how she’d gotten to him.
The waitress stuffed her order pad into the back pocket of her jeans and then shifted her tray to her other hand. “Y’all want anything else? We’ve got chicken wings, hot or mild, or jalapeño poppers. They’re pretty good. Not too spicy.”
Tori shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m in the mood for something else. How about you?” she asked Jake, the twitch at the corners of her mouth unmistakable.
“I’m good,” he told the waitress. “I’ll take the check, though.”
Tori frowned at him. He wasn’t sure what that was about. Maybe she wasn’t ready to leave. Maybe she’d been bluffing. Maybe she got off on getting him horny and then kicking him to the curb.
The waitress set the tray on the table and got the order pad out of her pocket. After she ripped off the top sheet and set it in front of Jake, she picked up her tray. “Y’all be good, and come back soon.”
Tori tried to grab the check but Jake snatched it first. “I’ll take that,” she said. “I asked you out, remember?”
He smiled. “How politically correct of you,” he said as he dug into his pocket. “You get it the next time.” He flipped through the folded bills, withdrew enough to cover a generous tip, and then looked up. “Assuming there is a next time.”
She blinked. “I hope so.”
“Good enough.” He picked up his beer and tipped the bottle to his lips.
Tori played with the wet napkin under her bottle, lightly sucking in her lower lip, looking as if she had a big decision to make. Or was trying to figure out how to get herself out of this scene gracefully.
Finally she picked up the beer and took a long pull. When she set the bottle down again, her pale pink lips glistened with moisture. Her tongue slipped out to swipe her lower lip, the action sexy as hell. He didn’t think it was deliberate, though. In fact, she seemed nervous.
She shook back her hair and smiled. “Okay, where were we?”
“I believe you were playing with my leg.”
She sputtered, and then started laughing. “Me?”
“I hope it was you.”
“I was minding my own business.”
“You mean you didn’t do this?”
She jumped when the toe of his boot made contact. “No, I believe my aim was quite a bit lower.”
He hadn’t meant to land between her thighs, but he wasn’t quick to withdraw, either. “Ah, my mistake.”
The surprise wore off and she gave him a playful glare as she removed his foot. “Right.”
“Damn, I was just getting comfortable.”
She laughed. “I’m glad I like you.”
“Huh?”
“Having seen you all those years is like following your favorite actor in a TV series and thinking you know him. Then you see him on an interview show and think, oh, my God, he’s a geek. Or he’s arrogant, or dumber than dirt. Know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“I know you saw me over the years, either running to the stables, or even simply leaving in the car. What did you think of me?”
He avoided her probing gaze and flashed back to the time when he’d first seen Tori at a window, hiding behind a curtain where she thought he couldn’t see her. She’d watched him for hours, would disappear for a while and then return, sometimes changing windows to track him. She’d been young, too young to interest him, and mostly he’d ignored her.
Except one day, while in a shitty mood after being chewed out by his father for something, Jake had almost gestured to her. He’d wanted to make her aware that he knew she hid at the window. He’d wanted to embarrass her. But at the last moment he’d caught a glimpse of her face and the unhappiness he saw had stopped him cold.
He thought about it for a moment and then said, “I thought you were lonely.”
She reared her head back. “What?”
“Sometimes when you stared out your window, you looked—I dunno.”
“You saw me at the window—” She briefly covered her mouth. “You never let on.”
He shrugged. “You would have been embarrassed.”
She laughed softly. “Yeah. So you knew I had a crush on you all along.”
“I really didn’t think about it,” he said and she frowned. He hadn’t meant the comment as a dismissal, but if she took it that way so be it. “Look, you want to get out of here. It’s getting noisy.”
She nodded, and then took a final sip of beer. He let her lead the way, enjoying the snug fit of her low-riding jeans and the seductive sway of her hips. About an inch of skin showed between the hem of her shirt and her waistband. In the center of her back just above the swell of her butt, it looked as if she had a small tattoo, but more likely it was a birth-mark. He couldn’t imagine that Ms. MBA would have done anything so whimsical or foolish.
They got outside and the blast of hot, humid air made him think again about why he’d chosen to return to Houston. Granted, he generally didn’t work outside much anymore, but the heat could be brutal when he did. Damn, he wished Pop would consider retiring. What kind of hold did the Whitfords have over him?
Tori hesitated and turned to him while pushing the hair away from her face and off her neck. “You’d think I’d be used to this heat by now.”
“You’ve been away,” he murmured, more interested in the graceful curve of her neck. Normally he liked long hair, but he wanted to see hers swept up. Off her neck and the slope of her shoulders. “Where to now?”
Her startled eyes met his. “Tonight?”
Shit, he should have known. “Yeah.”
“I can’t tonight. I only meant for us to have a drink. I have a—” She glanced at her watch. “I have to be home within the hour. My mother has plans for me.”
“Ah.”
She narrowed her gaze. “You think I’m making that up.”
“Actually, I think you’re chickening out.”
Her brows rose. “Tomorrow night. The Westin Hotel at the Galleria. I’ll be there by seven.”
He dug in his pocket for his keys and led them in the direction of her car. “I’ll make the reservation.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
He smiled. “Under Whitford?”
That wiped the smug look off her face. She nibbled her lower lip. “How about…?”
“Use
