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“If you say so. I couldn’t write an essay to save my life. If it weren’t for the hometown hero thing, I may have failed my senior year of English. Mrs. Sanford took it easy on me. Let me do extra credit.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Mrs. Sanford never allowed anyone to do extra credit. So unfair!”
“Completely fair. I couldn’t help that writing was my weakness. It turns out, that it was okay that I couldn’t string sentences together effectively. I know this woman with skills that could make you cry. I’m sure I could ask her to write up whatever I needed, and she’d be happy to do it for me.” He winked.
“Oh, don’t count your chickens, mister. This skilled woman isn’t a pushover.”
A look he’d perfected over the last week was the puppy dog eyes. He’d toss her these sad eyes, give a fake pout, and she was putty in his hands. He knew it, too. Dirty dog. “Not even if I said please?”
Then he would add a please, and she was a goner. “Maybe.”
“Just maybe?”
Rolling her eyes, her shoulders rounded. “Fine, yes, I’d help. Who can resist that face?” She realized what she’d said and looked away, clearing her throat. “Uh, anyway, why do I need my camera?”
“Nice save there, Stewart.”
“Whatever. Just answer the question.”
“What part of surprise are you not grasping? Just hold your horses, missy.”
The way he said it struck her as funny, and she doubled over, holding her stomach. “Missy?”
He laughed with her, nodding. “It’s a word.”
Why was she so comfortable with him so quickly? She’d gone from girl with a crush to teasing and joking like they’d been best friends forever. The thought popped in her head: isn’t this what you’ve been looking for? A man with a warm heart, caring, sensitive, and thoughtful. All the things she wanted Craig to be but he never was.
Everything with Craig took work, even when they were friends in high school. It was always her doing the compromising. Even when she, so-called, won, it was because it benefited him. She wasn’t even leaving Texas for college until he decided he wanted to go to New York. He’d talked her into that.
Her friendship with Jack reminded her of a song she’d heard as a kid, Meet in the Middle. Jack would walk Jo’s way. She’d walk toward him, and somewhere in the middle, they’d find a balance. Jo found that she valued that. It was so easy to picture forever as long as she was holding Jack’s hand. Storms and rough seas would be manageable if she had someone like him by her side—maybe even someone to run that bed and breakfast she and her grandma had dreamed about.
Finally, Jack slowed the truck and pulled off the main road onto an unpaved one. Civilization seemed to fade away as he drove, and the hills grew taller—fields of green grass, some dotted with bluebonnets as far as the eye could see.
It was like a different world.
When he cruised to a stop and cut the engine, they were perched atop a hill with nothing but fields surrounding them and an expansive blue sky. She got out of the truck and scanned the horizon. “This is beautiful.”
Closing her eyes, she inhaled. The scent was earthy and sweet. Somewhere, someone had mowed grass, and the fragrance drifted around her. No exhaust. No concrete. No trash smells. Just fresh, clean air filling her senses.
“I thought you’d appreciate it,” he said as he joined her. He pulled his phone from his pocket. “You’ve got an hour and a half before the sun begins to set. You have permission from the owners of these fields to take whatever photographs you want in whatever direction you want.”
Jo gasped as she opened her eyes. “You did that for me?”
His lips quirked up. “You’ve worked hard this week. I just thought?—”
She lunged forward, hugging him around the waist. “This is the sweetest, nicest, most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me, Jack.” She leaned back, eyes stinging as she held tears at bay. “I don’t know what to say. This is… amazing.”
He touched his fingers to her temple, brushed them down the side of her face, and smiled. “You don’t need to say anything.” His eyes darted to her lips. “That smile. The light in your eyes is all I was hoping for.”
She could barely believe he’d put something like this together for her. This gift wasn’t a last-minute throw-together. He’d planned it. For her. Lifting on her toes, she touched her lips to his cheek. “You are…” For once in her life, she was at a loss for words to describe an emotion.
The sentence drifted off as Jack touched his lips to hers. He was kissing her. Red flags and warning alarms went off in her brain, but no sooner had the thought hit that she should stop it; his lips moved against hers, and she was lost in him. She could enjoy this. It didn’t have to mean anything. It was just…
His arms circled her, pulling her flush against his body as he continued the sweet kisses. Delight and desire mixed together, drowning any other thoughts or reservations she might have had.
The kiss lasted a few seconds longer, and he broke it far too quickly for her liking. A sweet, chaste kiss that she enjoyed, and now that she’d had a taste, boy, did she want more.
“I want to keep kissing you,” he said his voice husky. “But sunset is coming, and I want you to be able to get all the photos you want.” A playful smile curved on his lips. “Besides, I have this dream of kissing you under the stars.”
