Nate (A Texas Jacks Novel) (15 page)

“You feel it too, right?” I suddenly feel the urge to ask.

“Feel what?” His eyebrows pull inward, as he looks over at me with a confused glance.

“How awkward this is. You know, without our friends here?”

“Only if you make it that way. You know what would help remedy that?” his voice holds a bit of amusement in it, and something else I’m studiously trying to ignore as I calm my traitorous heart down.

I’m afraid to ask but I can’t help myself, and fall for the bait, hook, line and sinker. “What?” I softly say.

“If you scooted that cute bottom of yours across the seat and sat right next to me. I’m finding that I don’t like the distance sitting between us, and I really want to hold your hand,” he says as he pats the seat right next to him.

I really want to, but I also really don’t. Not because he scares me— more like I’m scared of how fast my feelings towards him are growing. I swallow hard and decide that no harm could come by just sitting by him, and who am I kidding? I would regret not sitting next to him. So I scoot over and latch the lap belt around my body as he pulls me snuggly against his side, leaving his arm around my shoulders.
A girl could totally get used to this.

“I know you’re nervous,” he quietly says, “to be alone for the first time with me. I really wish you wouldn’t be. I like you. You like me, I hope.” He chuckles, as I know he doesn’t doubt my feelings towards him. “I’m trying to make this a special date for you, and it would help me out if you could relax and pretend you like it —or me for that matter.” He wiggles his brows at me, cracking me up. “Tell me about your day,” he changes the subject, trying to make me feel better with small talk.

“Are you trying to distract me? More than you already are?” I nudge him with my shoulder.

“If I wanted to distract you,” he whispers in my ear, as he gives my shoulder a squeeze, “I would find better methods than talking.”

So I sit back, trying hard not to blush as I relax in his loose hold on me. We have a pleasant, run of the mill, conversation about our day as we drive through town and out into the country.

Eventually, I pull up to a nice-looking iron fence with the ranch’s brand on the front. I park the truck, hop out to open the gate, then get back in and drive through. I get out one more time to close it, and then take us down a long and dusty dirt road. Soon we come to a stop, and I park us as close as I can to a big, man-made pond.

“Where are we?” Charlie asks, as I watch her survey our surroundings from the window.

“We’re on a friend’s ranch out in Dixon. She let us have use of her pond here for our picnic.”

“It’s beautiful.” I can hear the awe in her voice as she looks out the window, and I fully agree with her assessment. It really is a beautiful piece of property full of green grass, different types of colorful flowers, big shady trees, and some landscaped rock areas around the clean, blue colored water. It’s the perfect setting for our picnic, as it’s peaceful back here— with no interruptions from our nosey friends or loud music from the DJ.

“Calissa, the owner of this ranch, is a good friend of mine. We grew up together, and went to the same schools. Though, she doesn’t get out much—especially to
Texas Jacks.
”

“Why is that?”

“She’s busy with the ranch, her horses, and lately it seems like something else is up, but she won’t talk about it. I’ve been too distracted myself to really be a nosey friend and pry.” I give her a pointed look so she knows exactly which distraction I’m talking about. She blushes and turns her head, but I still catch that small smile that pulls at her full lips.

“So, you brought me all the way out here for a picnic?” She’s trying to use the same ‘distraction’ tactic I used on her, and I let her have her way.

“Anything for a pretty lady.” I open the door and hop out, before she has time to respond, then reach up and offer my services to help her down.
Like that’s a hardship
, I smile inwardly. I love it when she has to depend on me to get in and out of my truck. Any opportunity to get my hands on her, I fully plan to take advantage of.

I help her down and then close the door before taking her hand and walking us around the truck, towards the pond. There’s a blanket already spread out with a basket sitting on it. All around the blanket are strategically placed mason jars that hold candles in them for later when the sun goes down. I lead her over to the blanket and help her sit, then go back to the truck. In the back, I have more blankets and a bouquet of flowers for her.

I can feel her eyes on me the entire time as I make my way back to her, with one hand behind my back holding the flowers. I drop the extra blankets off to the side and sink to my knees, bringing out the bouquet. Her eyes widen in surprise, then light up with excitement when she gushes over the beautiful gift. I watch her bring them to her nose, smelling the intoxicating fragrance.

Placing the bundle on the blanket, she leans over on her knees, bringing a hand to my shoulder to balance her as she gives me a peck on the cheek. We stay in this position for a few moments longer, as we stare into each other’s eyes, before she retreats to her original seating position. I really wanted to take her into my arms right then and kiss the day lights out of her—which I fully plan to do before this date is over.

“Thank you. I love Stargazer Lilies. How did you know?”

“I didn’t. But I’m glad I do now. I love the smell of their perfume, and I couldn’t resist getting them for you. Beautiful flowers for a really beautiful woman.”

“They really are beautiful. My oldest sister, Jennifer, grows them out on her property. I love going to her house and being able to walk past, breathing in the wonderful aroma. It’s one of my favorite things when I go out to see her family.” She smiles fondly at the memories running through her mind.

