“Your name?” Her smile slipped a little as she pulled her hands from his waist and put them on his upper arms. To push away from him! “Don’t you want me to know?”
A tremor in her voice scared him. He’d frightened her. Or offended her. He wasn’t sure.
“No! No, it’s that this moment is so right. Well, I got sort of lost in it.” Unable to resist, he ran a finger down her cheek. He had to see if her skin felt as soft as it looked.
She leaned into the touch. Sighing as if she’d found a comfortable place to rest, Bonnie moved her hands up to his shoulders.
The song ended. Around them couples pulled apart and went back to lawn chairs or blankets laid out on blacktop or grass. Bonnie didn’t pull away. Not at all. At his words, she slipped her arms back to his waist and hugged him.
“I’m so happy you’ve moved to Oak Grove.”
Chapter 4
His arms slid away from her as the man stepped out of her hug. Odd, she’d hugged a man and didn’t know his name. Mr. Granger, obviously if he was Gus’ son. But what was his first name?
“Did I say the wrong thing?”
The man ran a hand through his dark wavy hair. The move drew Bonnie’s eyes to it, and she fisted her own hands to keep from reaching out to touch that hair.
Woah! She’d never been tempted to do anything like that! Why was this guy bringing out strange temptations?
In front of her, the gorgeous man’s breath came out with a sudden whoosh. He bent over, hands on his thighs. It was too much for Bonnie.
She reached through the grass of her skirt to the back pocket of denim shorts she wore underneath. Her trembling fingers yanked out the white bag.
Seconds later, she had it up to her lips. Absolutely not! She would not give into this panic attack and let it go hurricane strength on her.
Focusing in on the rate of her breathing, Bonnie didn’t see the arm come around her. Tenderness sent a tingle of pure happiness through her. Such a sense of wellbeing flooded her as the arm lightly squeezed her shoulders. As if the tide of the ocean lapped inside her soul.
Sometime during her attack, Elvis left the platform. He stood in front of the couple, drawing everyone’s eyes to them.
“Now, here’s a little advice for this couple.” And with those words, he broke into a slow, sweet rendition of Love me Tender.
Next to her ear, a low velvety voice—one she’d only heard a few minutes ago but had now become the center of her world—urged her to move with him. “Come on. Amazingly, there’s a free patch of grass over there. Let’s get away from everyone and sit for a while.”
Sighing deeply, Bonnie lowered the white bag and let him move her to the lawn. It was the bit of grass by the entrance of the mall’s driveway. Far enough from the party that no one wanted to sit there.
That same warm, deep voice gave a slight chuckle as he removed the bag from her hand. “I see a lot of these tonight so I’m guessing that your restaurant did good with this shindig.”
Absently, Bonnie looked up at his ordinary face that seemed extraordinarily handsome to her. Smiling, she nodded before correcting him. “It’s a luau, not a shindig or a lollapalooza.”
“What’s the difference?”
She shrugged. “Who knows? It’s a mystery.”
By this time Bonnie had recovered enough to be a little sassy. “Yes, a mystery. Just like your name.”
His chuckle, that soft, low sound, came again. “I never did tell you. It’s JT--JT Kirkwood.”
Bonnie’s curiosity was piqued by the name, anxiety forgotten. “Kirkwood? I thought Gus Granger was your father.”
JT shook his head. The shadows where they sat made it hard to see his expression. Bonnie could just make out the downturn to his mouth. His very interesting mouth.
Why did she think that? He had a mouth and lips like any other person. The reminder didn’t keep her eyes from watching those lips as he spoke.
What she saw pulled at a place deep inside her, and somehow, she felt his pain as he explained. “Pa and Ma Granger have always taken care of me. My own parents died in a plane crash.”
Bonnie struggled but couldn’t quite stifle the small sob. He picked up her hand and squeezed it. “Hey, it’s alright. Even before they died, my parents never lived with me.”
In the dark, he somehow felt her look of surprise. Maybe she’d made some movement. Stiffened or something. Whatever, he explained the strange relationship with his parents.
“They were missionaries, totally devoted. Ma was my mother’s cousin, but she’s always been so much more than that since she and Pa raised me. Had me even as a baby. My parents would come to visit, but they never took me with them.”
Bonnie leaned away from him, wanting to look up at his face even in the nearly full darkness. “Wow! Does that make you some kind of super Christian? Coming from such committed believers?”
JT still held her hand, and he squeezed it tenderly. “No, ma’am. My own faith in Christ made me a Christian. But, I’m a work in progress like everyone else.”
“Yeah, I get that. More days than I want to admit, I’m too tired for my bible reading. Not a great example for my mother. She’s not a believer.”
Their talk had grown too serious. When she mentioned her mother, she felt her mouth cringed and struggled for a different topic.
“Tell me what JT stands for? No one names their baby JT.”
In the dark, she heard his groan. “No way. You’d have to marry
