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He nodded. “It really is. We’ll definitely have to come here again.” Excitement bubbled in my stomach at the thought of another date with him.
“Do you want dessert?” he asked after we’d finished eating and the plates were cleared away. “I thought we’d go to the ice cream parlor in Marble Falls if you do. They do the best hot fudge ice cream sundae.”
“Mmmmm that sounds good,” I moaned. “I love hot fudge.”
“Come on then, let’s get out of here.” He paid the bill, and we walked outside to the truck.
“Thank you for bringing me here. I’ve had a great night.” I linked my arm through his as we walked to where the truck was parked.
“You’re welcome. I’ve had a great time too.” He put his hand over mine and squeezed. “It’s not over yet though. Let’s go and eat ice cream.”
Quinn
We drove the twenty minutes or so back to Marble Falls, parking outside Pete’s Ice cream parlor. Looking through the window as I climbed out of the truck, I could see it looked like a 1950s diner inside. Plush leather booths filled the floor space, with the counter and ice cream fridges on the back wall. As we entered, a man behind the counter called out to Brody.“Nice to see you, Brody. Come in, come in.”
“Hey, Pete,” he called out, waving to the middle-aged man behind the counter. “Let’s sit there,” he suggested, motioning to a booth in the back corner. Walking over, he let me sit down first and I slid across the leather seat to sit by the wall. Brody followed me into the booth, passing me a menu as he sat next to me. I took the menu off him and looked down at the pictures of all the sundaes they served.
“Oh my God, these look amazing! Are you having the hot fudge one?”
He nodded. “I’ve tried them all. It’s definitely the best.”
“Okay,” I said, laughing. “I’ll have the same then.” Putting the menu back into its holder on the table, I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He didn’t look like he ate loads of ice cream. I’d seen him without his shirt on and there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him. I guess working on the ranch kept him in shape. He’d rolled the sleeves up on his shirt and his tanned forearms looked so sexy. I never knew forearms could be sexy, but they definitely were on him. Dragging my eyes away before he caught me staring, I looked around. Nearly every booth was taken. It was obvious from the amount of people in here that it was popular.
“I’ll go order at the counter,” he said standing up. “They’re busy tonight.” I nodded as I watched him cross the room, my eyes glued to his perfect ass. Everything about him was perfect. Even though I hadn’t known him long, I knew I was falling for him. How could I not when he looked so good and had been so nice to me?
I’d had the odd boyfriend in high school before Mom had gotten sick, but nothing serious. Certainly no one had made my stomach flutter and my heart race when they’d smiled at me like Brody did. It was just typical that I was at a shitty time in my life where falling in love wasn’t really an option. I had no idea how long I could stay in Marble Falls. I was sure Evan would be looking for me. Although he had no idea where I’d gone, I knew my safest option was to keep moving on. Falling for Brody would only complicate things, making it even harder to leave.
After Brody had returned from ordering, we only had to wait a few minutes until our sundaes arrived. My eyes went wide as the waitress put mine in front of me. It was enormous. “Brody, this is huge! We could have shared.”
“Nu-huh,” he mumbled around a mouthful of ice cream. Swallowing what was in his mouth he tried again. “Oh no! I can’t share. If you can’t eat all yours, I’ll finish it off.” I stared at him, my mouth open.
“You’re going to eat yours and half of mine?” I looked at him in disbelief. “How can you look as hot as you do, if you can pack away that much ice cream?” He turned his head, his face erupting into a smile.
“You think I’m hot?” he asked cockily. Realizing what I’d said, I felt my face heat up with embarrassment. Deciding not to answer him, I took a huge mouthful of ice cream and pretended I’d not heard him. He continued to stare at me and eventually I turned to look at him, raising my eyebrows in question.
“Sorry, what?”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t say it,” he teased, bumping my shoulder with his. “You think I’m hot.”
I burst out laughing. “I think you might have brain freeze.” I grinned at him before turning to continue eating my ice cream. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his face light up with a smile and my stomach fluttered with nervous excitement. He bent his head level with mine and brushed his lips against my cheek.
“I think you’re pretty hot too,” he whispered into my ear, his hot breath on my skin making me shiver. He moved back into his seat and carried on eating his ice cream. My heart pounded in my chest and I swear the whole ice cream parlor could hear it.
We ate the rest of our sundaes in comfortable silence. When I was so stuffed I couldn’t manage another mouthful, I pushed my bowl along the table, offering it to him. He was more than willing to help me finish it and quickly devoured what was left. “Are you ready to go?” he asked, turning in the booth to face me. I nodded, a little disappointed that the date was coming to an end. As we got up, he reached for my hand, enveloping my small hand in his. Looking up at him he smiled. “Come on, let’s go.” We walked hand in hand to his truck, where he led me to the passenger side, holding the door open as I climbed in. Coming around the truck, he slid into the driver's seat. Sitting with his hands on the steering wheel, he looked over at me.
“Do you want to go somewhere else? I’m not sure I’m ready to go home just yet.”
Loving he felt the way I did about the date ending, I nodded. “Can we go to the Brass Hall? Savannah and Libby were telling me about it earlier at the spa.”
“Sure. It’s just up the road. Come on, we can leave the truck here.” Jumping out, he came and held my door open for me. Reaching for my hand again we walked a short distance down the road. I had no idea what time it was, but it was dark, and the road was illuminated by streetlights. “Here we are.” He gestured with his free hand to a large building across the street. There was a small gathering of people outside, waiting to go in.
“It looks busy.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty popular. It’s really the only place in the town with live music and a dance floor.” Walking across the road we joined the line. “We shouldn’t have to wait long to get in.” There were all ages of people waiting to get in and I guessed it was a place that appealed to everyone. Standing still in the line next to Brody, I realized how cold it was, and I shivered.
“Hey, are you cold?” he asked, slipping his hand from mine. Moving to stand in front of me, he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against him. I found my arms involuntarily wrapping around his back and I turned my head resting it on his chest. My ear was pressed against his chest and I could hear his heart racing. I smiled, knowing he was as affected by being this close to me as I was to him. “Better?” he muttered into my hair. I raised my head and nodded before snuggling back into his hard chest.
Not wanting to step out of his embrace, I hoped the line would move slowly so I could stay like this all night. Unfortunately, after a few minutes the people in front of us had gone in. Brody pulled out of the embrace and reached for my hand again. After paying the entry fee and having my hand stamped, which left a large UNDER 21 stamp on my hand, we were finally inside. Loud music reverberated around the darkened room which was packed with people. Brody had been right when he’d said it was a popular place. The large dance floor was full of men and women dancing and the tables around the edge full of people drinking and having fun.
