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Go to his house? In the middle of nowhere? In some small town or worse, the woods? That didn’t seem very safe. It didn’t seem smart. He wasn’t a stranger, but people could be something other than what they seemed.
“I-I don’t know that I can do that.”
Tavish blinked. “Right. That makes sense. Your sister said you were going to be in Seattle for some time. Maybe I could take you out there.”
Would there be harm in going out for a night with this man who seemed so perfectly nice? He was beautiful. Beyond beautiful. And yet he was interested in her. What made her so special? She was over forty, divorced, and probably on the hotness scale only a solid six. Tavish didn’t even register on that scale. He freaking shattered it. It just didn’t make sense.
January put her elbows on the table and clutched her hands together. Her eyes flicked to the window, and she could see June lifting up the propane tank and inspecting it, like that would help anything.
“I appreciate the offer, but I know that my sister put you up to this. We’ll just say that it was me. I’ll take the blame. You don’t have to take me to dinner. You don’t even have to ask.”
The relief she expected to see on his face never came. Instead, he frowned. “Your sister was quite insistent that I take you out and she did press, but she didn’t force me. This invitation is just me extending it because I want to. I know I don’t have to.”
“You’re just being nice. You don’t have to do that. June can be a lot, I know. She can be hard to resist. She asked you about being single when you changed that tire and she’s probably been plotting ever since. The mouse thing was just a handy excuse. Which, thank you for saving its life, by the way. It can’t help that it was born gross and scary, and also extremely cute in a horrifying way.”
“It didn’t need to be killed.”
“No. No, it didn’t. I’m glad you didn’t.”
Tavish smiled slowly, almost hesitantly. In some state somewhere, it was probably illegal to be that hot. That smile was flames to her insides. “I’d like to take you out, January. If you’ll let me.”
“No!” She shook her head, suddenly close to tears. “No, thank you. I’m good.”
“Okay. But you’re good because you don’t want to go on a date with me, or because you don’t want to go on a date with anyone since you’re not ready, or because of something else, or you’re not really good at all?”
She was so confused. Her head hurt. Her brain felt sluggish. “Because… because you don’t really want to go out with someone like me.”
“I’m not sure what that means, but I think that I do.”
“I’m okay. No matter what my sister said, I don’t need you to go out with me to boost my ego. I’m doing fine. I’m not in a rut or having a mid-life crisis.”
“Fair enough.” Those dark eyes softened a notch. He wasn’t angry. He seemed almost amused. What about this was funny?
Instead of getting annoyed by that, it only made January more determined to dissuade him. “I’m not your type, Tavish. You’re way too good looking for me. I’ll just say it. We’re not a good match physically.”
Something else flared to life in his eyes and it hit her straight in the belly. Her heart slammed into her ribs. It felt like it had done some damage to itself, careening around like that because she was out of breath as soon as the words went out and she saw that look on his face.
A look that said that he thought the exact opposite. That he thought that they’d be a very good match physically.
“Are you emotionally ready to date again? Because if you’re not, that’s fair enough. But I can tell you right now, January, that I’m very attracted to you. I think you’re beyond beautiful. You’re doing yourself an extreme disservice to think otherwise.”
All she had to say was that she needed more time. That her last experience sucked. That she’d just gotten a divorce and didn’t want to jump into something new. That she thought it was pointless given that they lived in different places. It would be so simple. So. Freaking. Easy.
June thumped the propane tank down outside and the echo of it striking the ground seemed to reverberate through the cabin. She banged the grill lid a second later. It was her noisy way of letting January know she was coming back in.
She could just say no. She could very easily and politely decline, and she’d never see Tavish again after tonight. Her life would continue to go on in an uncomplicated way. She had no urge to be with anyone ever again. Dating or even just sex was just not for her at the moment.
And then she’d nearly taken her leg off and, clearly, it had some wild and adverse side effects she’d never planned for.
Hormonally.
She should bow out of this before it even started, but instead she looked into Tavish’s dark velvet brown eyes and found those sparks of golden light she’d wondered about before. “I’ve had this craving for a chicken burger for days now. If you think you could find a good place in Seattle that has the to die for kind of chicken, maybe… I just… maybe.”
He looked like he was going to make it his personal mission in life to find the world’s best chicken. Her heart bruised itself again, smashing into the underside of her ribs. “Maybe isn’t no, so that’s a great start.”
Chapter 7
Tavish
