Blake smiled to himself as a waitress took them to the table. Flanders’ Home Cooking, World-Famous Home of Flying Rolls was bound to be entertaining. It was busy enough that they'd had a fifteen-minute wait to even get a table.
Luckily, the table she took their group to was a secluded one. Camden scooted to the far end of the table and Jill slid in across from him. Rick took one look at the narrow space between the table in the back of the bench where Jill sat and wisely chose to sit next Camden. Even with more room on that side of the table, however, he still looked like a sardine in a too-small can.
"It sure smells good in here," Jill said as she picked up her menu. "I love eating at places where you can get country gravy as a side."
Blake settled in on the bench next to her, glad he wasn't as bulky as Rick. And since the close seating meant his leg and shoulders were only inches away from Jill's, he was glad to have Rick and Camden around. Their presence would remind him this was not a date. He was totally capable of eating dinner in the company of a lovely, intelligent woman without letting his attraction for her get the best of him.
When the waitress came back to take their order, Blake realized that he was the only one who ordered something even remotely healthy. From Rick's chicken fried steak, Camden's double cheeseburger with fried onions and barbecue sauce on top, and Jill's order of wet fries, whatever those were, his grilled catfish and salad greens stood out.
"Is that really what you're ordering?" Jill asked.
"It seemed like the best thing on the menu for anyone who doesn't want a heart attack."
"You need to learn to live a little," Jill said.
"I'm more worried about living longer." Blake nudged her with his elbow to let her know he was teasing, and the contact of her skin against his made him realize it was not a good idea to touch her, even casually.
"People in the south have been eating this way for a long time. Besides, it's been a forever since I've seen fries like this on the menu anywhere."
"Yeah, what exactly are wet fries?"
Jill's eyes sparkled as she smiled. "I ordered these with grilled onions, melted cheese, and a slathering of country gravy. It's heaven, trust me."
Blake raised his eyebrow. "If all of you keep eating like this, you're going to be sick as dogs before this trip is over."
"Whatever," Jill said. "Now, if only I could figure out what they mean by flying rolls."
There was a shout from a few tables away. Blake realized they were being given a heads-up in time to see a waiter throw a roll in their direction. Glad for his quick reflexes, he reached out and caught the roll in midair, right before it smacked into Jill's face. Her eyes were huge for a few seconds as she tried to figure out what was going on, then she burst out laughing. "Flying rolls. Got it."
Rick turned around and looked over his shoulder behind them. "Hey, how do I get one of those?" Rick waved his hand in a gesture that looked more like he was asking for a pass from a quarterback.
Blake was surprised when Jill was able to snatch one of the rolls flying their direction. She gave a happy little wriggle and buttered it. He realized he was smiling when Rick looked across the table at him with a knowing look on his face—blast the man.
When the food came, Blake watched in amazement as the waitress set a plate as big as a cookie sheet in front of Jill. It was heaped with a steaming, gooey pile of fries and toppings.
Rick and Camden stared with their mouths open.
"Oh man, this looks good," she said, picking up her fork.
Rick pointed his finger at her plate. "There's no way you can eat all that."
"Want to bet?"
"Yes."
Jill grinned. "Okay. How about, if I can eat all this, you guys have to eat whatever I tell you to at the first gas station we stop at tomorrow?"
They all laughed, and Blake said, "Hey, I want in on this action. What happens if you can't eat it all?"
Rick chuckled. "We get to pick what she has to eat from a gas station tomorrow."
"Here goes nothing," Jill said, picking up her fork.
For the next forty-five minutes, Blake watched in awe as Jill methodically, and with some degree of relish, ate almost the entire plate of fries. It was beyond his comprehension where she was putting it all. She was definitely slowing down however.
"I haven't done anything this stupid since college," Jill said.
Camden grinned at her. "You haven't done it now either. You still have about five bites to eat."
"Clearly, getting a soda was a mistake," Jill said. "There’s one thing you three should know about me. I always finish what I start."
With a determined look on her face, Jill somehow managed to clean her plate.
"You’re going to be sick tonight," Blake said.
Jill nodded. "True. But it was so worth it.”
They went outside and got in the Land Rover. Camden put the hotel address in the GPS. “Looks like we’ll get to the hotel at eight o’clock. Jill wanted to stay closer to our next stop so we don’t have to get up too early tomorrow.”
“See what a genius I am?” Jill said.
Blake looked across at her and saw that she was leaning back with her arms crossed over her stomach and a pained expression on her face. She was still too beautiful for words, but he chuckled softly at her self-imposed misery.
“Shut up,” she whispered at him before closing her eyes.
As Rick drove, Blake watched out the window at the passing scenery. Not that there was much to see with nothing but fields and an occasional farm house. But it was calming in a way, and since they were heading north, he was able to watch the sunset out his window. By the time they got into the town where they were staying the night, an inky darkness was spreading over the sky and the first stars were coming out. Best of all, however, Jill had gone to sleep and had slumped against his shoulder. The weight of her head on his arm made him want to move it so she could rest against his chest instead.
