Page 18 of Jaxson

“It’s a surprise.”

She secured Belle in place, and then herself. “I like surprises.”

He was nervous. It was still hot as fuck, and he was sweating.

The dress had raised up past her knee, and he found everything about Tillie to be intoxicating. The vanilla scent was strong but not overpowering. His cock was hard as freaking rock. All afternoon he had been so focused on getting this right. His palms were starting to sweat.

“How has your day been?” he asked, because the truth was, he was starting to feel a little sick.

“It has been good. I went to the fabric shop. Hung out with Kate all day. Helped her with a few orders.”

“Orders?”

“Technically, I shopped for her. I just went and gathered everything and brought them back for her to work on.”

“Right,” he said.

“Are you all right?” she asked. “You seem a little nervous.”

He could easily lie. Only, he pulled onto his street, waved at a couple of kids, and then pulled into his driveway. Finally, he turned toward her. “I’m nervous.”

“You are?”

“Yeah, you see, I’ve never been on a date.”

“How could you not have been on a date?” she asked.

He groaned and ran a hand down his face. “I’m not a nice guy. Okay, I’m not a monk, and I’ve been with a lot of women. I didn’t date them. It was nothing. Just fun, and I’ve never cared enough to be on a date with anyone. You’re the first woman I have ever dated.” He was not about to scare her off saying she was the only woman he ever wanted to date, as that might be a little too heavy for her to handle. “I understand if you want me to take you home.”

“Jaxson, stop,” Tillie said. “I don’t care if you’ve been with a hundred women or a thousand women. I want to go on this date with you, and it kind of makes me excited to know you’ve not been with anyone else and I’m going to be the first woman you dated.” She leaned across the truck and kissed his cheek. “Besides, I know Belle likes you, and I trust her judgment of people.”

“You’re basing all of this on a dog?”

“Dogs are amazing, and they have great judgment of character.”

Jaxson chucked.

“However, I am a little confused. You wanted to go on a date, and we’re at your house.”

“Because this is where the date is going to be.”

****

Tillie had already figured she was going to have to deal with whatever jealousy she had when it came to Jaxson. He had a long history. The whole town knew of his bad boy reputation and she knew of his exploits with a lot of town women. That didn’t come as a surprise to anyone. However, she didn’t care what he did in his past. They were not on a date in the past. She was only going to care what he was like with her, and this date. The past was in the past.

He rounded the truck, and even as she climbed out, he was there with his hands on her hips.

There was some whistling in the distance from the kids. “Ignore them,” he said, whispering the words against her temple.

She didn’t know if it was the heat, or twenty-nine years of going without, but his touch was setting her on fire. She just couldn’t seem to ignore it. It wasn’t going to stop.

The moment he let go, she nearly whimpered, however, he didn’t step away. He reached across from her to pick up Belle. She loved that her dog seemed to adore him.

Jaxson took her hand, and they made their way toward his front door. “So, I don’t want you to get the wrong impression, but when I was thinking where we could go, I struggled. I knew a couple of places would accept Belle, but I didn’t think you would appreciate being the topic of conversation, so I brought you here.” He opened his door and waited for her to step inside.

She was a little nervous, but she stepped over the threshold, and the scents that assailed her were amazing. There were onion and garlic, and she was pretty sure she smelled tomatoes as well as chicken. Her mouth watered and of course her stomach chose that moment to grumble.

She put a hand to her stomach and felt her cheeks getting warmer. “I’m so sorry.”