Rory brushed his fingers over her arm again, offering comfort, but noticing it made her tense, then settle again.
She didn’t let go of his hand. “I made him leave.”
“He didn’t go willingly.” Rory indicated the marks on her.
“Not without stealing the money out of my purse.”
“What the hell?”
“I know. I begged him to turn himself in. He refused of course. When I told him to leave or I’d call the cops myself, he got a little physical. He won’t be back.”
“How do you know that?”
“He’s not stupid when it comes to saving his own ass.” She slipped her hand from his and set it on his shoulder. “Thanks for looking out for me.”
“Seems to be my favorite thing.”
“Why?” she asked, a shyness in her voice he’d never heard.
It took him a second to get the words out. “I like looking at you.”
“It might help me to believe that if you smiled.”
“You smile at me and I’ll smile back.”
Skeptical, one of her eyebrows went up. “Because you want to, or because I’m asking you to.”
“Every time I think about or see you, I’m smiling on the inside.” He set his hand on her thigh in front of him and squeezed softly. This time, he didn’t look away, but stared into her pretty eyes. “Which means I’m smiling on the inside all the time, because I can’t stop thinking about you.” The gruffness in his voice probably told her that admission didn’t come easy.
“Um, I don’t know what to say. You barely speak to me, and when you do, you say that.”
“Tell me it’s just me and I won’t say anything like it again.”
Her hand contracted on his shoulder. He leaned in closer. She bit the inside of her bottom lip. The way it twisted her mouth made him want to kiss her even more.
“It’s not just you.” The shyness in her words didn’t dim the reality of what she’d just admitted.
Those words hit him square in the chest. She liked him. She felt something for him. Taking a chance for once in his life, his next words tumbled out of his mouth quicker than he expected. “Would you like to go to a movie tonight?” He held his breath, hoping she said yes.
“A date?”
“Yeah, you know, one of those things where we go out, get to know each other better without being watched by my brothers and grandfather.”
She looked past him. He had no doubt Ford and Colt had stopped unloading the feed to stare at them. His grandfather was probably staring out the top-floor window.
He didn’t care. He was tired of looking at her from afar. Right now, he was a foot away. Still too far for his liking, but he’d take it over watching her in a store, from across the street, or from the booth at the back of the diner.
“I would love to see a movie with you, but . . .”
“Can we stop with the buts?”
She laughed and he smiled up at her. One of her eyebrows shot up. “There it is.”
“What?”
“Your smile.”
She did something completely unexpected and touched her fingertips to his cheek. “You’re really handsome when you smile.”
“And when I’m not smiling?”
“You’re a whole lot of intimidating.”
“I’ve perfected it over the years, I guess, trying to keep my brothers in line.”
“I know how you feel. You’ve done a much better job than I ever did.”
“That’s because I’m bigger than you, little bit.”
She laughed again and the knot in his stomach loosened up again.
“I noticed.” Her gaze slid over him.
Heat spread through him like wildfire across a dry field, igniting something inside him he hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever. God, how he wanted her.
“What is the but?” he asked, trying to keep things on track and get her to accept a date with him.
“I need to stop by my place after I finish up here and check on my father. I don’t like to leave him these days. His confusion is getting worse.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. If you want, go on home and watch over him. I’ll pick you up later.”
She shook her head. Stubborn woman.
“You’re not going to give up paying me back, are you?”
“No. I owe you, plus . . . It gives me a reason to see you.” She shrugged like that should be obvious to him. It hadn’t occurred to him that she’d set this up to get to know him better. “I kind of got used to having you around at the hospital.”
“I had a hard time leaving you at your place.”
“Then stop trying to send me away all the time.”