When the car stopped, she woke up immediately, and sat looking around the parking lot like a prairie dog who just popped out of her hole. “Be right back,” she said, grabbing the handles of her purse and opening her door.
But Blake wasn’t about to let her go in by herself, so he got out and followed her. She glanced back over her shoulder at him. “I can check us in without help, you know.”
“Of course. I just wanted to stretch my legs.”
She nodded and didn’t say another word until she spoke to the lady at the reception desk. Soon she had four keys in her hand. “I hope you don’t mind staying in an ordinary room. It’s all they had left.”
“Why would I mind?”
She shrugged. “I just thought you might be expecting something more… posh.”
“What are you, British? And for the record, I’ve slept in a lot of roach motels in my time. These are fancy digs compared to my rodeo days.”
“You mean you didn’t live off your parents’ money when you were younger?”
Blake clenched his teeth, but forced himself to relax. She was just trying to rile him up. “I could have, but chose not to. It was the only way to be free back then.”
A few minutes later, the four of them, with luggage in hand, squeezed into the same elevator and rode up to the second floor where all their rooms were located. The hotel only had two floors, so perhaps that wasn’t surprising. Camden’s room was first, but Blake was glad to see that Jill’s room was next to his, with Rick’s right across the hall. He doubted either of them would need any kind of security during the night, but it made him feel at ease to know they had it.
The click of the door when he shut it made Blake feel oddly alone. Trying to ward it off, Blake turned the AC unit up as high as it would go, undressed, and threw on some pajama pants. As he brushed his teeth, he looked at himself in the mirror, trying to see himself as Jill did. What did she think of him? And how long would it take him to forget about her? Stop thinking about her being part of his life? The answer, unfortunately, was nowhere to be found in his reflection.
So, he laid in the dark, staring up at the grooves in the white ceiling through the green darkness, tinted by the exit sign over the door. He should have brought something to help him go to sleep. He sat up and turned to the side, stacked up his pillows and punched them into submission, but before he could lay down again, there was a knock on the door.
Throwing his blankets aside, he went to the door. It was probably just Rick checking in with him before he went to sleep. But when he opened the door and looked down to find Jill, he realized how much he’d been hoping it was her.
He realized that, though he usually looked straight into her eyes, she was looking up at him. Then he saw her bare feet. A jolt of adrenalin shot through him at the intimate picture she made.
“I know it’s late, but can I come in?” Her voice was soft and rough.
This was a very bad idea, but he heard himself say, “Of course.”
He stood back, and she walked past him, sending a floral fragrance rushing over him.
A very bad idea.
Not only was she barefoot, but wearing leggings and a long t-shirt that slipped off one of her shoulders. Her hair was up in a messy bun and looked as if she’d been tossing and turning on her pillows too. Going straight to the floor lamp and clicking it on, she glanced his way, but more in the direction of his bare chest than his face. She turned her back to him and moved to sit on the couch in the sitting area, propping her feet against the edge of the coffee table, with her toes curling over the edge.
Blake clenched his jaw and walked over to find a clean t-shirt in his bag. He pulled it on and sat across from her in an armchair. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Are you kidding? I just raided the hotel store for antacids, and I’m not going to bed till my stomach settles down. Plus, I just got off calls with both Nate and my Dad. I’m too stressed to go to sleep so I thought you and I could get some work done.”
“What if I was sleeping?”
“Were you?”
“No.”
Jill nodded and picked up her phone. “Okay, tell me your thoughts about Mr. Dunn’s office today.”
Blake’s mouth lifted in a half-smile he couldn’t stop. He shook his head at her, then ran his fingers through his hair, giving himself time to switch focus from the thoughts that had plagued him since she came into his dark hotel room. And then they talked for over half an hour about employee retention and team-building until he realized Jill could barely keep her eyes open.
“Jill, who is Taylor?”
Her eyes opened wider. “Taylor?” Then understanding dawned in her eyes. “Oh. Charlotte Haverton’s son. He’s six.”
“Six. Great. There’s no way I can compete with that.”
“Nope. I haven’t been around kids much, but that one…I love him.”
“No siblings?”
“No. My mom died in a car accident when I was a toddler. My dad never remarried.”
“I get the feeling we both had lonely childhoods.”
When her eyes met his, they looked darker than usual, and incredibly vulnerable. “I learned early on that doing well at what interested my dad was the only way to get his attention.”
Blake nodded, understanding. “I resented mine so badly, I pretended they didn’t exist. It wasn’t too hard to do either.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too. For both of us. Now, before this turns into a therapy session, maybe you’d better get to bed.”
“I don’t know if I have the energy to walk across the hall. I might just crash here.”
Blake’s breath quickened. His thoughts leapt forward, picturing her curled up on his bed. From Jill’s awkward silence, he knew she was thinking about the same thing. He was seconds away from reaching for her when she stood abruptly.
“Goodnight, Blake.”
“Goodnight…Jill.”