Saxon's Savior (Protect and Serve #3) - Pandora Pine Page 0,31
I’d have a heart attack right on the spot.
Dallas hated me. He’d told me so, hadn’t he? It wasn’t fair for him to taunt me like this if he knew I had a crush on him. “What if he’s got a crush on you too?” I asked my empty living room. The ringing doorbell kept me from answering my own question.
Steeling my nerves for the punchline to come, I opened my front door. It was Dallas, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. He smiled at me. Christ, he looked good enough to eat. Okay, maybe he’d been serious about wanting to go out with me after all. “Hi, you look nice.”
“Nice? This is my best flannel shirt!” Dallas laughed. “It’s a little chilly. You might want to grab a hoodie.”
Where was my head? I’d almost walked out the door in short sleeves. Dallas hadn’t been there for ten minutes, and already my mind had turned to applesauce. I ducked into the kitchen to grab my sweatshirt from the back of a chair. I checked my pocket for my wallet, phone, and keys. “Ready to go.” I offered my date a smile of my own.
“I haven’t seen Die Hard in forever.” Dallas grinned as he opened my door for me. He drove a slick, black pick-up truck. I liked it.
“Neither have I. Classic Christmas movie,” I said as Dallas shut my door. I saw the shocked look on his face. There are two types of people in this world: people who think Die Hard is a Christmas movie and people who are wrong. It seemed Dallas was wrong. I wasn’t surprised. We didn’t agree on much of anything.
“Wait!” Dallas climbed into the cab and started the truck. “Did you say Die Hard is a Christmas movie? Or am I having a stroke?”
“Smile. Raise your hands over your head.” When Dallas obeyed, I laughed. “You’re not having a stroke, so I must have said Christmas movie.” I winked at my date who still looked thunderstruck.
“It’s a movie that takes place at Christmas. There’s a big difference between a December movie and something that celebrates the reason for the season.”
“Uh, How the Grinch Stole Christmas doesn’t feature a Whoville Baby Jesus and it’s a Christmas movie.” HA! Cha-ching! I had Dallas on that point.
“Oh, please, you can’t compare the Grinch and Die Hard.” Dallas rolled his eyes. “Why can’t you be an easy date and ask what I packed in the picnic basket?”
“Dissent and discord, obviously.” I shot back.
Parking the car, Dallas turned to look at me and burst out laughing. “Sounds delish. Let’s grab a place to sit.”
Okay, I hadn’t been expecting Dallas to laugh at me. With me. Whatever. Maybe we didn’t have to spend the night fighting with each other.
Prescott Park was a wide-open space on the far side of Gloucester Harbor. The movie screen was set on top of a small rise. It was currently showing a SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon. The ocean was off to my right. I could see the gentle waves lapping the rocky shore.
“They show kids content until eight. Parents bring their little ones out to run around and have that outdoor movie experience.” Dallas found a spot back from the kids and spread out a flannel blanket. It was red with lines of green and black through it. “Have a seat.”
Slipping off my shoes, I obeyed my date. How bizarre was it that Dallas Haynes was my date? I needed to chill out and go with the flow.
“Do you want to eat now or wait until the movie starts?” Dallas snickered at SpongeBob’s antics.
“We can wait for the movie.” Right now, I was more content to watch Dallas. He was like a big kid himself, laughing along with the cartoon and pointing out silly kids. It crossed my mind he’d never had a carefree time like this in his own childhood. I hadn’t either, come to think of it. These kids chased each other and laughed in an exaggerated way with their parents. “I bet they’ll get bedtime stories and cuddles tonight,” I said out loud, not meaning to.
“Huh,” Dallas turned his attention from the kids to me. “I was thinking the same thing. Every kid should have homes with more laughter than fights.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Maybe Dallas and I had something in common after all.
“I always wanted that kind of family. I got it to some degree with the McCoys, but I was older when I was placed with them, twelve years