I step closer to Diana to make room for my brother. Under my breath, I ask, “Bye-bye? Did he just say bye-bye?”
“We should bring that back. From our pre-tweens. I’m Nathan by the way. Very nice to meet you. I was telling Wyatt that I needed some entertainment tonight and you more than delivered.”
She smiles and quickly shakes his hand, pretty eyes confused and carrying the weight of everything that just went down. “Your choice of entertainment is not mine.”
He heads for my Jeep, leaving us alone.
Diana is staring at me as I touch her chin, look at her lips and lean in.
“What are you doing?” She whispers.
“This.” I give her a kiss that I wasn’t planning, and she certainly wasn’t expecting. She responds, yielding to me, and tasting like heaven.
She pulls back, glancing to see if her ex witnessed that, and returning to search my eyes. “What if he saw you?”
“I don’t care.”
“Why did you do that?”
“You defended my family. Thank you.”
A blush darkens her skin. “You…probably need to shower.”
“This is how I like to go out. Am I alone? Maybe I can start a trend.”
Nathan calls over. “I’m starving. Let’s all go eat. We can leave my car here.”
Turning to Diana I ask, “You want to come with us? You didn’t get a chance to eat, either. We’ll stop at my place so I can shower. You’re welcome to join.”
Her eyelashes flutter as she frowns. “In the shower?”
“Sure, why not?”
“I need to go home. My leg is hurting.”
“Oh shit, I forgot.” Reaching for it out of instinct I get surprised again by her stepping backward. Usually women stay put when I come near. “Sorry, I was just going to…”
We stare at each other and my sentence hangs in the air because why was I reaching out to touch a bruise? That’s like when you get a sunburn and everyone decides now is the time to greet you with a slap.
“I’ll order a car.”
“The sauce gone foul?”
“You don’t smell bad. You smell very good.” She quickly clarifies, “I love mushrooms. In fact, I’m kind of salivating right now. We ordered the same burger and I didn’t get mine either.”
She sure is cute when she’s flustered. Let’s see how cute I can make her.
“I make you salivate?”
“Not you! The…mushrooms.”
“Are you sure?”
“Very.”
I tilt my head stepping just a little bit closer. “How about now? Getting hungrier? Don’t want to join us for a meal? The shower’s purely voluntary.”
She's trying not to smile, and those eyelashes keep dropping to my lips. “I want to go home.”
“Can I see you again?”
A smile spreads her cherub lips. “You are the most confident man I have ever met in my life.”
“That a yes?”
“Your brother is waiting.”
“Let him wait. Let me take you out.”
“I don’t know.”
Leaning in really close I ask, “Why don’t you know?”
Diana’s eyes smolder, eyelashes heavy as she confesses, “Because you’re trouble.”
The heat of our breath mingles. “You know what my father always taught me, Diana?” I brush my lips against hers, hovering as she shivers. I give her a wink and cross the street, saying over my shoulder, “Always trust your instincts.”
CHAPTER 20
DIANA
Dazed, I watch him cross the street. He holds up his beefy hand to stop traffic, calling to his brother, “Should I wear my badge twenty-four seven? What’s the deal?”
Nathan is leaning against the Jeep’s shiny grill, muscular arms crossed, the family smirk etched into his handsome face.
Trust my instincts.
What if they pull me in two directions? What then?
He has a fan group after him!
How do you date a guy like that?
My body thinks casual sex is the obvious solution. My ovaries are saying, let him in. My brain is telling them, slow your roll. Don’t start flinging eggs out like dice. You’ve got a heart somewhere here too, and it will remember.
He spots me still standing here right where he left me. “You coming?” Suddenly he bursts into a run, nearly nicked by a car. He touches the hood and leaps out of the way, bounding between two parked ones to land on the sidewalk in front of me. “I forgot about your leg. It hurts that bad? Want me to carry you again?”
Wyatt looks so earnest that I find myself nodding and even reaching for him.
Bending at the knees, he pauses, mentally negotiating how best to do this without worsening the bruise. He certainly didn’t give it much thought at the hospital. But he was frustrated with me then. Now he’s being considerate.
And a gentleman.
You see this, Eddie?
“Most interesting Friday I’ve ever had,” I whisper.
“What?” he asks, eyes distant from problem-solving.
“How you carried me today, that worked.”
Wyatt bends and presses his shoulder into my stomach standing up with me draped over it. As he strolls across the street he asks, “How’s that? You okay?”
“I’m awesome.”
Wyatt carefully sets me down, gives me another sexy wink, and helps me into the passenger side. “You’re giving me the front seat? Even though your brother has longer legs and you’ll be dropping me off first?”
Nathan climbs in back as Wyatt says, “Am I dropping you off first? That shower invitation still stands.” He laughs at my expression, moves my dress to make sure all of it is inside, “This is pretty,” and shuts the door.
As Wyatt walks around the front, wiping goo off of his leather jacket, his brother warns me in a low voice, “Don’t take the shower.”
I whip my head around.
He’s serious.
“I wasn’t going to.”
Nathan stares at me, silent.
The driver’s-side door opens and Wyatt jumps in. “Getting hungrier by the second and
