Ten

Emery

“I should call and cancel,” I told Heidi a few hours later.

She was crashed back on the guest bed at Kimber’s and staring at me with raised eyebrows. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“Because he’s Landon’s brother!”

“So?” she asked, exasperated. “He’s smoking hot! You’ve already made out with his face. You should so fuck him.”

I rolled my eyes and flung a sweater at her face. “Shut up! We’re not going to have sex.”

“Sure. Then, why are you wearing that?”

I was standing in a skimpy black lace bra and a thong that I’d thankfully brought with me from Austin, and it looked sexy on my curvy frame.

“What?” I asked defensively. “I have nothing in my closet. I need to get the rest of my stuff from Austin.”

“Yeah, okay,” she said sarcastically.

I swung around to face her. “Isn’t it just a little…weird?”

“You are the only one making it weird.”

“I think maybe I’d feel better if I talked to Landon.”

Heidi snorted. “Now, that’s something I never thought I’d hear you say.”

“Oh, shut it,” I said, flipping her the bird.

“You’ve talked to Landon twice in over nine years since the breakup, including this weekend! Other than the sad, sappy messages you left on his voice mail in college.”

“Don’t,” I hissed. My cheeks flamed.

I hated to think about the heartbroken girl I’d been when Landon dumped me. But, at eighteen, he had been my first serious boyfriend. I’d gone on to forget all about him with a long line of mistakes. And, now, I was going on a date with his brother.

“Come on, Em. This will be fine. You thought Jensen Wright was sexy as hell since before you had any interest in Landon. Cut loose.”

I sighed. Sure, I’d had an unhealthy obsession with Jensen, just like every other girl my age, but I was a totally different person now than I’d been ten years ago—physically and emotionally. Plus, I’d gotten through three years of a PhD program. I could handle one night out with Jensen Wright and not make a fool of myself. Hopefully.

“All right. I won’t cancel.”

“Excellent. I’d go with this.” She plucked a black V-neck sweater off the floor and passed it to me.

I tugged it over my head and paired it with my classic black skinny jeans and boots. Swishing my dark hair over to one side of my head, I held my hands out. “What do you think?”

“I still think a little black dress would be better. Are you sure he said warm and comfortable?”

“Definitely.”

The doorbell rang downstairs, and my eyes widened to saucers.

I heard Lilyanne screaming, “I’ll get it. I’ll get it. I’ll get it!”

“He’s early,” I groaned, glancing at the clock.

“Well, hurry up. Go and intercept the minion, or he’s going to be taking Lily,” Heidi said.

I snatched my phone off of the nightstand, slid it into my back pocket, and dashed out of the room. I could see Noah and Kimber moving toward the front door, and Heidi was on my heels. With my luck, this would turn into one big family affair. Ugh!

“And who are you?” I heard Jensen ask from the front door.

I hopped the last two steps and turned to find him bending down, eye-level with my niece. He had a big smile on his face and a bouquet of gorgeous flowers in white, deep dark reds, and plum purples.

“I’m Lilyanne. Who are you?” she asked.

“So nice to meet you, Lilyanne. My name is Jensen.”

“Are those for me?” she asked, stretching her hands out toward the flowers.

He laughed. “They most certainly are. Do you have a vase to put them in? I can show you how to keep them pretty for a long time.”

Lilyanne squealed and clutched the flowers to her chest. “Mommy! Daddy!” she shrieked. “I have flowers!”

“How nice,” Kimber said.

“I think I have a boyfriend!”

Everyone laughed at that comment. But Lilyanne just twirled around in a circle and dashed to her parents.

Noah scooped her up in his arms. “You’re a little young for a boyfriend, I think. Right?”

“Yep,” Kimber agreed. “Much too young.”

Lilyanne stuck out her bottom lip and hugged her flowers.

“Let’s go with Mom to find something to put them in,” Noah said, carrying her out of the room.

Jensen stood from where he’d been crouching, and his eyes found me across the distance of the living room. His eyes seared into me like a brand. I immediately felt flushed. I watched him peruse my outfit, starting at the tips of my toes and agonizingly dragging his eyes up to my face. My cheeks burned like a torch as a smile bloomed on his face, dimpling his cheeks, and it reminded me that not only was he drop-dead gorgeous, but he was also somehow amazing with kids.

Fuck, what am I getting myself into?

Heidi nudged me forward into the charged space and then disappeared into the kitchen.

“Hey,” I said, feeling the weight of our distance and moving toward him like a magnet. How did he have this kind of effect on me? Did all women feel like their bodies were on fire when Jensen Wright settled his gaze on them?

“Hey, Emery,” he said, taking another step toward me so that we were nearly touching.

He held out his empty hand and brushed my arm. My skin crackled, and I had to control my emotions not to show it.

“I had flowers for you.”

I cleared my throat and smiled up into his deep dark eyes. “That’s okay. You just made Lily’s day. She’s going to be talking about you forever now.”

“Ah, good. She’s adorable. How old is she? Four?”

I nodded and used the opportunity to glance back at Lily, who I could just see in the kitchen. “Yeah.”

“That’s a great age.”

