Not Over You (Holland Springs) by Marquita Valentine Page A

over one shoulder. “Yes, I did, but you didn’t bother to read between the lines.”
    He rocked back on his heels, actually enjoying this bit of sparring. “Why don’t you help me out? Sometimes men need a little direction.”
    She snorted, actually snorted, and he wanted to kiss her for that, because it made her seem so real and touchable. And his. “I swear, Gabriel, it’s like you’re begging me to say something so you’ll have an excuse to kiss me.”
    “ What can I say? I love kissing you.”
    He waited for her final blow, for her to make a reference to all the men she’d enjoyed kissing, but her gaze skittered away.
    “ I love kissing you, too,” she murmured.
    He kissed her cheek softly. “Thank you.”
    “ I wasn’t being ridiculous.”
    He stroked her satiny skin, right along her jawline. “I know.”
    “ Oh.” She pressed her lips together, and then dug her keys out of her purse. “I need to go home. Blackbeard needs his beauty sleep.” As if on cue, Blackbeard appeared out of nowhere, rubbing against Gabriel’s legs.
    “ Do you think he’ll visit us, once you move in with me?” he asked, and panic flared in her eyes.
    She shrugged, glancing away from him. “It’s up to him. He does what he wants.”
    “ Want me to follow you home, to make sure you make it all right?”
    “ No.”
    “ At least let me wait for you to start up the truck and be on your way,” he said. He lived in the opposite direction of Summer, and since he wasn’t a stalker, he needed to make sure she was safe in town.
    “ Suit yourself.” Pulling out the keys, she unlocked the door and climbed inside. Blackbeard jumped in behind her, and she shut the door.
    He waited until she buckled on her seatbelt, locked the door, and adjusted her mirror. Then he waited even longer while she started up the truck’s engine and fiddled with the radio.
    “ She’s making me wait on purpose,” he said with a shake of his head, but he didn’t get angry. Instead, he patiently waited with a small smile on his face while she came to the conclusion that he really wasn’t going anywhere until after she did, and finally drove away.
    “ You might think you’re the winner, Summer Jean,” he said to himself as he walked to his truck, “but in the end, we’ll both be happy with the outcome.”

Chapter Thirteen
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Over the next couple of weeks, much to Summer’s dismay and secret joy, Gabriel kept his promise to take her out every night, until they had a meal without them falling back on old habits.
    Only, new habits emerged.
    For one, she teased him and he teased her back. If she were honest, she would call it flirting, but she couldn’t be honest with herself right now, because honesty would lead to examining her heart.
    There was no telling what she would find there.
    Not that she had time to examine anything, because Gabriel had taken over her schedule of nothing but work by actually dating her.
    They tasted prize-winning jams and jellies at local fairs named after fruits and small woodland creatures, went tubing at a river festival, and held hands during an outdoor play.
    They’d eaten hummus and pita points while listening to a jazz band perform at a park in Wilmington, and had spent one afternoon riding the Swan Quarter ferry to Ocracoke Island.
    He’d also started coming to Carolina Dreams right before closing time, to ask about her day and plan their next great adventure.
    It was as though he was trying to fit years of dating, years of what they should have had together, into a matter of days.
    “ Don’t you want to touch my trophy?” she asked, waving a stuffed fox at him she’d won for having the loudest whistle at the Red Fox Festival.
    “ The fox says put him out of his misery.”
    She rolled her eyes. “It’s been properly stuffed.”
    “ I don’t care what it is, that fox used to be alive. Don’t touch me with it.” He stepped away from her, and she laughed so hard that her stomach