“That’s a great age.”
“She’s the best,” I agreed. I swiveled back to face him and was met with a molten gaze that brought back all of the dirty thoughts I’d had in church earlier today. Yeah, there was no way I could end this date tonight. Not with him looking like that.
A heavy black Arc’teryx jacket molded to his body over a T-shirt. Dark jeans ran down his powerful thighs, revealing dark boots that were definitely worn and loved. I was a lost cause.
“I know I’m early,” he said. “I saw that a cold front would be moving through tonight. That was not in the plan, especially with how the wind is now.”
“Only in Texas,” I said with a laugh. “The weather is crazy unpredictable. With my luck, we’ll have a dust storm blow through.”
“Let’s hope not.”
“I’ll get my coat.” I dashed to the closet and grabbed my winter coat, sliding it over my sweater.
Heidi waved at me from the kitchen and mouthed, Have fun. I winked at her and then returned to Jensen.
“Ready.”
Jensen raised his hand at my family, who were staring at the pair of us from the kitchen. I hurried out the door in embarrassment and put getting my own place on the ever-growing list of things that I needed to do. He pulled the door closed behind us and veered me toward a lifted black truck. It was huge and masculine and looked like I was going to need a step up to ride it. Just like Jensen.
I shook my head to get my mind out of the gutter and let Jensen open the door for me. I brushed past him. The contact sent shivers up my arm that I knew I couldn’t blame on the weather. I sank into the passenger side, and then Jensen shut my door and climbed into the driver’s side. I checked out the kick-ass interior and reworked my Jensen framework around this truck. I definitely hadn’t pictured him for a big-truck guy. For some reason, I’d assumed he’d have a shiny little sports car. I really needed to get over my prejudices about this guy.
Jensen backed out of Kimber’s driveway, and then we started heading toward town.
His eyes peeked over at me in interest, like I was a puzzle he wanted to put together. “So, what are you in school for?”
Okay, play it cool. I wasn’t hiding why I was here, but I hadn’t really talked about it with anyone outside of my family and Heidi. And we’d been friends long enough that she knew which questions not to ask.
“Um…PhD in history at UT Austin.”
Both eyebrows rose at that, and I realized that I liked surprising him.
“A PhD? That’s incredible.”
“Thanks,” I said. Even though I knew that I had made the right decision in leaving, I knew earning my PhD had made me stand out and given me focus. Without it, I didn’t really know who I was or what I was doing.
“What kind of history?”
“Oh. European female figures with some interest in European monarchy mistresses. Well, I was writing my dissertation on Madame de Pompadour, who was the renowned mistress of King Louis XV of France.”
“Mistresses,” he said with a shake of his head. “There’s a lot of research on that?”
“A surprising amount honestly,” I told him.
“Interesting. I always wanted to go back and get another degree,” he admitted.
“Pretty hard to do while you’re running your own business, I would guess.”
He nodded, resting his hand on the gearshift between us. I got distracted by his long, masculine fingers and the way they wrapped around the head of the stick. Wow, he had big hands.
My eyes shot back up to his as my thoughts strayed all over again. Damn, it hadn’t been that long since I’d gotten laid. I felt like a dog in heat.
Jensen didn’t say anything about the look on my face, but I could tell in the barely suppressed grin and cocky tilt of his head that he knew I’d been checking him out. “That would be the main reason. Just too busy to go back to school.”
“Aren’t you in charge though? Why would you need another degree?” I asked, keeping to safer territories.
“I wouldn’t.” His face went disturbingly blank for a second. His bright and shining eyes turned flat and empty. His smile disappeared.
It was like all the joy had been sucked out of the air from that one little question. And I didn’t even know why.
I chewed on my lip and faced front again as we pulled off of the main road and into a parking lot. With my mind swirling with possibilities as to why that had upset him, I hadn’t put much thought into where we were going to eat or what we were going to do on this date. I’d been too preoccupied by the warm clothing aspect.
But, now that we were standing outside of Torchy’s Tacos, I burst out laughing. “You’re taking me for tacos?” I asked when I met him by the bed of the truck.
All the seriousness of the last bit of our conversation had disappeared, and no tension remained in his shoulders.
“What? Do you not like tacos?” He apprehensively assessed me. “Tacos are a deal-breaker.”
I gently shoved him as we angled toward the front of the restaurant. “Of course I like tacos. Do people not like tacos?”
He shrugged. “Traitors maybe.”
“You’re ridiculous,” I said with a laugh. “I just didn’t expect…tacos.”
“What were you expecting?”
His body angled toward me, and once again, I felt that crushing inescapable force vibrate between us. There was something that made it so that I couldn’t seem to get my bearings with him.
“I don’t know. I guess I’m just realizing that you’re not what I thought.”
“Good. You aren’t what I was expecting either.”
“Oh, yeah? What were you expecting?”
“After meeting you yesterday? A girlie girl who likes makeup and hair and designer clothes.”
I couldn’t seem to help myself at that image and abruptly laughed out loud.
“Yes, well, I realize that’s not who you are.”
“Not even close.” I straightened but kept my smile firmly in place.