them both a hug for me,” Sydney said.
“I will.” She looked at Burke. “We’ll put a date on the calendar soon for dinner so you can meet my husband and Mandy.”
“I look forward to it,” he said.
Cam smiled, then turned and walked out of the bar, leaving him alone with Sydney. Their gazes locked and he felt something squeeze tight inside him. He wasn’t sure what it meant but knew she’d completed her errand and would leave if he didn’t come up with a reason for her to stay. And he really wanted her to stay.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked. “It’s the least I can do. What with you going out of your way to bring my car back here to the lodge.”
“I’d like that.” She gracefully slid onto the bar stool beside his. Without hesitation she said, “Chardonnay, please.”
Burke signaled the bartender and asked her to open the best white she had. He toyed with the empty beer bottle in front of him. “I can’t decide if this delivery system of yours is good customer service or you just wanted to drive my car.”
“Both. And for the record it’s a really nice car,” she said, grinning. Then the amusement faded and she couldn’t quite meet his gaze, which was different from the uniquely direct woman he’d met this morning.
“You look very chic.”
She glanced down. “Thanks. Are you surprised?”
“Because you make your living working on cars?” He thought for a moment and decided to be completely honest. “You’re a beautiful woman, Sydney. I was surprised from the very first moment I saw you this morning.”
“What a lovely thing to say. And I appreciate it.” Her smile was a little shy, but also...nervous? “Because there’s something I’d like to ask. A really big favor—”
“Your drinks.” The twentysomething blonde waitress put down a small, square napkin, a wineglass and another beer in front of him. She picked up the empty bottle and said, “Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Will do. Thanks,” Burke said. He held up his beer. “To new friends.”
Sydney touched her glass to his bottle. “Friends.”
She was definitely nervous about something. Then her words sank in. Favor. Something to ask. “What’s up?”
“This is harder than I thought.”
“Just spit it out,” he advised. “That’s usually best.”
She took a long drink of Chardonnay, then set the glass down and looked him straight in the eye. “Nothing ventured...”
“Now I’m really curious.” His impression of her from their first meeting was of a confident, forthright woman so this hesitation struck him as out of character. “The worst that can happen is I’ll say no.”
“Actually that’s not the worst. And saying yes would not be the smartest answer.”
“Come on, Syd.” Shortening her name came easily and naturally, but he didn’t have time to wonder why that was. “Just tell me what’s on your mind.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I really need you to go out with me on a date.”
“You probably think I’m a gold-digging stalker.”
“Why would I?” Burke was more curious and intrigued than anything else.
“Today at the garage you said your company owns the property on the hill that’s going to be developed. As in the way people say my company is doing a hostile takeover but I just work for them and do what I’m told. As in a highly placed executive or something. It didn’t cross my mind that you owned the company. I had no idea you were in the same league with Camille’s family. The one where billionaires come to play.”
“Surprise.”
Sitting on the bar stool, she angled her body toward him. “And I hit on you!”
“It happens.”
“I just bet it does.” There was humor in her dark eyes.
Usually getting hit on turned him off. Sydney McKnight had the opposite effect. Color him shocked by this unexpected reaction to a small-town girl.
“Seriously, Burke, I wasn’t hitting on you. Not exactly. Not you...you. Any single man who was in the right age group and happened to drive up at that moment would have done just as well.”
“Way to let the air out of my ego balloon.” He took a sip of his beer.
“I’m not being mean. Just honest.”
“I like that about you, the honesty part.” And so many other things. Like the graceful arch of her dark eyebrows. The way her full lips curved up as if she found something secretly amusing. And the intelligence sparkling in her eyes.
“The thing is, Burke—and I don’t mean this in an offensive way—but what you think of me isn’t my biggest problem.”
He rested his elbow on the edge of the bar and half turned toward her. “That would imply that you might be in a bit of a predicament.”
“That would be accurate.”
“I see.”
When he moved his leg, her knee bumped his thigh and it felt oddly intimate for a bar setting. More people had wandered in for drinks but it seemed as if he and Sydney were alone. He found himself wishing they were.
“Did I hurt your feelings, when I insinuated that your opinion of me isn’t important? That certainly wasn’t my intention.”
“Not at all. Do I look like my feelings are hurt?”
She sipped her white wine and studied him. “I don’t know you well enough to make that determination. There was just an odd expression on your face.”
Hmm, she was very perceptive. He’d have to watch himself around her. “I assure you my feelings are just fine. So tell me about your problem.”
“Well it’s like this. My father is a little skeptical about our relationship.”
Burke laughed. “Can you blame him? It does feel suspiciously like a scenario from a TV sitcom.”
“I don’t know what came over me.” She sighed and shook her head. “You have no reason to believe this but I swear I’ve never done anything like that in my life. Accosting a strange man and pulling him into my situation.”
“Accost is sort of a strong word.”
She grinned. “I mean this in the nicest possible way, but you’re very good at going with the flow. Lying without
