“Huh. I mean I can picture it now.”
Jesse turned to her as they waited at a light. He could see the Target up in the distance. “I have a pool at my house. I could teach you.”
“I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be in town, but a few lessons won’t hurt. But you have to let me—”
“Let you what?” The light turned green and Jesse eased his truck back into traffic.
“Nothing. I was going to say I would give you sex lessons, but that’s a little more intimate, and like you mentioned, really inappropriate.”
His throat was suddenly dry. All he could picture now was just how badly he needed Lily-Grace’s help in that department. “I would appreciate the help, actually.”
“Cool.”
Chapter 10
Lily-Grace slowly turned her head toward the window and squeezed her eyes shut. Cool.Cool?She’d just blurted out her most recent erotic fantasy. Jesse Poured-Into-Those XXXL-Tall-Jeans Pleasant had agreed to it, and all she could say wascool.
“Under one condition?” he said suddenly. Lily-Grace suddenly appreciated his serious side. Of course he wouldn’t let this get out of hand. He’d ask for a full curriculum first, with slides and tasteful stock photos. She’d have to use a doll for demonstrations, which was probably for the best, but—
This had to be some sort of post-traumatic response. She was downplaying how scary her trip to the bottom of the pool had been. She really couldn’t swim and neither could her father; she’d been up half the night trembling from the residual adrenaline, wondering what would have happened if Jesse hadn’t shown up in time.
Before, she just wanted to mess with him—payback for her father’s wrist—but something had changed. She’d wanted to kiss him the second she stepped out her front door. She wanted to hug him and she wanted him to hold her. Through the haze of nearly certain death she hadn’t forgotten how strong and sure his arms felt around her when he hauled her from the water. And she was not a small woman.
She wanted Jesse, bad, but she knew it wasn’t real. Just a reaction to the fall, and the intensity of the auction, and the way things had ended with Dane, and how he was still texting her like things hadn’t ended at all, and the fact that Jesse was so fine it made no sense, and the fact that she still had no fucking plan. None of what she was feeling for him in the air-conditioned cab of his fancy pickup truck was real. And Jesse Pleasant deserved real, so for the sake of their lessons, both swim and sex, she promised to be on her best behavior.
“Gimme your condition,” she said, still playing it so cool.
“You have to promise not to fall in love with me.”
Lily-Grace leaned back and glared at him. “How many times have you seenA Walk To Remember?”
“I don’t know, like ten. Lilah and I watch a lot of movies.”
“Ah, I see. You have any real conditions there, Romeo?”
“Only that you let me know if you’re uncomfortable and want to stop. Learning to swim can be an intense experience. I want to help, but I’m not trying to push you. If you need me to back off or would rather take lessons from someone else, I’ll understand.”
“I definitely will. I’m not very good at hiding my discomfort or my displeasure.”
They pulled into the Target parking lot and Jesse found a space way in the back where there were a lot of open spots. He cut off the engine then rushed around her side of the truck. She didn’t wait for him to open the door, but she did appreciate the gesture and the way he seemed to hover, like he was ready to catch a bullet or tackle a bear at any moment.
“You’re just like this, aren’t you?”
“Like what?” he replied. Lily-Grace almost laughed out loud at the not-so-subtle way he put himself between her and a car that was slowing in the pedestrian walkway.
“So ... protective.”
Jesse glanced over at her before he stopped again and let her walk in front of him through the automatic doors. “Duty and habit. You want to hit electronics and see if they have the latest in smartphone technology, and then we can wander around?”
“Let’s do it.” They walked to the back of the store and the whole way, Lily-Grace had to stop herself from giving in to the urge to hold Jesse’s hand.
“Should we talk about last night?” Jesse asked as they took a shortcut through menswear into the toy section.
“Which part?”
“The part where you paid a lot of money to save me from Merry Sharpe.”
“I mean, you saved me back, so I think we’re even.”
