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His eyebrows went up. “I’m not?”
“Not until there’s kissing happening.”
His smile widened. “I can take care of that right now.”
“You’re so arrogant,” she said, pressing against his chest.
He stumbled back a single step, righted himself, and moved right back into her personal space, bringing her flush against his body. “Can I kiss you, Miss Cooper?”
Cherry took a few moments as if she was really considering it. She could admit to herself that she’d thought about kissing Jed, especially since their flirt-fest over the Fourth of July. “All right, Mister Forrester.”
He leaned down, taking his sweet, Texas time, his smile oh-so-charming and his eyes oh-so-sparkly. She closed hers, the anticipation building the way category five hurricanes did out in the Gulf of Mexico.
He finally touched his lips to hers, the pressure light and sweet and utterly powerful. She reacted to him instantly, and the kiss became firmer and deeper in less time than it took to breathe.
This cowboy knew how to kiss a woman, and Cherry let him lead her down a path where she could never kiss another man and not compare him to Jed. He pulled away before she was ready to let him go, and she pressed her lips together to try to prolong the tingling sensation happening there.
He chuckled low in his throat and said nothing, which Cherry really appreciated. Instead, he backed up, took her hand, and turned to lead her into the restaurant. They got a booth, and when they had menus in front of them, Cherry finally asked, “Have you been here before?”
“Here?” Jed looked over his menu to her. “An hour from where I live and work? In a town I didn’t know existed?”
She scowled at him. “You don’t have to be so mouthy.”
He cocked one eyebrow at her and looked back at the menu. “I haven’t been here.”
Neither had Cherry, obviously.
“Are you gonna tell Lee about us?” he asked without looking up.
“I don’t know,” Cherry said.
“How long are you gonna be in town this time?”
“A couple of nights,” she said, watching him and trying to figure out where this conversation was headed.
He looked up, those dark blue eyes pulling at her the way they had in May. She’d known Jed for a long time. He and his brothers had already taken over the farm for their father, much the way Lee had for Daddy. He and Lee were the same age, and they’d been friends for a long time. Cherry had known him growing up too, though there’d never been anything romantic between them.
“You can stay at the farm,” he said. “I’ve got a cabin open right now.”
Surprise darted through Cherry. “I’m not staying at your farm.”
“Where are you going to stay?” he challenged, both eyebrows up now. “I know you won’t stay at your place.”
Cherry couldn’t argue with him about that. She hadn’t told him everything about her past, obviously, as their conversations had mostly been superficial stuff, like favorite foods and tons of flirting and teasing.
“You won’t stay somewhere for free,” he said. “Five bucks a night. You can pay me five dollars per night for the cabin.”
“Five dollars?” she asked with plenty of sarcasm.
He grinned at her. “Fine, I’ll take ten.”
Cherry smiled back and shook her head, though the idea of staying at Jed’s farm held some appeal for her.
“It’s cabin four,” he said. “You can come any time, because it’s not locked.”
Their waiter arrived, and the conversation paused while they put in their orders. With the menus gone, Jed reached across the table and covered Cherry’s hands with both of his. “I’ll bring you breakfast tomorrow morning. Cabin four.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
