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“Hey,” he said easily, coming toward her though he remained on the deck. His smile was hitched in place too. Jill wondered if he’d looked in the mirror and memorized how it should feel on his face the way she had. “You ladies heading out for the wedding?”
“Yeah.” Jill indicated the car. “Do you need a ride?”
“Nah,” he said. “I’m waiting for Luke and Ted. We’re going together.”
Jill frowned, a conversation from last night’s dinner tickling her memory. “You sure? Ted said he was going with Nate, I thought.”
Slate frowned and looked toward the back door. “I guess I better find out.”
“Do you want us to wait?” She knew the rules with the men who came to Hope Eternal Ranch in the Residential Reentry Program. Slate wasn’t in that program; his sentence was complete. But Luke was, and that meant that he couldn’t leave the ranch by himself. He had to be with a ranch employee, and Jill wondered if Slate counted.
He just likes to drive by the beach.Nate’s words moved through her head. He’d been worried about Slate the past few weeks—worried that he’d get in his truck, start driving, and never come back.
“Maybe,” Slate said. “Give me a minute, okay?” He strode away, and Jill could admit she liked the breadth of his shoulders in that suit coat.Wow, she thought. Tall, trim, tan Slate Sanders. A month ago, had she seen him like this, she’d have sidled up to him at the wedding and tried to get to know him better.
Now, her heart resisted what would come so naturally to her.
Jill loved people, and she’d always enjoyed talking to them, getting to know them, and spending time with them. She was no good alone, and she was usually the last one to go to bed, as she stayed up with whoever was willing to sit with her so she didn’t have to be alone.
“Jill,” Michelle said. “We don’t want to be late.”
“I’m not sure Slate and Luke have a ride,” she said. “He said he needed a minute.” She looked back to the deck, but Slate had gone inside the Annex, and he hadn’t returned yet. “You guys can go. I can drive them in a ranch truck.”
“Are you sure?” Hannah asked, getting out of the back seat. She looked at Michelle and then back to Jill.
“Yeah, sure,” Jill said easily, and her pulse started an increased rhythm.
“They won’t start without Luke and Slate,” Hannah reasoned. “They’re two of Dallas’s best friends.”
“We can wait,” Michelle said. “Because she has a point.”
“You can ride in the front,” Jill said to Hannah.
“I’m fine.” Their eyes met, and Jill had never had to spell out much for Hannah. She must’ve been able to say she had some sort of insane crush on Slate, because Hannah just nodded. “I do need to fix my mascara, and I can use the mirror in the front.” She went around the back of the car and got in the front seat.
Slate came out onto the deck. “Can we ride with you guys? Ted left a while ago.” He didn’t look happy about it either, and Jill didn’t blame him.
“Sure,” she said. “We have room.”
Luke came outside too, and Jill seriously doubted they’d fit in the back seat of Michelle’s SUV. They had shoulders Jill had never seen, and she knew all the River Bay men met in the equipment shed at six-thirty to lift weights, something they’d apparently done together in prison.
Slate arrived at her side, and Jill smiled at him. “I’ll ride on the hump in the middle. You scoot on over, cowboy.”
He grinned and reached up to touch his hat. “Do you really think I look like a cowboy?”
“You certainly do,” she said. “I’m not sure if you are one, but you look the part.”
“Good,” he said, and he slid all the way over behind Michelle. Jill gathered up her skirt and got in the car too, sliding over into the middle spot. Luke managed to cram himself in next to her and close the door, and that alone was a miracle.
“All right,” Michelle said. “Are we all in?”
“Yes,” Luke said, and Jill looked at him. He was a handsome man too, and he’d started to grow a beard the same way Slate had. She smiled at him, and he smiled back at her before looking out his window.
Her pulse didn’t react, and she knew he wasn’t the one she’d spend her time with at this wedding. She didn’t even dare look at Slate, because her hip was pressed into his, and her thigh too, and the entire left side of her body tingled with his touch.
He cleared his throat, and Jill glanced at him. “Do you have enough room?” he asked, moving his right leg over a little. “You can put your foot over here.”
“Thanks,” she said, and she did adjust her leg so it wasn’t so tightly crammed into the back of the console between Hannah and Michelle. She smoothed down her skirt so her legs were properly covered and listened as Hannah and Michelle started talking about the cooking show they’d watched last night.
