Trade It All(38)

“What time?” he asked.

“I’m sorry?”

“What time do you want to meet at the capitol building? I’ll bring a notebook and polish my joke-telling skills.”

“I have a job now.”

With Clay. Lance held his tongue. Willa was close to saying yes. “I’ll be on a bench in front of the building at six. Come meet me for the first time, Willa.” He hung up because he had a feeling she needed time before she decided.





Chapter Nine




At five fifty-five, Willa stepped out of a cab and froze just before turning onto the street where Lance said he would be sitting, waiting for her. She leaned back against the cornerstone of a building and took several calming breaths.

Will he be there?

And, if he is, can we really move forward without looking back?

Am I a fool to think it’s possible?

The memory of how good his mouth felt on hers, how much pleasure merely being in his presence brought her, surged through her, but was it worth the risk?

It wasn’t that she was lonely, but that only one man had ever made her feel scandalously impulsive. That man was waiting for her a few hundred feet away. As soon as she stepped from behind the building, she was agreeing to give him a second chance.

“Are you okay?” a beautiful, tall, brunette with more piercings and tattoos than clothing asked.

Willa straightened off the building. “Yes. No.” She chuckled with self-deprecation. “I’m not really sure.”

“You need help?”

Since the other woman probably thought Willa was crazy, Willa didn’t see that she had much to lose by confirming her first impression. “Could you see if there is a man with dark brown hair sitting on a bench just round the corner?”

With an amused expression, the woman stepped away from the building and peered down the street. “There is, and he’s looking around for someone.” The woman smiled and waved. “Yes, I’m waving at you, Mr. Hunk-in-a-Suit. He doesn’t know what to do. How adorable. He just looked away. He’s still looking around. Yep, I’m still here waving at you, Mr. Hot Stuff.” The woman laughed. “He just gave me the I’m not interested cold shoulder. Is he waiting for you?”

If Willa hadn’t been an internal nervous wreck she would have laughed at the playful way the woman had handled the odd request. “Yes.”

The woman gave Willa a long once-over then sized up Lance again. “Is he a cop?”

“No, he’s an architect.”

“So why are you hiding?”

Because I’m a coward. Willa straightened her shoulders and adjusted her purse beneath her arm. Correction, I was a coward. Life is about moving forward and growing. If I stay here, or worse turn and leave, what does it say about who I am? I will never be more than the devastated girl I once was. I will have allowed one event to define me. “I’m not,” Willa said firmly and stepped from behind the building. “Not anymore.”

Lance stood as soon as he saw her and the smile on his face brought an answering one to Willa’s. They met halfway and stood for a long moment simply staring into each other’s eyes. Willa broke the silence first. “I hear this whole area will be renovated soon; at least that’s what the papers say.”

“I heard the same. A project like that could have a large impact on the community.”

Without looking away from Lance’s near-black, beautiful eyes, Willa said breathlessly, “There’s so much history here already. I hope they don’t change it as much as they celebrate it. It’s a place where people can and should be heard, but also where they could gather to hear music. I’d love to see the side road closed off and the parking lot made into a park with trees.”

“I’d write that down, but I doubt I’ll forget a word you say to me today,” Lance said with such intensity that Willa believed him. He held out his hand in greeting as if they were meeting for the first time. “My name is Lance.”

Willa shook his hand, loving how his enveloped hers. “Willa.”

“Will-ah you go for coffee with me?” Lance asked with a straight face.

It took a moment for the joke to sink in but when it did Willa laughed and shook her head. “You had all night to come up with a joke and that’s what you chose?” She was smiling, though.

He turned and tucked her hand into the crook of his arm, and they started walking together down the street. “I hoped it would make you smile, and it did.”

Willa laughed again. How could being with Lance feel so . . . right? Because this is today, not yesterday. And we’re starting again. Being with Lance felt right. They strolled to a café and chose an outside table. Lance held out a chair for her then took the one across from her. They ordered sandwiches and lattes that arrived almost instantly.