“She’s the best,” I agreed. I swiveled back to face him and was met with a molten gaze that brought back all of the dirty thoughts I’d had in church earlier today. Yeah, there was no way I could end this date tonight. Not with him looking like that.

A heavy black Arc’teryx jacket molded to his body over a T-shirt. Dark jeans ran down his powerful thighs, revealing dark boots that were definitely worn and loved. I was a lost cause.

“I know I’m early,” he said. “I saw that a cold front would be moving through tonight. That was not in the plan, especially with how the wind is now.”

“Only in Texas,” I said with a laugh. “The weather is crazy unpredictable. With my luck, we’ll have a dust storm blow through.”

“Let’s hope not.”

“I’ll get my coat.” I dashed to the closet and grabbed my winter coat, sliding it over my sweater.

Heidi waved at me from the kitchen and mouthed, Have fun. I winked at her and then returned to Jensen.

“Ready.”

Jensen raised his hand at my family, who were staring at the pair of us from the kitchen. I hurried out the door in embarrassment and put getting my own place on the ever-growing list of things that I needed to do. He pulled the door closed behind us and veered me toward a lifted black truck. It was huge and masculine and looked like I was going to need a step up to ride it. Just like Jensen.

I shook my head to get my mind out of the gutter and let Jensen open the door for me. I brushed past him. The contact sent shivers up my arm that I knew I couldn’t blame on the weather. I sank into the passenger side, and then Jensen shut my door and climbed into the driver’s side. I checked out the kick-ass interior and reworked my Jensen framework around this truck. I definitely hadn’t pictured him for a big-truck guy. For some reason, I’d assumed he’d have a shiny little sports car. I really needed to get over my prejudices about this guy.

Jensen backed out of Kimber’s driveway, and then we started heading toward town.

His eyes peeked over at me in interest, like I was a puzzle he wanted to put together. “So, what are you in school for?”

Okay, play it cool. I wasn’t hiding why I was here, but I hadn’t really talked about it with anyone outside of my family and Heidi. And we’d been friends long enough that she knew which questions not to ask.

“Um…PhD in history at UT Austin.”

Both eyebrows rose at that, and I realized that I liked surprising him.

“A PhD? That’s incredible.”

“Thanks,” I said. Even though I knew that I had made the right decision in leaving, I knew earning my PhD had made me stand out and given me focus. Without it, I didn’t really know who I was or what I was doing.

“What kind of history?”

“Oh. European female figures with some interest in European monarchy mistresses. Well, I was writing my dissertation on Madame de Pompadour, who was the renowned mistress of King Louis XV of France.”

“Mistresses,” he said with a shake of his head. “There’s a lot of research on that?”

“A surprising amount honestly,” I told him.

“Interesting. I always wanted to go back and get another degree,” he admitted.

“Pretty hard to do while you’re running your own business, I would guess.”

He nodded, resting his hand on the gearshift between us. I got distracted by his long, masculine fingers and the way they wrapped around the head of the stick. Wow, he had big hands.

My eyes shot back up to his as my thoughts strayed all over again. Damn, it hadn’t been that long since I’d gotten laid. I felt like a dog in heat.

Jensen didn’t say anything about the look on my face, but I could tell in the barely suppressed grin and cocky tilt of his head that he knew I’d been checking him out. “That would be the main reason. Just too busy to go back to school.”

“Aren’t you in charge though? Why would you need another degree?” I asked, keeping to safer territories.

“I wouldn’t.” His face went disturbingly blank for a second. His bright and shining eyes turned flat and empty. His smile disappeared.

It was like all the joy had been sucked out of the air from that one little question. And I didn’t even know why.

I chewed on my lip and faced front again as we pulled off of the main road and into a parking lot. With my mind swirling with possibilities as to why that had upset him, I hadn’t put much thought into where we were going to eat or what we were going to do on this date. I’d been too preoccupied by the warm clothing aspect.

But, now that we were standing outside of Torchy’s Tacos, I burst out laughing. “You’re taking me for tacos?” I asked when I met him by the bed of the truck.

All the seriousness of the last bit of our conversation had disappeared, and no tension remained in his shoulders.

“What? Do you not like tacos?” He apprehensively assessed me. “Tacos are a deal-breaker.”

I gently shoved him as we angled toward the front of the restaurant. “Of course I like tacos. Do people not like tacos?”

He shrugged. “Traitors maybe.”

“You’re ridiculous,” I said with a laugh. “I just didn’t expect…tacos.”

“What were you expecting?”

His body angled toward me, and once again, I felt that crushing inescapable force vibrate between us. There was something that made it so that I couldn’t seem to get my bearings with him.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just realizing that you’re not what I thought.”

“Good. You aren’t what I was expecting either.”

“Oh, yeah? What were you expecting?”

“After meeting you yesterday? A girlie girl who likes makeup and hair and designer clothes.”

I couldn’t seem to help myself at that image and abruptly laughed out loud.

“Yes, well, I realize that’s not who you are.”

“Not even close.” I straightened but kept my smile firmly in place.

He leaned forward, so our bodies were nearly touching and brushed a lock of hair off my face. My head tilted up, and I stared into those deep eyes, hanging on to every word with bated breath.

“Let’s suspend all preconceived notions about each other then. What do you think?”

I nodded. “I’d like that.”