Instead, she turned sharply back to the steering wheel, slamming the car into drive and muttering something that sounded a lot like “obnoxious, conceited male.” He did laugh then, earning himself a fulminating glance and a toss of auburn hair. But he had accomplished what he’d wanted, because she loosened up and began to reply when he made innocuous conversation. By the time they reached the popular, expensive restaurant where she’d been fortunate enough to obtain reservations for the evening, they were chatting away in relative ease. She’d been expecting him to pounce on her, he had, and now they could get on with the evening. Jeff was quite proud of himself for handling that particular situation so deftly.
Except his hands were still shaking in the aftermath of the most powerful kiss in his entire life.
“Tell me about yourself,” he encouraged her when they’d ordered their dinners.
“Like what?” she asked, immediately looking wary.
He wondered what it was that could turn such a simple request into a threat to her. Why should she immediately go on the defensive just because he wanted to get to know her? “Anything,” he answered simply. “Where you were born and when, whether you have any brothers and sisters, how you decided to become an electrician, when you moved to Florida, what flavor of ice cream you like, what you wear to bed.”
The last suggestion made her blink, then glare at him before speaking quickly. “I was born twenty-five years ago in Rose Bud, Arkansas. My parents had three daughters in just over three years—I’m the youngest. I moved to Little Rock when I was twenty, started working to become an electrician immediately because it looked interesting and I like working with my hands. I moved to Tampa almost a year ago. I like chocolate mint ice cream and I sleep in large T-shirts. Any other questions?”
Delighted, he grinned and nodded. “Thousands.”
She sighed deeply, propped her elbows on the table and looked at him with exaggerated patience. “Shoot.”
He laughed. “You’re certainly being accommodating.”
“You’re the one who said you like to converse with your dates. Converse.”
“Okay. What are your sister’s names, where do they live, what do they do and are they married? Are you an aunt?”
She shook her head, looking a bit dizzy. “Whatever happened to one question at a time?”
“Takes too long. Besides, you fielded the last series so well I thought I’d give it another shot.”
“Fair enough. My oldest sister is Spring McEntire. She’s an optometrist in Little Rock, Arkansas, and she’s married to a psychologist named Clay.”
Jeff nodded gravely. “Okay. Go on.”
“My other sister, Summer Anderson, is twenty-six. She and her husband, Derek, live in Sausalito, California, where she’s studying to teach theater arts, and he’s a business consultant. Did I answer them all?”
Laughing, Jeff shook his head. “No, you missed one. Are you an aunt?”
“Not yet. Summer and Derek had their first wedding anniversary last month, and Spring and Clay were married three months ago. I think both couples want children, though, when they decide the time is right.”
“Do you?”
“Do I what?” she asked absently, toying with a bread stick because she knew what he was asking.
“Do you want children?”
She shrugged. “It’s not high on my list of priorities.”
“What is?”
Again a shrug preceded an answer that was just a bit too flip. “Independence. Self-sufficiency. Pride.”
“Interesting answers.”
“Yes, aren’t they? Good thing you’re a pediatrician instead of a shrink or you’d be busy trying to find out what makes me tick, wouldn’t you?”
His gaze held hers. “I’ve been doing that from the moment we met, Autumn Reed.”
She lowered her eyes, staring hard at the tablecloth. “Don’t. I don’t like being analyzed.”
She was grateful that their dinners arrived just then. By the time they’d been served, Jeff had changed the subject, as if sensing that he’d better keep the conversation fairly impersonal if he wanted her to participate. Still, he continued to ask about things that related to her, unwilling to abandon his efforts to find out more about her. “Spring, Summer and Autumn. Pretty names, but you must have been teased quite a bit when you and your sisters were growing up.”