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“Since...” He looked at his phone “I assume about two minutes from now.”
“What happens in two minutes?”
“I convince you to say yes.”
Arrogant bastard. I should be annoyed. The best I could summon was cautious. “Is this all part of your plan to prove to me what a good business partner you’d be?”
Kingston searched my face. “Does that get you to join me?”
“No.” It would put an immediate end to the conversation. Which was best for everyone.
His grin was back. “Good, because I didn’t want to lie about my intentions. I want your company for the night.”
My heart did a happy skip-jump-hop at the sparkle in his dark eyes. “I don’t know.”
“What would it take to convince you?”
“How long is left on the clock?” Why couldn’t I keep myself in check around these two?
“Let’s call itTime’s Up, for simplicity’s sake.” He pocketed his phone. “I promise you a night you’ll never forget.”
An easy guarantee, given how hard it was to get them out of my head anyway. “All right. You’re on.” I swore a chorus of singing forest animals broke out in my skull.
When he offered his arm this time, I nestled my hand into the crook of his elbow. Light raindrops pattered on us as we strolled down the front walk to his SUV rental. He opened the passenger door, and made sure I was seated, before hurrying to take his own seat.
Rush hour traffic was thinning, so we were on the freeway within minutes, which was when it occurred to me that we were heading toward the mountains. Park City? Did he think a fancy dinner would leave a bigger impression on me? “Where are we going? Or is it a surprise.”
“Kind of, not really? My original plan was a picnic in the mountains, but since it’s raining, it’ll have to be an in-car one.”
Damn-it-all, now I was swooning again. “I haven’t been on a picnic in forever.” Not a real one. For months after I bought my property, it was nightly picnics.
“No time?” Kingston asked.
Owen must have told him what we talked about last night. That made the most sense, but for some reason I didn’t think that was the case. “How’d you guess?”
“I’ve been where you are. Where operating in the black become the single consuming goal in life.”
“I thought this wasn’t about a sales pitch,” I teased.
“It’s not. I’m making a simple observation. I’m capable of those, too.” The shift in his voice was something I couldn’t name.
“Never doubted it for a moment.”
“How about this—If I intend to make you another business pitch, I’ll warn you first.”
That sounded convenient. “Like, a big flashing beacon?”
“A verbal one. Along the lines ofwhoop whoop, warning. Incoming sales pitch. Whoop whoop.”
I laughed. “Iwouldappreciate the heads up.”
“It’s a deal then. Otherwise, anything we talk about, shop related or not, is us getting to know each other. Period.”
“Why?” It was a simple question, with a complex background. I didn’t understand, if he wasn’t trying to win me over for business, where was all the effort coming from?
Kingston glanced at me, then steered us across three lanes of freeway to pull onto the shoulder and stop. The light traffic was a savior, but the rain was pouring down now, making it dark as night out here. This hardly seemed like a safe place to have a conversation.
He put on the emergency flashers, shifted in his seat to face me, and gripped my chin enough to hold my gaze to his. “I get the feeling you don’t always listen to me.”
