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“Peace and quiet is my plan. Things have been tense at work, and a break was in order.” He slowed to turn onto the main road that led through town.
“I hope me being here doesn't interfere with that.” It felt as if we were on a loop of similar conversations, anything to break the tension.
“It won't,” Ian said confidently.
It frustrated me that I was annoyed because his presencedidinterfere with my peace and quiet. I felt unsettled, and my old feelings of insecurity from high school were rising to the surface. High school was such a crappy time in life, not only for me but also for many people. Ian was like that example of everything I wasn't in high school—confident, easygoing, carrying his popularity with comfort.
I had gone on to college and gotten my master's and my Ph.D. I felt successful and had confidence in myself. Yet there was one small thing I wanted to change. I hadn't dated much. At all. And inconveniently, I was still a virgin. It wasn't because I was uptight or prudish, but I had prioritized other things in college and graduate school, and now here I was, feeling too old.
I couldn’t say precisely why, but Ian’s mere presence triggered that insecurity in a major way. Probably because I knew the man had likely played the field his entire adult life. Because he could. When Thea and I had gotten together for coffee the day before I drove up here, we'd caught up on personal news. She joked about Ian, saying he was the last brother not to fall in love with Dallas and Noah both married. Thea was bitter about dating and told me she'd sworn off men. She'd laughed about Ian, saying he refused to consider anything that wasn’t casual.
He was the very kind of man who chafed on my nerves. The fact that my body thought he wasallthat and then some was incredibly annoying.
Forcing my thoughts off my body’s reaction to Ian, I commented, “Downtown is as cute as ever.”
He slowed when he approached the town green, the typical center of town park-type area ubiquitous throughout New England. A Christmas tree stood in the center of the green with its lights glittering through the still falling snow.
“Haven’s Bay is a cute town,” he agreed. “Sometimes, I forget how quaint it is.”
“Do you like living in the city?” I asked.
He came to a stop at a light and glanced over. When his green eyes met mine, a little shiver chased down my spine, and I felt my cheeks flushing.
“Sometimes, I like it. Sometimes, I don't,” he replied.
“Oh,” I managed in response.
The light changed, and he looked forward again. When I caught my eyes noticing his graceful yet masculine hands curled around the steering wheel, I forced my gaze away. I unconsciously took a deep breath. I didn't realize I’d let it out in an audible sigh until Ian asked, “You okay over there?”
ChapterSix
Ian
I heard the sound of Jane’s breath drawing in sharply and felt her attention whipping toward me. I slid my gaze sideways. Her eyes were narrowed, and her cheeks a little flushed.
“I'm fine,” she said, her tone sharp.
“Well, that was a sigh over there.” I looked forward again. I didn't know why, but I enjoyed needling Jane.
“I wasbreathing,” she sputtered.
“Of course, you were breathing, but that was a heavy sigh. You sounded annoyed.”
She let out a huff. “Well,nowI'm annoyed. Obviously, at you.”
I chuckled. “What did I do? I'm not the one who tried to drive down a snow-covered driveway and hit a boulder. I told you it wasn't a good idea.”
“Oh, my God,” she muttered. “I've been driving on winter roads for years. I grew up here, for God's sake. I didn't think about the boulders marking the end of the driveway. So yes, if you want to give me a little hell about that, go right ahead.” She swept her hand through the air.
I bit back the urge to laugh again. “Can you give me the name of whoever plows your driveway?” she asked. “I'll call them to have them go over to my parents’ place.”
“I'll call,” I offered.
“I can call,” Jane insisted.
“Jane, it's a friend. I'll take care of it. They might be booked up, but they’ll fit it in for me.” I didn’t want to say out loud that I’d already made the arrangements for her.
She let out another belabored sigh. “Oh my god, are you kidding?”
