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“I got a couple of tickets. They serve dinner, and we’ll watch the sunset, and then they have live music on the beach. We can stay and dance or leave. Go for a walk along the shore.” He shrugged. “I’m open to suggestions after the cruise.”

“That sounds great.” She smiled as he reached to open her door, hoping Lauren could curb her slight fear of boats long enough to get on the ship. She turned into him and reached up to smooth her fingers along his collar. Their eyes met, and Lauren enjoyed the crackling energy between them. “I think you might be out of my league, Mister Williams.”

She wanted to kiss him, but the date had just started, and she didn’t want to set that precedent. Instead, she brushed her lips across his cheek and moved to get in his car.

Her heartbeat quivered in her chest as he closed the door and rounded the vehicle to get behind the wheel. She wasn’t sure if that buzzing came because she was too desperate for this relationship to work, or if Blake was so special and so perfect for her.

Please don’t let me make a fool of myself this time, she prayed as he started the vehicle, all the same crackles and snaps and pops blitzing between them.

9

Blake’s cheek burned where Lauren had kissed him. He hadn’t been on a first date in over a year, as he hadn’t dated since he’d broken up with his previous girlfriend so he could go out with Lauren.On a date that never was, he told himself.

He glanced over to her, riding with her legs crossed in his passenger seat. They’d finally made it on a date, and Blake kneaded the wheel, his fingers aching with how tightly he squeezed.

He swallowed and told himself he’d spoken to her before. They’d been texting for days. He knew things about her. “What did you and Joy do today?”

“Got arrested,” she said.

“What?” Blake turned his head and stared openly at her. She grinned at him, and he shook his head. His adrenaline still coursed through his body, and he said, “That’s not nice.”

She laughed, and Blake relaxed. The sound of her happiness filled the car, and he wanted to collect a sample of it so he could listen to it later.

“Yeah, but it’s better than what we did.”

“Which was?” he prompted. “I mean, it can’t be worse than staring at numbers, clicking from one spreadsheet to another, and answering email.” That was what his day had been. Boring. Lifeless. The only thing keeping him going had been this date. This moment with Lauren Keller.

“We sat on the beach for a while. Beryl came out and joined us. I looked for jobs and read them to Joy. She said none of them sounded good.” Lauren uncrossed her legs, and Blake dang near drove them into the car in front of them. His safety systems on his car actually vibrated his seat and a red flashing light shone on the window.

He jammed his foot on the brake and said, “Wow,” the walls of his throat sticking together slightly. She wore classy clothes, paired perfectly from the sun hat to the stripes in her sweater, and Blake definitely felt out of her league. He pushed the thoughts away, because she wouldn’t like them.

Lauren swept her hand along her thigh, brushing something invisible away. “Yeah. Then Chloe got in a vocal argument with Oscar—they haven’t settled in well here—and I had to put her in her carrier for a time out. That was honestly the most exciting part of the day.” She looked over to him. “Talk about boring.”

“I’d come be bored with you,” he said.

“Yeah?” She turned slightly toward him. “What would we do?”

Blake’s face heated, because he could think of a few things he’d like to do with Lauren. “Talk,” he said. “I’d show you pictures of Tommy, and tell you about him when he was a little boy.” He glanced over to her, and her smile encouraged him to keep talking.

“You’d tell me how you take your coffee, and if you’re a morning person or a night owl, and then, I’d ask about your family.” He raised his eyebrows, but his next glance away from the road showed Lauren completely closed off.

“What did I say?” he asked.

“Nothing.” She looked out the window.

“Oh, don’t be like that.” He started to laugh, but the mood in the car had changed. “I said something.”

Lauren took her sweet Southern time answering. Enough time that Blake had to think through what he’d said. Tommy. Coffee. Morning person. Family.

She’d said absolutely nothing about her family. Not her parents. Siblings. No distant cousin somewhere. No one.

He swallowed again and reached for the bottle of water in the middle console. “Is it Tommy? You don’t want to hear about him?”

“I’d love to hear about Tommy,” she said quietly. “I don’t talk about my family.”

“Why is that?”

She speared him with a withering look, and Blake kept his eyes on the road so he wouldn’t turn to dust completely. “I just said I don’t talk about them.”

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