“I love brownies,” she said. “Does that count in the cake category?”
“Absolutely.” He paused then added. “Now, this is a deal-breaker question. Nuts or no nuts in your brownies?”
“Brownies aren’t brownies without the nuts. And pecans over walnuts, all day long,” she said.
“Good girl,” he said. “We agree on more than one thing now. We’d better stop while we’re ahead.”
“Right. We should.” She held the phone, not wanting to end the call. “Did you drive back out to the ranch?”
“No. I have a condo in Austin. I usually stay here during the week. The traffic getting in and out of the city can be difficult on good days, impossible on others.”
“You’re lucky. Not everyone can afford to have two places,” she said.
“Having my own place allows me some peace and quiet away from my brothers. I look forward to having a place of my own someday on the ranch. I have the plans all drawn up and the site staked out. I just need to free up the crews to start construction. It’ll have a huge porch wrapping around all sides with porch swings, rocking chairs, a couple of kids and dogs, someday.”
“Sounds wonderful,” Ariana said. “Which will come first, the kids or the dogs?”
“It will likely depend on the mother of my children. She might want to have a say in the matter.”
A stab of longing tore at Ariana’s heart. When BODS spit out the right match for Dillon, that lucky woman would be the one having Dillon’s babies, not her. That made her sad.
“You still there?” he asked.
“I’m here,” she whispered, her throat tightening. “Is it wrong of me to want Leslie to take a long time to fix BODS?”
Dillon chuckled. “No. I’ve almost called her twice today to ask her to stall. But that didn’t seem fair to her other clients.”
Ariana’s heart warmed. Dillon had no desire to suffer through meeting a BODS’s corrected match, any more than she did.
“So, after your yoga class, what do you usually do?” he asked, rustling sounding in the background as though he was getting more comfortable in his seat.
“I catch up on my grocery shopping and laundry. Nothing exciting.”
“I could help you with the grocery shop,” he said. “We could get the ingredients to make two apple pies.”
Ariana laughed. “Two?”
“I’d want to make sure we had enough for both of us. Or, we could make one pie and a pan of nutty brownies.”
“Shouldn’t there be some protein and vegetables in there somewhere?” she asked.
“We could call out for pizza delivery.”
“And that qualifies as protein and vegetables?” She laughed.
“If you get a pizza with everything on it, it will have protein and vegetables.”
“You have a point.”
“Of course, I do.” He paused. “So, is there a pizza in our future together.”
“And apple pie?” she asked.
“I like to think so.”
“Makes perfect sense following a healthy dose of yoga in the morning,” she said.
“Then it’s a date,” he said.
Ariana smiled into the phone. “It’s a date.”
“Who needs a computer system when you can find your own match in the dark.”
“With your eyes closed,” she said.
“You had your eyes closed?”
“I was trying to get my night vision faster after the lights went out,” she said. “I thought it would improve if I closed my eyes, and then opened them.”
A chuckle sounded in her ear. “Do you get the feeling we were meant to meet?”
She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. “It seems that way. Though, I don’t think you were meant to get dumped into a pond trying to teach a neophyte how to fish.”
His chuckle turned into a laugh. “I wish you could have seen yourself as you strung the worm on the hook.”
“And I wish you could have seen yourself when the fish slapped you in the face.” She laughed with him. “A very memorable day.”
“Yes, it was,” he said. “And not all bad. There were some highlights in there.”
“Mine was when you turned around at the coffee shop,” she said softly.
“That was one of mine. There were a couple others.” His voice lowered, getting deeper and sexier.
“The kiss on the shore?” Ariana whispered.
“Definitely,” he said. “And the one at the coffee shop not too long ago. I can still taste you on my lips.”
Ariana touched her fingers to her lips where they still tingled from his touch.
“How many more hours until nine?” he asked.
“Too many,” she responded.
“Tell me again about your techniques of meditation, because all I can think of is you. Especially when I close my eyes. I’m back in the BODS building in the dark, bumping into you, or walking down the stairwell for twenty flights.”
Her heart swelled in her chest, and her pulse beat hard in her veins. “I could cancel my yoga class tomorrow.”
“No,” he said, his voice firm. “That’s your business. I just want to get to know you better.”
“Seems it might only show us how different we are.”
“I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” he said. “Didn’t you say opposites attract for a reason?”
“Yes. But you also have to have things in common.”
“We do,” Dillon said.
“Apple pie!” they said at the same time.
A long, comfortable pause stretched between them
“Are you sleepy?” he asked
“A little,” she admitted.
“Then I’ll let you go to sleep. You need to be bright and cheerful for your class in the morning. Goodnight, Ariana.”
“Goodnight, Dillon.” She waited for a click or a dial tone indicating he’d ended the call. “Dillon?”
“Sorry. I thought you were going to end the call.”
“I thought you were,” she said with a smile on her lips. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” he said. This time, he did end the call.
Ariana lowered the cellphone and stared at his name on the screen.
Dillon Jacobs.
Then she rolled onto her side, tucked her phone beneath her ear and closed her eyes, remembering the silhouette of his broad shoulders outlined in the faint glow of the distant exit sign. Something beautiful had happened that night the lights went out in a high-rise in Austin.
Ariana was determined to hold onto the memories as long as