I’m not ready to delve into the topic of family, just yet, so I move us along to the topic of dinner. “Are you hungry? I asked Leti, Calissa’s cook, to make us her specialty.” Winking, I tell her as I pull the basket in between us. “I couldn’t resist sharing something I really enjoy with you. It would be too selfish to keep it all to myself.” I playfully tell her, causing her to laugh as I start taking out the dishes of food and naming them off as I go.

“Grilled buffalo chicken sandwiches, potato salad, watermelon, and lemonade. Though, I hope you save room for dessert, as she made her chocolate coconut mound bar brownies. I hope you’ve brought your appetite!”

“I don’t know if I can out eat you,” she teases. “However, I did bring a healthy appetite. Everything sounds delicious, and that sandwich— it really smells good, too.”

We sit across from each other, enjoying the scenery, the food, and each others company in a comfortable silence as we eat. It seems as though the awkwardness has finally left Charlie.

Well, on second thought, it was going well, but somehow we have managed to fall back into that weirdness that Charlie was so worried about, I realize as I sit on my side of the blanket gazing over at her. The sun is starting to set, and we’ve been sitting here for quite some time making small talk, but nothing really important enough to care about.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” I ask her.

“What’s strange?”

“Being able to sit here, with you, without being bombarded with noise, jokes, loud music, and all of those other annoyances we deal with when we have the whole gang around.”

“You mean, there’s no one to cut the tension with?” She giggles.

“Okay, fine, you were right. But I’ll deny it if you ever tell the guys I said that!”

“What, you think little old me would be such a tattle-tale?” she fakes innocence on her part, but I bet anything that she’s far from that when it comes to this subject.

“Why do I not believe you?” I laugh when she makes her best shocked face.

“I have no idea what you mean by that.” She turns her face to the side, biting her lip.

“Uh-huh. Sure. So, back to what I was saying. You were right—it is a bit weird to not have everyone surround us all of the time. I have to admit, I don’t like that we have this strange lull between us at the moment.” I stop talking and watch to see what she will do. The longer I wait, the longer she sits there, with an indecisive look about her. I can tell she wants to do something about it, but at the same time, she’s nervous to make the first move. Although, she did try to earlier, she still struggles with being so bold. That’s fine; I have no problem going for what I want.

“So, Charlotte, why are you sitting all the way over there on the other side of the blanket?” I raise an eyebrow at her, trying to help her tumble over that line she’s not sure how to cross.

“Me? I think it’s
you
who’s on the wrong side.”

“Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”

“Umm —I’m not sure. What do you think I’m asking?” Now she just seems confused.

Leaning over, I hold out my hand for her to grab on to. She looks at it hesitantly, then looks me straight in the eye as she latches on so I can pull her right between my legs. She’s still sitting on her knees as I’m now propped up on my elbows, staring right back at her. She gives me a small smile, and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, unsure of what to do next. So, I decide for her, and pull her straight down on top of my me. She has no choice now but to lay her head against my chest. I won’t keep her this way. I just wanted to hold her for a moment.

Sitting up, I gently push her away and get her to turn around and then plant her right back between my legs and help her lean back against me. “Let’s watch the sun set, beautiful.” I whisper into her ear, feeling her body shudder against me. “Cold?”

“
No
,” she barely whispers. I wrap my arms around her and hold her a little tighter as we watch the sun go down. As it starts to grow darker, the glow from the mason jars start to filter through the night, making for an intimate ambience. I’ll have to remember to thank Calissa for being so romantically inclined to add that detail.

“This is really nice, and peaceful. It’s great to be able to enjoy the beauty of this ranch, and with exceptional company. Thank you, Nate, for thinking of this date. I’m having a really good time.”

“You’re not so bad yourself, short stuff.” I give her another squeeze.

“What do you think our friends are up to?”

“Probably trying to figure out where we went, and why we’re not answering our phones or dancing at
Texas Jacks
.” I feel her silent laughter as her body shakes against my chest.

“They’re going to bombard us the moment we step back into the center of their worlds, you know. Neither one of us is going to get out unscathed.”

“I wouldn’t worry about them, sweetheart. Right now, it’s just you and I, and I really want to dance with you.”

Charlie stands up, and then helps to pull me to my feet.

“What will we dance to? Are you going to serenade me?”

I laugh hard at that one. “Trust me, you don’t want that. If you want to save your ears, and not have any nearby animals whine, then you’ll have to make do with the truck’s radio.”

I snatch up my keys from the blanket and walk over to the truck, opening the door so I can start her up. I find the right CD and slide it into a slot in the dashboard. I key up the perfect song, and then flip on the headlights so we have a spotlight to dance in before making my way back to Charlie.

She’s just standing there, watching me as I slowly make it back to her side. The moment I reach her, I gently haul her up against my chest and wrap both arms around her waist, causing her to wrap her arms around my neck. The song starts playing, and I lean my forehead against the top of her head and sway our bodies to the beat of the song.

Tonight has been perfect, even if a little awkward a time or two, and I really should have made a better attempt to get to know more about her life, or share more about me. My heart’s just not into discussing the family hoopla at the moment. I really just want to be with her and share these kinds of moments before I get too deep into whatever this is that’s going on.

We dance for a while, listening to the different slow songs on the mixed CD I had made for tonight. She seems content to stay in my arms just the way we are, and I love every single moment of her body pressed against mine.