“Wait. He’s leaving?” she asks. “I didn’t know he was leaving.”
“Yeah, but he’ll be back in spring for football. This is perfect.”
She sounds hesitant. “If you’re sure this is what you want....”
“I am,” I tell her. I’ve had relationships before, and they were always disappointing. I don’t need a man that’s more interested in hanging out with his friends than me. Heck, I lost count of how many times my ex, Reagan, left me at home and went to a party or whatever. I definitely don’t need that in my life. But I do miss the intimacy, which is how I came up with this plan.”
We’re mid conversation when a man stands next to me. “Hey, Violet, I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow,” I tell her before hanging up.
“Hello.”
He reaches for the chair next to me. “So what’s a pretty thing like you doing here by yourself? Mind if I have a seat?”
He’s about to sit down when Matt reappears. He leans over me with a big smile on his face. He kisses me, and this time, I put my hands on each side of his neck to hold him there. His muscles bunch under my palms, and he deepens the kiss. There’s a shrill scream and then laughter across the room that has me pulling back. “Wow,” he says at the same time I do.
The man that was going to sit down is long gone, and Matt sits in the seat next to mine. “That didn’t take long. I promise if you want to go—I mean, you all are here to celebrate, right?”
He shrugs like he could care less. “I can celebrate with you.”
That’s my opening, and before I can talk myself out of it, I blurt out, “Would you like to come to my house tonight?”
He’s up, pulling me into his arms in an instant. “Yes. I would love to.”
Standing up next to him as he holds me against him, feeling his body pressed to mine makes me think that we fit perfectly together. “Great. Let’s get out of here,” I say breathlessly.
His arm goes around my waist, and we walk outside. The whole way, I’m chanting to myself, One night, one night, one night.
Chapter 4
Matt
“Where’s your car parked?” I ask her.
She points to the side lot, and we start to walk that way. The farther we get from the bar, the tenser she gets. A fear like nothing I’ve ever felt starts to come over me. I’ve faced three hundred and fifty pound linemen that would have liked nothing more than to put me flat on my back, but nothing compares to the fear of April changing her mind and walking away from me.
“Are you okay?” I ask her as she stops next to a red VW convertible bug.
She shrugs. “Yeah, it’s just...”
I put my finger under her chin and lift so she’s looking at me. “What is it?”
She blinks her big green eyes at me. “I just...” She takes a deep breath and blows it out. “I just don’t want you to think I do this all the time. I’ve never met someone and just... well, you know. I guess I don’t want you to think badly of me.”
“I don’t. And me either. I’ve never met a woman at a bar and gone home with her. So this is new for both of us... but I don’t want this night to be over. Not yet.”
For that, she smiles, and I swear it lights up the whole damn parking lot. “Me either.”
I force my breathing to calm and then pull my phone from my pocket. “What’s your phone number?”
She recites it, and I punch the numbers into my phone and save her in my contacts. As I open her car door, I start to talk. “I know Whiskey Run is around thirty minutes away, and that’s a long time to think. You can change your mind about what happens when we get there, but I don’t want you changing your mind about spending time with me, okay?”
“Okay,” she answers and looks at me with relief.
I help her into the car, steal a quick kiss, and then call her phone. She laughs when it rings, but at least she plays along. “Hello?”
I shut her door and take a step back. “Put me on speaker.”
She does what I ask and then lays her phone in the cup holder. “I’m going to talk to you the whole way home.”
Her face lights up. “Okay.”
I turn to go and walk across the parking lot to my truck, talking to her the whole way. I get in, turn the ignition, and connect my phone to the speakers. “Are you there?” I ask her as I set my phone down.
“Yeah, I’m here.” I can hear the smile on her face. She stops next to me, waves, and then drives on. I pull out quickly, not wanting to let her out of my sight.