Jackie didn’t say much as Alex drove her home. He’d managed to skim over the rough spot he’d hit when he’d asked about her work, but a lingering guardedness infused the evening. Oddly, she seemed more disturbed by his question about her work than she’d been by Claire’s call. He knew scientists could be tetchy about their investigations, but her reaction told him something about it scared her. He’d also thought it odd that she’d been nearly as evasive about her life growing up in England. But there were plenty of subjects he didn’t like talking about either.
Trust took time, something they hadn’t yet had much of. You had to know most people before you could trust them. There’d been exceptions, people he knew he could trust the minute he’d met them. Emilio was one. Scotty was another. He looked over at Jackie. He’d have to earn her trust. It was a challenge he was up for.
He walked her to the door of her little house.
She didn’t invite him in. He hadn’t expected her to. But the animal part of him growled and paced inside him and wished she had.
She turned to go inside. He tapped her arm.
“I’d like to have a proper date,” he said, unwilling to let her go. “How about kayaking?”
“Kayaking?” She said the word like she’d never heard it before.
“You know, boats, paddles.” He motioned with his hands. “Skimming across the water?”
She cracked the faintest of smiles at his pantomime.
He pulled his phone from his pocket. “How about the... the twenty-sixth? There’s no game that day. Let’s meet at OceanTrek at sunset, say five p.m.? The bay is beautiful at night.”
“I’m an excellent kayaker,” she said with a wavering smile that told him she still wasn’t sure of his intentions. “You’re not the only one with a body that works.”
She was certainly right there. He couldn’t resist leaning down and kissing her on the cheek. “A date it is, then.”
As he walked to his car, he was glad for the coat that hid the evidence of his body working.