engine of his truck and looked over at Melissa. “You don’t by any chance trust me yet, do you?”
She lifted a brow.
“Thought not.” He eyed her carefully. She was nervous, he decided,