“I guess I could come over.”
Her words were said so quickly that Zach thought he might have imagined them. “What did you say?”
“It…it was nothing. Never mind. I’ll just plan on seeing you tomorrow.”
“You said you could come over. Like now.”
“It’s late,” she said softly.
“Do you have a curfew?”
She giggled. “No.”
“That’s good. Neither do I.”
“But…it’s crazy, Zach. It’s not like we can get anything done tonight.”
He wasn’t so sure about that. “So? We’ll watch a movie or we’ll start our online research and making our plan for tomorrow.”
“I’m…I’m kind of in my jammies already.”
Was it too much to hope that it was scraps of silk and lace and she’d kept her stilettos on? “Me too.”
Now she laughed a little harder. “Oh really?”
“Yup. Really. Flannel pants, a t-shirt. Very jammie-ish.”
“I don’t even think that’s a word, Zach.”
“It doesn’t need to be. Come on. I’m not expecting you to come over in business attire, Gabs. I’ve seen you in jeans and dressed casually. It’s not a big deal.”
“I don’t normally drive around a whole lot at night.”
As much as he wanted to see her and spend time with her, he certainly wasn’t going to be selfish and endanger her by making her drive around late at night. If he was ready to drive on his own, he’d suggest going over to her place, but he hadn’t gotten the clearance from his doctor yet.
“It’s okay, Gabriella. We’ll leave things as we originally planned and I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch.” He sighed quietly and got comfortable on the couch. “I don’t want you driving around by yourself late at night.”
“You’re very sweet.”
He laughed darkly. “I bet it hurt to say that.”
“Oh, stop. We agreed we weren’t looking back, right?”
He nodded. “Right.” God he wanted to keep talking to her but he could hear it in her voice that she was tired. “Why don’t I let you go and get some sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Mmm,” she sighed. “I’m sorry. If it wasn’t quite so late…”
“It’s all right, Gabs. Really.”
“Okay. I don’t want you to be mad.”
“Not mad. Disappointed. I’m finding I really like spending time with you.”
“I like it too.”
She was killing him.
“Go,” he forced himself to say. “Goodnight, Gabriella.”
She made that purring sound again and everything in Zach hardened. “Goodnight, Zach.”
Bestseller/contemporary romance writer Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan’s Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her 40’s to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Her motivation to take that step was her students: teaching creative writing to elementary age students all the way up through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams gave Samantha the confidence to take that step as well.
Thanks so much for hosting!!
My pleasure!