Grady leaned in, slightly lowering his head, and I closed my eyes.
At the last second, without thinking, I turned my head, and Grady’s lips brushed across my cheek. Warmth hit me, a mixture of embarrassment and disappointment. Why had I done that? He wanted to kiss me. I wanted him to do that.
Didn’t I?
Yes, I told myself as I opened my eyes and met his questioning ones. I was just gun shy. I forced a shaky half-smile, one that probably looked more like a grimace. “I had a really good time today.”
“Truly?” he asked.
I nodded. “I did.”
His gaze searched mine and then he smiled a boyish, charming smile. “Then it’s dinner next week? Wednesday?”
“Wednesday,” I confirmed.
This time when Grady leaned in, I didn’t pull away, but it was because he was giving me a hug. I returned it, telling myself that if he tried to kiss me again, I wouldn’t turn away.
I wouldn’t.
Chapter 10
The massive omelet was steaming hot and full of nearly every meat possible—sausage, Italian sausage, bacon, Canadian bacon, and ham. Of course, I squeezed some veggies in there. It had peppers and mushrooms.
And cheese.
Lots of cheese, and I didn’t care that cheese wasn’t a veggie.
I’d never been more excited about anything in my life.
Avery went the steak and eggs route with a side order of extra crispy bacon. And it was a huge T-bone steak. Across from us was a very pregnant Teresa who had a stack of pancakes, a side bowl of fruit, and an order of sausage links.
I loved that these women ate as much as me.
Sunday breakfast was a tradition that had started back in Pennsylvania and had carried over to the West Virginia girls. I’d been invited to join them the moment I showed up at Shepherd all those years ago, because I’d met them through mutual friends. I’d bailed on them more than I joined them, but that was something I was actively changing.
I dug into my omelet as Avery’s phone lit up. She placed her knife down and picked up the phone, laughing softly. “Oh man.”
Avery extended the phone to the center of the table and there was a picture of Jack, Jase’s son from a previous relationship, who was currently giving a very happy Ava a piggyback ride.
Jack was somewhere in his double digits of life. I was terrible at figuring out how old kids were. I guessed it was something that came along with producing them. He looked so much like Jase it made you do a double take. Rich russet-colored hair and beautiful gray eyes, he was a baby heartbreaker in the making. Next to them were two leashed tortoises. It looked like Jack had been trying to walk them when Ava climbed on his back.
“Oh, Ava is in heaven.” Teresa popped a piece of watermelon into her mouth and then looked down as a bit of juice plopped on her swollen stomach. She sighed.
“Ava’s in love with Jack,” Avery explained to me and then grinned at Teresa. “Whenever Jack comes over, Ava is literally one step behind him, like his little shadow. It’s so adorable.”
“It is,” Teresa agreed, stabbing a sausage link with a fork. “Which I’m sure Cam will be thrilled with once Ava gets older.”
Avery rolled her eyes. “He’s going to be one of those dads. You know? The kind that cleans a shotgun in front of the boys Ava dates.”
Teresa arched a brow. “Does Cam even own a gun?”
“No, but I bet he will once Ava hits sixteen.”
I laughed as I cut another large section of the omelet.
“Thank you again for watching Ava and Alex for us,” Avery said for the hundredth time. “You have no idea how hard it is to get out on time when you have kids.” She pointed her fork at Teresa. “At least with Jack, he’s always been old enough to not need constant attention. Just wait until the baby comes. Getting laid becomes an Olympic sport. Thanks to Jillian, we were finally able to hopefully not make baby number three.”
Chalk that up to things I never needed to know happened when I watched their kids.
“Yeah, but we have built-in babysitting,” Teresa replied. “Jack.”
“True,” Avery said.
Teresa giggled as she rubbed her swollen belly. “Either way, if there’s a will, there’s a way,” she said, dipping the sausage link in a pool of syrup. “By the way, Jillian, don’t think we didn’t notice how you skimmed the details on your date.”
“Mmm?” I mumbled around a mouthful of egg and cheese.
Avery raised her brows. “So, you said you had a good time and that you guys were getting dinner on Wednesday, but did you guys, you know . . .” She elbowed me in the side. “Did you kiss? Did you do more?”
“Did you have sex?” Teresa asked.
I coughed, nearly choking on a piece of diced bacon. “No. No sex. Not that there is anything wrong with sex on the first date,” I hastily advised, because seriously, I saw nothing wrong with that. It just wasn’t how I moved since that seemed fast and I was like a three-legged turtle when it came to relationships. “He did try to kiss me.”
“Try?” Teresa’s brow creased.
Reaching for my glass of Coke, I shrugged a shoulder. “I turned my head when he leaned down. I didn’t mean to. I just wasn’t thinking.”
“Oh,” Avery said, sounding disappointed.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.” She cut off a piece of steak.
I took a drink and then placed the cup down. “That didn’t sound like nothing.”
“I think it was more of a ‘if you want to be kissed by someone you don’t turn your head from them’ kind of thing,” Teresa explained.