Spend My Life with You

Lee Ann ducked her head for a moment and bit back a grin. “They’re really quite sweet.”

“I’m sure.” He paused a moment before making the turn toward the park entrance. “I, uh, got the impression that they—your father and brother—didn’t know about us and tonight.”

Her face heated. “No, they didn’t.”

He bobbed his head. “Any reason?”

“I’m not really sure what the reason was,” she said a bit more harshly than she’d intended. “I just didn’t tell them.” She tightened her grip around her purse.

Preston’s brow arched for a moment, and he knew to back off. Whatever her reason was, it was her own. But he didn’t have the time or the inclination to tiptoe around anyone. He’d never done it in his life and had no intention of starting now.

He drove the car as far as he could and then found a parking space. “We’ll have to walk from here. It’s not far,” he said. “Right up the ridge and down on the other side.”

Lee Ann nodded. Preston came around and helped her out of the car. Gone was the easy, excited feeling, replaced with the rubber bands of tension that had popped between them during their first meeting at the reception.

Preston took a blanket from the trunk and tucked it under his arm. “This way,” he muttered and jutted his chin. Lee Ann fell in step beside him.

He was annoyed, he realized as they walked in side-by-side silence. Annoyed at the one thing he promised he would not allow himself to be ever again—how someone else’s agenda affected him. But he held his tongue. One night. The last night. Move on.

They reached the top of the ridge, and from that vantage point, the multicolored quilt of the crowd splashed out before them. One of the bands was already on stage and launched into their first number.

Preston instinctively took Lee Ann’s hand as they maneuvered their way across the uneven landscape and around bodies in search of a piece of space, and against his own steely determination, the sensation of her fingers wrapped around his hand seemed to soothe the ache that always resided inside him.

“Looks like a spot over there,” Lee Ann said, in a voice that carried a soft echo of sadness that gave Preston pause.

He gave her hand a little squeeze. Her eyes slid up to his face then pulled away.

“Let’s grab it before someone else does.”

They walked faster and just beat out another couple thanks to Preston’s quick work of staking their claim with the almost theatrical unfurling of the blanket, which reminded Lee Ann of a matador teasing the oncoming bull. She told him as much once they’d sat down.

“A matador?” Preston laughed a deep, tumbling laugh that broke the tenuous band of tension between them. He looked at her soft, smiling face and settled down beside her. “I’ve been called a lot of things, but I think matador is a first. I kind of like it though.”

He grinned, flashing that sexy smile that lit his eyes and stole her breath away.

Preston reached out and tenderly touched the wisps of dark hair that feathered her brow. He moved a bit closer. Lee Ann’s heart began to race.

The crowd burst into thunderous applause as the band finished their number.

Lee Ann blinked as if awakened from a light sleep. Preston gave an imperceptible shake of his head.

“I…uh, didn’t think to bring snacks,” Lee Ann blurted out in that odd moment of awkwardness.

Preston slapped his brow with the heel of his palm. “Oh man, I left them in the car.” He sprang to his feet. “I’ll be right back. Hold my spot,” he added with a wink. He jogged back the way they had come and was soon swallowed by the throng.

Lee Ann sat with her legs tucked beneath her and took a look around, while she ran through her head that push and pull that kept happening between her and Preston. Granted, she was no expert on dating or the prelude to it, but she had good plain sense and always relied on her instincts. But for reasons that she couldn’t put her finger on, Preston, at the slightest instance, would retreat to a space and cut her out, almost in retribution. Maybe it was the bump in the road of getting to know each other. Maybe she was making more out of it than necessary. Maybe it was just her imagination. Whatever it was, she wasn’t sure she knew how to deal with it or if she wanted to.