Still The One - Carrie Elks Page 0,59

wearing.” He winked at her. “They were hot.” He cleared his throat, a smile lifting his lips. “I also had an ulterior motive. I wanted to get you up here and I couldn’t do that without a car.”

The air was sparking between them. Despite the cold blast of the air conditioning, her body felt overheated as she remembered that night. Their second kiss. Less fumbling this time. More sure. They’d lain on the grass together, looking up at the stars sparkling in the dark sky. Then he’d touched her, until she saw stars behind her eyes, swallowing her cries with his warm, wanting mouth.

“Is that why you’ve brought us up here now?”

He grinned. “I really do want to talk to you about the drive-in,” he told her. “But I also don’t know if I can talk to you without kissing you, and I figure you don’t want Rich and his crew seeing that.”

The way he was looking at her made her stomach do a flip. Intense, dark, needy. “I don’t,” she said softly. “I hate it when people talk about me. About us. This thing that’s happening between us.” She gestured at the space between them. “I want it to stay between us. And I’m grateful that you’re thinking of my needs.”

“I know you,” he said, a half-smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “I know how you think. And though I want to go and shout about you to the world, I’ll take this at your pace.”

“Even if it means playing it cool in front of everybody else?”

“I hid my feelings for you for years,” he said, biting down a grin. “I can do it for a few more weeks.” He leaned forward to brush his lips against hers. “At least in public.”

She curled her hand around his neck, sighing softly as he deepened the kiss. “I just don’t want people judging me. They’ll say you gave me this job because I’m sleeping with you.”

“They’re not as judgmental as you think.” He brushed the hair from her face, his fingers lingering on her jaw. “You’re not your mom, Van.”

“That’s not how they’d see it.” She closed her eyes as he leaned in to kiss her neck, his mouth sending tingles down her spine. “Like mother like daughter. The town sluts.”

“Anybody calls you that, I’ll make sure they can’t speak again.” His voice was low.

She laughed at his words. “You’re my hero, you know that?”

“I’ll be whatever you want me to be,” he told her. “But I need you to know this is serious. I want you in my life and in my bed, Van. No messing about, no mixed messages. This is it for me.”

His gaze was deadly serious. Her breath caught at his intensity. “I feel the same. Just give me some time to get used to it.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “Agreed.”

“And in the meantime, we can sneak around like teenagers,” she said, grinning. “And make out in cars.” She cupped his jaw with her hands, brushing her lips against his. He kissed her back, hot and hard until they were both breathless.

“Sounds good to me.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Van! Hey!” Maddie Clark walked out of the diner kitchen, waving at Van as she leaned on the counter. “How are you? And your sister? Is she okay?” She walked along the counter and picked up the coffee carafe. “You want some?” she asked. “It’s decaf, I’m afraid. Murphy messed up the real stuff.”

“Sure.” Van watched, amused, as Maddie filled up two mugs with the bitter liquid, then put them on the counter along with a few containers of creamer and a container of sugar. Then she walked around and sat on the stool next to Van’s.

“Maddie Clark, how many times have I told you not to help yourself to my coffee,” Murphy, the diner’s owner, grumbled as he shook his head at her cup. “You don’t work here anymore, remember?”

“I was saving you the hassle. I hear Cora Jean’s not feeling well.” Maddie shrugged. “And I did say hello.”

“Well unless you want to put an apron on and run a shift, I suggest you stay on that side of the counter.”

Maddie blew him a kiss. “I miss you like crazy, Murph, but I’m never working for you again. You’re too bad humored.”

“Humph.” He shook his head and walked back into the kitchen, the door swinging shut behind him.

“He loves me really,” Maddie told Van. “Even if he doesn’t show it.”

“I didn’t know you used to work here,” Van said, taking a