“Sorry, no can do. We have dinner plans with my parents. Remember? They arranged dinner with Uncle Bill so he could talk to Jessie about law school and we can’t blow it off.”
Dallas looked at Nick apologetically. “And I’ve gotta get back because I have plans with Ashley and Hailey.
Well, shit. That didn’t go the way I wanted.
“I could drive Dallas home if Nick wants to stay,” Dane volunteered and confirmed my suspicions that he might want to get to know Nick’s sister better.
Nick didn’t even think it over. “Would you mind, Dallie?
“No, not at all.” Dallas looked at Dane and gave him a sweet smile. “That would be great.”
≈ ≈ ≈
We were alone at my house and I suddenly panicked. What was I thinking? This was a terrible idea. It was crazy for me to be alone with Nick after I got so carried away with him earlier. If I went that far with people here, what would I do without them?
And that wasn’t my only problem. I invited Nick to stay for dinner and I couldn’t boil water on my best day. “Claire wasn’t kiddin’ about me not being able to cook.”
“Not a problem. No one grills a better steak than me, so if you can wrap foil around some potatoes, we’re good.”
I relaxed a little because he seemed to have steak on his mind, not sex. That worked for me because steak wouldn’t get me in trouble. “Do you want to go to the market now so we can have an early dinner?”
“Sure. That works for me because I’m getting hungry.”
“Okay. Just give me a minute to get dressed.” I went upstairs and quickly changed out of my swimsuit into a casual sundress and sandals. I sprayed my hair with a little spritz and let it do its natural wavy thing instead of pulling the curl out with the straightening iron like I usually did. I spritzed myself with my favorite peach and cherry blossom body spray and then applied a fresh coat of lip gloss and I was ready to roll.
I saw Nick’s face as he watched me come down the staircase and I could see that he was surprised by the change in my appearance. “Your hair...it’s curly. Another surprise.” His smile grew and he reached out to pull some over my shoulder. “It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
I went to get my purse and keys and wondered which car we would take. “Want to take my car or yours?”
“We’ll take mine.”
I liked it when he drove, so that was fine by me. I walked over and set the security alarm for the countdown. “Ready.”
As Nick had previously done, he opened the car door for me but this time I was expecting the drop to the passenger seat. “I think I did that a little more gracefully this time.”
“Nothing you do is ungraceful,” he said huskily before he shut my door.
Nick used the drive to the supermarket to quiz me about Dane because he thought Dallas was interested in him. He wanted to know how many girls Dane had dated and if he had ever cheated on one. He fit the role of protective older brother perfectly and it made me see a side of him I liked even more.
We went inside the supermarket and pushing a shopping cart with Nick felt so strange and...domestic. Going into a grocery store wasn’t something I had ever done on a date. Wait. Was this a date? If it wasn’t a date, what was it?
Nick insisted on fresh cuts, so we were waiting for the butcher to slice our steaks and I decided I wanted to surprise Nick with a dessert. “Be right back.”
I looked up and down the aisles but came up blank. I only entered the kitchen to eat and not cook so I texted Claire for an idea.
Being the perfect little Suzy Homemaker that she was, she instantly texted back, “Strawberries, pound cake & whipped cream. No cooking required.”
I loved her. She had the answer to everything.
After getting the cake and whipped cream, I walked to the produce area to get the strawberries and noticed a pretty girl watching Nick at the meat counter. When she pulled her compact out of her purse and applied lipstick, I knew she was about to approach him and my possessive inner biotch surfaced.
I eased over closer to her. “He’s hot, isn’t he?”
She jerked around to look at me and her expression told me that she thought I was strange for approaching her. I looked around as if I was afraid I might be overheard and leaned in to whisper. “It’s really too bad he has the crabs.”
“What?” she screeched.
I leaned in a little closer. “It’s true. He gave my friend the crabs and it took weeks for her to get rid of them. She didn’t know what it was and someone told her the only way to get rid of them was to put alcohol on them. Let’s just say that everyone in a five mile radius had to cover their ears. I don’t care how hot he is, no guy is worth the crabs.”
She promptly closed her compact and slipped it back into her purse. “Gee, thanks for the heads up.”
I held my palm up for a high five. “My pleasure. Chicks before dicks, am I right?”
She reached up and her palm met mine with a loud slap. “Absolutely.”
She went on her merry way and I laughed as I searched through the strawberries for the best looking ones. That was so wrong of me but it served that chick right for what she thought she was about to do with my Nick.
My Nick? Where had that thought come from?
My stomach did a flip as I thought about how that kind of thing probably happened to him all the time, girls throwing themselves at him. No wonder he had an unknown number.
“Ready?” I heard him ask when he walked up behind me.
“I think so.”
He looked at the ingredients in my arms. “Strawberry Shortcake?”
“Yep. No cooking involved. Is that okay?”
“Whip cream is always okay with me.”
My eyes got big and so did his smile.
Whip cream is always okay with me. Was he talking about food or something entirely different? My mind was obviously in the gutter because on the ride home, I couldn’t stop thinking about the soft, sweet cream and all the ways I could use it.
I had to get my mind out of the gutter. “Why do you race? Is it for the money?”
“The money is nice, but I have a little habit I can’t kick.”
Oh, no. Was he on something? Marijuana? Heroine? Meth?
He started laughing when he saw the look on my face. “Don’t look so scared.”
Drugs were a deal breaker for me. “Tell me what you’re talking about and then I’ll decide if I should be scared or not.”