He set down the gifts he’d brought and put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. “It’s fine. We’re fine. There’s nothing to be nervous about.” It was amazing, but her obvious attack of nerves had steadied his.
“But I almost ruined the chicken,” she protested. “I must have baked a hundred chickens in my time, and I’ve never practically burned one to a crisp.”
“The chicken’s not burned,” he assured her.
“Maybe not, but it’s going to be dry as a bone.”
“We’ll just smother it with gravy,” he consoled her, only to see panic cross her face.
“I forgot all about the gravy. What is wrong with me? Nobody serves mashed potatoes without gravy.”
Thomas resisted the desire to laugh. Instead, he met her gaze and held it, then slowly lowered his mouth and covered hers. He felt her sigh against his lips, then relax in his arms. When he pulled away, she looked a little dazed, but a whole lot happier. And so sweetly vulnerable, it made his heart ache.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much. Thank you.”
“Kissing you was hardly a sacrifice,” he assured her. “In fact, I think I might do it again.”
This time a full-fledged genuine smile broke across her face. “I wish you would.”
And so, he did.
A couple of hours later, with not one bit of dinner salvageable, they ordered pizza. Thomas assured her it was the best meal he’d had in recent memory. The appetizer had been pretty darn incredible, as well.
Bolstered by her talk with Laila and calmed by their long walk on the beach and a couple of glasses of wine, Jess picked up the phone and called Will on Sunday night.
“I missed you at dinner today,” she said when he answered.
“Is that so?” he said.
She could almost see the smile on his face. “It is. Where were you?”
“Trying to catch up on Lunch by the Bay paperwork. It’s gotten a little overwhelming.”
“Maybe you need to hire someone to help you keep up with it,” she suggested.
“I can manage.”
“Not if you’re skipping meals and not if you intend to court me the way I deserve to be courted.”
Her comment apparently stunned him into silence.
“Will?”
“I’m here.”
“Maybe where you should be is here,” she suggested.
“Jess, what has gotten into you?”
“Not a thing,” she claimed. “Well, a couple of glasses of wine, but that’s not what’s made me daring.”
“Oh? Then what has?”
“I’ve decided to go after what I want.”
“And you want me? You’re sure of that?”
“Tonight I do,” she declared.
“What about tomorrow?” he asked warily. “Or the day after that?”
“Sorry. I can’t see that far into the future.”
“And I can’t live just for the moment,” he said with unmistakable regret. “I want it all, Jess. Not a couple of hours or a night, because you’ve got an itch you want scratched.”
She sighed heavily. “I guess I knew it was a long shot. You’re very hard to seduce.”
“Not really,” he assured her. “You just have to figure out the magic words.”
Jess considered what he was telling her. She knew the words he wanted to hear, the same words most women wanted to hear—a simple “I love you.” She wasn’t there yet. She didn’t know if she ever would be. How could she guarantee forever, when she couldn’t even stick to something for a couple of hours?
“I know the words, Will. I just can’t say them.”
“I know that, sweetheart. You’ll say them when the time is right.”
“What if it never is?” she asked plaintively.
“There you go, selling yourself short again.”
“I’m being realistic,” she contradicted. “I don’t have a good track record with follow-through.”
“You have a business that says otherwise,” he reminded her. “Stop pressuring yourself, Jess. I’m a patient man. And I like what’s happening between us.”
“It’s too darn slow,” she said in frustration.
Will laughed. “You should see it from my side. Glacier-slow doesn’t begin to describe it. It’s going to be worth it, though. I’m counting on that.”
“You’re either the most amazing man I’ve ever known or the craziest,” she said.
“Let’s go with amazing,” he said. “Sweet dreams. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“When?”
“I think I’ll surprise you.”
She murmured a curse under her breath that had him laughing again. “I think I’ll move annoying to the top of the list,” she stated in exasperation.
“What list is that?”
“The one I’m keeping of your traits,” she told him.
“At least you’ve finally noticed I’m alive. I’ll take that as progress.”
He hung up before she could snap another curse that would blister his ears. Then she thought about the conversation and found herself grinning, after all. The man did know how to keep her on her toes. Maybe that was exactly what she’d needed all her life.
Will’s day fell apart on Monday. He had a patient in crisis and everything else had to be put on a back burner. He canceled his afternoon appointments and headed for the hospital, where the woman had checked herself in but now wanted to get back out again. She was creating such a fuss the staff had pleaded with him to calm her down.
En route, he placed a call to Bree at Flowers on Main. “I need you to bail me out of a jam,” he told her, explaining how his day had been going. “Jess is expecting me to turn up at the inn, and if I don’t, she’s going to be convinced I’ve gone back on my word.”
“Why are you calling me, rather than her?” Bree asked.
“Because you have flowers,” he said. “Lots and lots of flowers. I want something that will knock her socks off.”
“Ah, that would be the apology special,” she said. “No problem.”
“Do you get this kind of call a lot?” Will asked, taken aback.
“More than you can imagine,” she said. “I have something for the occasions when a dozen roses won’t quite
