He absently stirred the ice in his sweet tea and thought about having a talk with Brian Ross himself. She’d kill him if he did, but that was only if she knew about it.
“I can’t eat another bite,” she proclaimed at last. Chuckling, he waved for the check, having reached that point long ago. She’d eaten like she’d been starving herself for days, and he felt like an asshole for having let her make dinner for him twice before returning the favor in some small way.
“We’ll do this again really soon,” he told her. “Promise.”
“Ooh, promises already. Careful with that.” She gave him a salacious wink as she swayed a bit beside him. Yeah, despite her impressive food consumption, the tequila had definitely gotten to her. He hoped he could get her in the truck.
When the check came, she offered to pay her share. Jared wouldn’t hear of it. “But the drinks—” she began, and yes, her drinks had cost more than the food, but still.
“Are my treat,” he finished for her.
“Thanks,” she said quietly, sinking into herself a bit.
“What’s the matter?”
“I didn’t really intend to get plastered on your dime.”
“Don’t worry about it. What do you want to do now?”
She stared at her empty margarita glass, and alarm shot through him when her bottom lip trembled slightly. “I don’t want to go home,” she said softly.
Then she fucking wouldn’t, if he had anything to say about it. “What’s going on at home?”
“Can we leave now?” She’d no sooner asked than the waitress dropped off his credit card slip. He signed quickly, adding the tip, then pulled Starla from their booth with an arm firmly around her waist. She didn’t seem to need the support, really, but he liked the feel of her at his side and, thankfully, she seemed to like the feel of him at hers. Her arm slipped around his waist and her thumb found the belt loop of his jeans; her scent teased at his senses as her long hair tickled his arm. She let him absorb a little of her weight as she shuffled along beside him and…
Dammit. He should have known he couldn’t go anywhere in this town without seeing someone he knew. Shelly’s sister, brother-in-law, and niece were sitting at the table nearest the door. Friggin’ hell. So much for ever convincing Shelly he wasn’t seeing someone—he and Starla were hanging on to each other like a couple of teenagers, and while he had zero complaints on that score, of course, he knew how it looked.
While he’d once shared holidays and special occasions with these people, those ties had been severed by the cruel ax fall of divorce, and he didn’t feel any obligation to go over and speak. They damn sure wouldn’t have walked over to greet him had the situation been reversed. But since he and Starla were already the object of his former sister-in-law’s chilly gaze, he acknowledged them with a wave. She returned it, but not happily. Jared urged Starla on out the door.
“Who was that?” she asked, having not missed the exchange.
“Former in-laws.” He hit the unlock button on his key chain remote.
“Oh. No wonder.”
“No wonder what?”
“She looked at me like she wanted to stab her fork through my eyeball.”
“Don’t worry about it. They never were the friendliest even when Shelly and I were married.”
“Ugh. I can’t stand a bitch.”
Jared chuckled. Starla definitely called them like she saw them, and he bet she hit the mark more often than she missed. “I can’t complain much about them. They’re good to the girls and always around to help Shelly out if she needs it.”
“But so are you, I’m sure. Who’s around to help you out if you need it?”
“I don’t need it.”
“Everyone does sometimes.”
He held open the truck door for her, watching as she climbed carefully inside and mulling over her remark. A strong support system was in place for him. He still had his parents and one set of grandparents. Great friends. A comfortable life. Truly, if he hadn’t had all that, where would he be? Maybe he needed more than he liked to think. And maybe she was revealing more about herself than she thought.
Jared climbed in on his side, but instead of starting the truck, he looked at her. Admired the luminescent fall of her hair and the way it conquered the darkness pushing in around it. The pout of her generous lips. She’d tasted so good last night. He wanted to touch her again, but he didn’t dare—the feeling wasn’t unlike being told as a child not to touch an expensive vase, when all you wanted was to get your grubby hands on it. Feel its cool smoothness, its delicacy. But if you broke it, it would be your ass.
She was beautiful.
Tearing his gaze away when she seemed unwilling to meet it, he started his truck. “My place?”
“Okay.”
“You didn’t answer me before. What’s going on at your house?”
She sighed. “I think I mentioned my roommate and her deadbeat brother.”
“Yeah, I remember that.”
“It’s so bad I’m thinking of moving. No, scratch that. I’m moving. As soon as I can.”