After her second glass of wine and with their meal finished, Jill realized it’d been almost two hours in the bar. She was enjoying herself more than she thought she would.
Once the initial conversations about their pasts were over, they both steered clear of personal information, for the most part. She knew he was thirty-seven and lived in Houston for ten years after he was transferred when his residency was done.
He knew she went to the community college and got her degree in radiology technology with certifications in ultrasound technology also. Peanuts compared to him, but the last thing she was going to admit was that she wished she’d had more. That she wished she could have continued on with her education and not put Darren’s first.
She was over putting other people first in her life if she could avoid it now. She learned when you did that, you ended up on the bottom of a pile of rotten apples that no one wanted to touch let alone pick up and toss in the trash.
“You probably need to go home to your son, right?”
“Luke. I’m sorry, did I say his name before? It’s Luke. He’s spending the night at my parents’ tonight.”
She smiled. “Did you tell your parents you were going on a date?”
He smirked at her and her heart started to race in her chest. Smirking men never did much for her...before.
“I might have said I was having a drink with someone tonight. My mother took it any way she wanted to. She was just glad I was doing something for myself. I believe her words were ‘Oh my God, you’re going to do something fun that doesn’t involve Luke!’”
“That’s a sweet thought.” Someone else that seemed to put others first. He did move here for his son, after all.
“I guess. Or a pathetic one. Depends on how you look at it. But my world has revolved around Luke for the past six months. Longer really, but not quite like it is now.”
“And it still has to,” she said. “I get it.”
Which meant he really didn’t have time for a relationship and was probably planning on getting in her pants tonight. That wouldn’t be happening.
“What do you get?” he asked, taking the bill when it was brought over.
“That dinner is nice, but don’t expect it often.”
“I never said that.” He looked insulted.
“That probably came out wrong. Let me be clear. I’m not a friend with benefits type of girl. I’m not sure if that is what you were thinking. When I say I’m close with my ex, it has nothing to do with sex.” It wasn’t the first time someone had assumed that about her.
“I wasn’t thinking that at all. What I was saying was Luke is my son and I’m the only parent he has. I put him first and always will. I’d like to have some kind of a life of my own, but I can’t jump into it like someone without a child might. I’d like to see you again, but if you don’t want to, that’s fine too.”
She’d misread the whole thing. “I’m sorry. I was jumping to conclusions when I shouldn’t have. It came out wrong. I’d love to go out again, and I understand you’ve got other commitments. You tell me what works for you and we’ll see if we can meet somewhere in the middle.”
“That sounds good,” he said. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
He didn’t say anything about going home with her. The true test would be how he treated her at work come Monday morning.
When they got to her car though, he put his hand on her chin and tilted her lips up to his, then lowered his mouth and whispered, “As much as I would love nothing more than to go home with you, it wasn’t even a thought tonight. But I did think about this all day long.” Then he kissed away all the insecurity she’d been carrying around with her for the past few days.
She tried to concentrate on the road in front of her driving home, but it was hard. Her mind was on his words...and his kiss. Those soft but firm lips of his brushing against hers lightly, then deeper when she sighed.
And when she parted her lips with the hopes of tasting him, he didn’t let her down. No, he swooped right in and showed her what it was like to have a man dominate you with a light touch of his hand on the side of your face and lips that wanted to devour you all night.
He might have insinuated things would be slow, but that kiss sure the heck wasn’t.
***
Owen lay in bed later that night. The house was quiet. The quietest it’d been since he moved here. He should have gone and picked Luke up from his parents, but since Sadie was spending the night too, Luke felt like it was a slumber party and Owen didn’t have the heart to rain on his son’s parade.
He could be taking advantage of a night to himself, but all he did was come home and turn on the TV. That was after he’d taken a cold shower, because when was the last time a kiss affected him that much? Probably never.
But add in the fact he hadn’t been with a woman in almost a year, and it was enough for him to wish he didn’t have jeans on.
It was only eleven, not really late for a Friday night, but since he couldn’t sleep he took a risk and sent Jill a text. Thanks for the company tonight.
A few minutes went by with no response and he figured she was sleeping, so he put his phone down and rolled over, hoping to fall asleep himself.
The minute he shut his eyes, he heard his phone go off, then reached over to grab it quick. It could be his mother regarding Luke.
But it wasn’t. It was Jill. Thanks for the kiss...and for keeping me awake with thoughts of it.
Now that sounded really promising.
You aren’t the only one wide awake right now, he typed back quickly.
I’d ask if there was anything I could do to help, but unfortunately, it might make matters worse.
She had a point. Then I’ll just say goodnight and see you on Monday.
Night, Owen.
He put his phone on the bedside table and rolled back over with a smile on his face, hoping to fall asleep this time and ignore the throbbing in his boxers from their simple little text exchange.
He had it bad.