Dax jerked his gaze upward.
After she grabbed their tray, Dax snuck his bill in the glass tip jar next to the cashier and trotted after her. He glanced at his watch and his shoulders sagged. Well, that was that. He was going to have to apologize for missing the meeting and ask for another. People had to reschedule appointments all the time, he knew. But it didn’t look great when he needed to appear responsible. If the loan officer was already on the fence about giving him money …
Lissa arranged his plate and juice, pulled a napkin from the dispenser on their table, and laid it next to his plate. She flashed him a warm smile as he sat across from her, and some of his tension eased. It had been the right call, not ditching her in Memphis. Lissa was sweet and needed looking after. At least until she could bank her money.
“So what else do you want to see in Memphis?” Lissa unscrewed her bottle of orange juice and watched him as she took a swallow. A stray bead of juice clung to her bottom lip and she flicked out her tongue to swipe it up.
Dax stared at his sandwich. He picked it up and tore out a bite. No ogling the crazy artist. After swallowing, he said, “I didn’t want to see this in the first place. But I couldn’t just leave you. You should have left a note.”
“You found me anyway.” She tilted her head. “You’re not a fan of the King?”
“I grew up on grunge. I don’t even think my parents listened to Elvis.”
Her face screwed up in an adorable expression of disgust. “Grunge?” she tsked. “I can see I was placed in your life for a reason, Dax Cannon. On the rest of this trip, I’ll take control of the radio. When do we have to get back on the road again?”
“Two hours ago.”
A tiny divot creased her forehead. “What?”
He sighed and tossed a bit of crust onto the plate. “Nothing. I had a meeting at four this afternoon, but I’ll have to reschedule it. So, I guess we’re not in a time crunch.”
She reached over the table and grabbed his wrist. She twisted it and her head to check the time. “What are we doing sitting around here? Come on.” Jumping to her feet, she grabbed her bags and his arm. She tugged at him. “Let’s jet.”
He stumbled after her. “It’s okay. There’s no way we’ll make it to Pineville in time.”
“We will if we drive hell for leather.”
They hit the huge parking lot. It was probably half a mile just to the van. “Look, it’s nice of you to want me to make my meeting, but we have to face facts. It’s a long drive to Pineville. There just isn’t time.”
She tossed her long curls over her shoulder and gave him the side-eye. “O ye of little faith. Give me the keys and I promise you we’ll make it with minutes to spare.”
* * * *
“We’re not going to make it.” Dax’s defeatist attitude had been bringing Lissa to ever-more-frequent eye rolls, but this time, she feared he might be right.
She checked the dashboard clock. Even if Dax defied every traffic law known to man, it wouldn’t matter. They’d have to defy the laws of physics to get to Michigan in time.
“If you’d let me drive—”
“I told you, I can’t.” Dax gripped the steering wheel. “You’re not an authorized driver for Forever Friends.”
“Well, if you’d gone more than five miles over the speed limit, we might have had a chance.” Really, the man was more conservative than her fifth-grade teacher, and that had been the one year she’d been enrolled in Catholic school with a ruler-wielding nun at the head of the class.
“If it was just you and me, maybe I would have driven a bit faster.” He jerked a thumb toward the back of the van. “But I don’t want the dogs getting tossed around like a load of laundry.”
Lissa sighed. Why did everything he said have to sound so reasonable? It was really hard to hold his stick-in-the-mud attitude against him when he was acting to protect the animals. Still, no reason to let him stay in his mud pit. “Well, since we’re no longer driving under a ticking clock, how about we have a little fun? This website I was looking at shows the roadside attractions on our way.”
“I’m really not in the mood to look at a big ball of yarn.”
“Okay.” She opened her phone. “I think we can do better than that. Besides, the dogs need to stretch their legs, right?”
Dax’s shoulders unclenched a notch. They lowered from right below his ears to only halfway tensed. “Yeah. And I need to text Mr. Cooke to tell him I won’t make the meeting. Better to do that sooner rather than later.”
“And because you’ll have fun,” she cajoled. “There’s the world’s largest bottle of ketchup?” She looked at his raised eyebrow and then checked for more options. “Okay, how about the Museum of Initiation Pranks? Or the world’s largest knitting needles? That would be a good match for the giant ball of yarn.”
He pursed his lips, considering.
They were sinful lips on a man. Lissa’s artist brain cataloged his features. The bottom one was full, with a small cleft running down the middle that begged for a tongue to trace. The upper one was a bit thinner, making him look strong, decisive. Even though the most boring words seem to pour out of them, if Lissa let her mind drift and just watched those lips as they moved, she could imagine all sorts of sexy things coming from that mouth.
“Initiation pranks sounds promising,” he said, drawing her from her fantasy, “but I don’t want to leave the dogs in the van while we wander around a museum. And unless I can climb those knitting needles, no, thanks.”
She dragged her gaze from his mouth and scrolled down the screen on her phone. “Okay, how about …. oh!” She clutched his arm. “A replica of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Though how anyone can claim to make a replica of an ancient wonder of the world when no one knows how it actually looked is beyond me. But the pictures of the garden look gorgeous!” She held her phone up for him to see.
He spared it a quick glance before focusing back on the road. “If you say so. A garden sounds like a good spot for the dogs to take a break.”
She pulled up the directions. “It’s about forty-five minutes away. Let’s stop for some food first. I’d love to eat lunch in the garden.”
They stopped at a deli, and by the time they pulled up at the garden, Lissa’s stomach was growling, and a dog in the back was barking nonstop.
Dax sighed as he put the van in park. “That Bluetick is a whiner.”
“No one likes to be cooped up.” Lissa hopped out of the van and shut the door. She hiked her backpack up higher on her shoulder and bounced on her toes. The garden was hidden by an eight-foot stone wall. Tendrils of ivy and honeysuckle draped over the rough-hewn limestone blocks. A gatehouse stood at a narrow opening in the wall. It looked like the front steps of a fairy castle, and Lissa’s fingers itched to sketch it.
“Let’s get the dogs walked and fed.” She met Dax at the back doors. “I can’t wait to go inside the garden.” Her stomach gurgled and her cheeks flushed hot.
Dax smiled, and the warmth she felt in her cheeks spread throughout her body. “You go ahead,” he said. “I’ll take care of the dogs and meet you inside.”
“Are you sure?” She craned her head and looked toward the gatehouse. The parking lot was empty except for two other vehicles. The gardens would be nearly deserted. Just her and her sketch pad and a roast beef sandwich.
Dax swung the doors open and greeted the dogs. A barrage of barking knocked Lissa back on her heels. “I’m sure,” he said. Placing one hand on the floor of the van, he hopped inside in one smooth leap. He gathered up the leashes. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this. Go get some food inside