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Her eyes flew open and she stared at him. When he took a step back, she allowed herself to breathe again. Shane nodded toward a little ice cream stand. “What do you say to some dessert before dinner?”
Eloise gnawed on her lower lip, but it didn’t stop her from grinning. “I say that sounds like heaven.”
Shane’s smile matched her own except for that cute little dimple. He tugged on her hand, and she finally allowed herself to relax and enjoy the moment.
13
Shane
Shane was finding it harder and harder to differentiate between pretending and actually wanting to be with Eloise. He never thought he’d be able to look at her and not think of Brielle, but somehow that wasn’t an issue.
The jealousy he’d experienced when they’d been in the barn had thrown him off guard. Now he didn’t know what to do with the information he’d learned from that situation. Preventing Eloise from dating Marc was one thing; allowing himself to fall for her was completely different.
There was one glaring problem.
They stood at the edge of the lake, pants rolled up to their calves. Water lapped against their ankles. What should have been a perfect moment as he watched her enjoying the sunset, her face glowing from the golden hues, simply wasn’t. Right now, his gut reminded him this wasn’t a matter ofifhe was falling for her.
He already was.
Shane bit back a curse. Brielle was going to be outraged. She’d made him promise this wasn’t going to be serious. And all it had taken was one date with Eloise to have him going against his word.
What was he going to do?
Eloise glanced toward him and let out a laugh. “What? Do I have something on my face?” She rubbed at her cheeks with the heel of her hand, then faced him. “Better?”
His eyes locked on her face. There was no denying her beauty. All of the Callahans boasted good looks. It wasn’t what she had on the surface that intrigued him. It was her heart—the way she lit up over the small things.
And yet, he wanted nothing more than to reach out and caress her, to trace his thumb over her lower lip, to tease her with his touch.
Shane jerked his head around and stared at the sunset. “Nope.”
“It’s not better?”
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “I mean, yep. It’s better. Great. You’re great.” He grimaced. Geez, where was the charm? Where was his ability to win her over like he had with Brielle? He’d lost his mojo.
Eloise laughed, drawing his attention. “This isn’t exactly what either of us was expecting for a first date, was it?”
Shane arched a brow. “To be fair, you didn’t exactly make it easy to ask you out.”
She tilted her head, her smile not wavering. “I suppose you’re right.”
“What were you expecting?” He knew he probably shouldn’t ask. Anything she might say could be the thing to knock him down a few pegs, and he was already beating himself up over how it was going.
Eloise shrugged, then leaned back on the bench, one arm crossed over her stomach. She took another lick of her ice cream. “I guess I had expected you to show off your money.”
“Show off my money?”
She shot him an embarrassed look. “Well, yeah. Isn’t that what you guys do? Fancy restaurants. Expensive gifts. You know, the works.”
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, hating the way her words made him slightly uncomfortable. Yes, he had money. But he didn’t just throw it around. His grandfather had taught him well how to manage it. “Actually, I think that’s a common misconception. The people who have a lot of money only do because they are careful with it.”
Eloise peeked at him, giving him a sideways smile. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Are you… disappointed?”
Her eyes widened, and she faced him suddenly. “Oh, on the contrary. I was ready to accept that you were a pompous jerk who valued the money you owned above all else. One date was all I agreed to, remember?”
“So you aren’t impressed by it.” From what he recalled, Brielle hadn’t mentioned a single thing regarding his wealth. She’d only given him ideas on how to win Eloise over, which mostly consisted of getting to know her on a deeper level. The date ideas were all on him.
