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I pulled around to the back of the tavern, where a small parking lot was almost full.
“I want to go in,” Annie said. “So bad.”
I thought for a moment. “How do you get around Hollywood without being recognized?”
“Usually a baseball cap and sunglasses. And I make sure my hair isn’t showing.”
I reached for my cowboy hat on the dash. “Put this on. Tuck your hair all up in there.”
She appeared to think about it for a few seconds before shaking her head. “No, it’s too risky. If I can’t stay in a cabin, I shouldn’t risk going in there. Look at the parking lot.”
“You’re probably right. I’ll grab us a couple of burgers andwe can go back to my house. We’ll put some honky-tonk music on the stereo. Almost the same, right?”
“Sure, yeah.”
“Don’t be sad. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
She nodded, her smile evident even in the dim light. “You used to say that to me when we were kids.”
“Did I?”
“Something to that effect, yes.”
We locked gazes. My pulse quickened. She was insanely pretty. Hair like a mane. Full lips, made for kissing.
I tightened my fingers around the steering wheel, fighting off the instinct to pull her onto my lap. Electricity seemed to thrum between us. How could I be this smitten after all this time? We’d been eleven years old when I’d thought she would someday be my wife. Hardly the time when anyone should be picking the love of their life, but what can I say? I’d always been a romantic. When it came to Annie, anyway. Still, it was ridiculous to think there was anything real between two kids. No one marries their childhood crush.
Or, what if some of us find our soulmates early, only to lose them and find them again later? Much later.
“What?” Annie whispered. “What are you thinking?”
“I don’t think you want to know.”
“I do.”
I sighed, reaching for my cowboy hat on the dash. “If I told you, you’d think I was nuts.”
“I doubt it.”
“You’re beautiful, and I’ve lost my head. Completely.”
“Oh.” She drew in a deep breath and seemed to hold it for a moment. “I didn’t expect you to say that.”
“What did you expect?”
“I don’t know. If I wanted fries or a salad?” She giggled. “I’m kidding.”
“See? I told you I shouldn’t have said anything.” I tried tomake my voice light, but it came out sounding distinctly grumpy.
“If we’re giving compliments, then I have one or you. You’re kind of swoony. Very swoony. So, there, we’re even.”
“Swoony? I’ll take it.” My spirits lifted. She thought I was swoony. “Wait, what does that actually mean?”
“You know what it means.” She reached across the seat and punched me playfully in the shoulder. I grabbed her hand and held it to my chest. Could she feel the way my heart beat for her? Before I could stop myself, I let go of her hand and wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her to me. Then we were kissing. Like long-lost lovers. Feelings surged through me like nothing I’d ever felt. Not with the handful of women I’d kissed or even the few I’d taken to my bed. This was like something familiar, something lost that you’d given up on and suddenly found again. A gift I didn’t expect. Yet here she was.
It took me a moment to realize what the flashing lights outside my truck were. Lights from cameras. Several of them.
Annie bolted from my arms, grabbed my cowboy hat from the dash and stuffed it onto her head. “We have to get out of here.”
