Joe stopped rocking. “You’re still mad at me?”
“I’m not mad.” Which was true. She was panicked, but not mad. “I have things to do, that’s all.”
The phone rang again, but Sophie ignored it.
“Don’t you need to get that?” Joe tilted his head in the direction of the phone.
“The girls in the back will answer it.” She tapped her foot. They would also have to close the shop for her, but they had done that before, so she wasn’t worried. What she wanted was for Joe to leave. “You didn’t answer my question,” she said, glancing at the clock again.
“What was it?”
“Do you want to purchase something?” She couldn’t keep the annoyance out of her voice.
“Well, I—”
“Sophie?”
She turned to see MacKenzie poke her head around the doorjamb to the back room. Her auburn ponytail hung over her shoulder. “Yes?”
“That was Mr. Ferry. He said he might be a few minutes late picking you up tonight.”
Sophie’s cheeks burned. She didn’t miss the curious glint in MacKenzie’s eyes, and she ignored it. “Thanks, Mac.” When the girl disappeared into the back room, she turned to Joe, flinching at his dark expression.
“You’re going out with him?” he asked, his hands now hanging stiffly at his sides.
She looked at him straight on. “That’s none of your business.”
“Even after what I told you yesterday?” He took a step toward the counter.
“You didn’t tell me anything!” Realizing she was almost yelling, she lowered her voice and leaned toward him. “You ordered me not to go out with him. For no reason at all.”
“I didn’t order you.” He leaned closer to her. “I strongly discouraged it, that’s all.”
Her gaze didn’t move from his. “What I do with my dating life is none of your business.”
“What if . . .” He paused, his eyes holding hers. “What if I want it to be?”
* * *
Joe couldn’t keep his eyes off Sophie. Somehow they’d ended up with only the counter between them, and for some crazy reason he wanted that counter gone. He couldn’t believe he’d ever thought Sophie Morgan was quiet and prim. This woman was fiery. And beautiful. She smelled so good, like a mix of flowers and sweet-scented shampoo, the combination heady instead of clashing. Her red cheeks looked so soft, her mouth so kissable—
“What are you talking about?” She scowled, but she didn’t move away. Instead, it seemed like she had inched a little closer.
What had he been talking about? Oh, he’d said something about wanting her dating life to be his business. And he did, just not like this, with them at odds with each other. Although it was kind of sexy, he had to admit. He grinned at her.
Finally, she pulled away from him. “You’re nuts,” she said. “And I have a date to get ready for.” She turned and started walking toward the door to the back room.
“Go out with me,” he said.
Not stopping, she let out a short laugh. “Right. Like I would ever do that.”
“I’m serious.”
This time she stopped and turned to face him. “Why should I?”
“Because . . .” He wanted to tell her something casual, like he thought they would have fun together, or it was something to do, or they were both single so why not. But while all of that was true, it wasn’t the main reason. “Because I like you.”
Was that surprise flickering across her face? Then again, he probably imagined it because now she was eyeing him with suspicion. “Since when?”
Good gravy, why was she asking all these questions? “Does it matter? I like you and I want to go out with you. Is that so hard to comprehend?”
“Not when you put it so romantically,” she said, sarcasm dripping from her words.
He had to admit his game needed some work. A lot of work. But that didn’t change how he felt. “Sophie, please go out with me.” Great, now he sounded like he was begging.
Her stance softened. “You are serious.”
“I am.” For once he stood still, even though his nerves were in high gear. “We can go out for dinner tonight.”
“I have a date, remember?”
“Cancel it.”
Her thin light brown eyebrows shot up, along with her chin. “No. I want to go out with Landon.” She gave him a derisive look. “I don’t want to go out with you.”
Ouch. Double whammy. Not only had she rejected him, but she was also still going to see that slime bucket Ferry.
Joe quickly regrouped. Fine, she didn’t want a date with him? He could accept that. He hadn’t exactly presented himself in the best light to her. But he couldn’t abide her seeing Ferry. The determined set of her chin told him she was going no matter what he said.
Then an idea came to him. “Do you like to golf?”
She frowned, looking surprised. “I’ve never played before.”
“I can teach you. It’s a fun game, and a great way to work off steam.”
“I’m not steamed.”
He smirked. “You weren’t until I showed up.”
“What if I don’t want you to teach me?”
She wasn’t going to make this easy on him, and he respected that. But he had made some headway—her frown had disappeared. “I’ve been a jerk, I know that. And I understand that you don’t want to go out with me on a date. But I still want to do something to make up for making you mad. I’m not a bad guy, I promise. I want to prove it to you.”
“By teaching me how to play golf?”
“Not the whole game. We’ll just hit some balls at the driving range. If you hate it, you can blame me, and we won’t do anything together again.” That wasn’t the result he wanted, of course, which was a complete change from how he felt yesterday afternoon when he was talking to Travis. Sophie was supposed to be an icebreaker. A way to ease back into dating. Now, and he still couldn’t explain why, everything had changed. Even so, being with Sophie as friends was better than nothing—if she accepted his offer, of course.
“I guess you won’t leave until I give you an answer.” She let out a heavy sigh, as if he’d asked her to build a brick wall with him. “Fine. I’ll hit a few golf balls with you. But that’s it, and only if you promise to leave me alone afterward.”
“Deal,” he said quickly.
“Wonderful. Now can you please leave? I have to tell the girls to close the shop.”
“I’m outta here.” He pointed his thumb toward the front door. “I’ll see you tomorrow night after work. I can pick you up at—”
“I’ll meet you there at six.”
He gave her the address, then beat it out of the shop. As he got in his truck, he couldn’t help the smile taking over his face. One way or another, tomorrow night was going to be interesting.
Chapter 5
Sophie pulled into the parking lot at Ace’s Driving Range, which was just outside of Maple Falls. The gravel crunched beneath her tires as she pulled into a parking space next to an older-model black pickup truck. She realized she had no idea what Joe’s car looked like. As she turned off the engine, she paused, asking herself for the dozenth time why she had agreed to Joe’s invitation. More importantly, she asked herself why she was looking forward to it.