That was the thing about Anna; she put her heart and soul into her home and the place radiated the care she’d invested.
Her Beetle was in the driveway. He could see the inviting faint glow of a light through the living room window.
Good. She was home.
He was going to razz her about her matchmaking skills being a little rusty, since the first date she’d arranged had essentially stood him up. Technically, Cheryl hadn’t left him hanging. But Jake was realizing he could get some mileage out of the canceled date and he intended to use it as leverage to get Anna to go to the jazz festival with him tonight.
He’d have a lot more fun with her anyway.
Jake let himself out of the car and walked up the brick path that led to Anna’s house. He rapped on the door. Knock, knock-knock, knock, knock, their traditional signal that announced they were about to let themselves inside. Really, the knock was just a formality, to keep the other from being surprised. In case she was having sex in the kitchen or something.
Actually, he hadn’t been concerned about walking in on Anna having sex because she’d been living like a nun since her divorce. And funny, now that he thought about it, Anna never seemed to come around as much when he was in a relationship.
Hmm. He’d never realized it until right now.
He tried the handle and her door was unlocked. So he let himself in the side door.
“Hey, Anna? It’s me.”
He heard a muffled exclamation from the other side of the living room. Then Anna stuck her head out of the bedroom door.
“Jake? What are you doing here? Why aren’t you out with Cheryl?”
She was hugging the doorjamb and clutching something to her chest as if she were hiding. It looked like she was wearing a dress.
When was the last time he’d seen Anna in a dress?
“She stood me up. What are you all dressed up for? Don’t tell me you have a date.”
Anna straightened, moving away from the doorjamb, cocking her head to the side.
“She stood you up? Are you kidding me?”
Whoa. She was definitely wearing a dress and she looked nice. He’d never realized she had so much going under those scrubs...so much going on upstairs. How had he never noticed that before?
The fact made him a little hot and bothered.
He had to force his gaze to stay on her face. Or on her bare feet. Her toenails were painted a sexy shade of metallic blue that matched the dress. Her legs—how had he never noticed her legs before? They were long and lean and tan and looked pretty damn good coming out of the other end of that skirt, which might’ve been just a hair short...for Anna.
Damn. She sure did look good. No. She looked hot.
If she looked like that, why did she cover herself up?
Because this was Anna.
He cleared his throat. “Well, she didn’t technically stand me up. She called me when I was on my way to get her to say her cat had surgery today and she didn’t feel right about leaving it alone.”
Anna put her hands on her hips and grimaced. The movement accentuated the low neckline of her dress and the way her full breasts contrasted with her tiny waist that blossomed into hips... Jake forced himself to look away.
“So you didn’t shave before you went out? Are you trying to look cool or are you just too lazy?” she asked.
“What?” He rubbed his hand over the stubble on his jaw. “I’m trying to look cool. The ladies like a little five-o’clock shadow.”
She quirked a brow and smiled. “Okay, I’ll give you that one. It does look pretty...hot.”
Something flared inside of him.
“Well, I mean it would be hot if it wasn’t you.”
“What do you mean if it wasn’t me?”
She shot him a mischievous smile that warmed up her whole face.
“You’re messing with me, aren’t you?” he said.
“Yeah. I am. It’s fun. Oh, I forgot to tell you that Cheryl is a major animal lover. I’m not surprised she wanted to stay home with the cat, but it would’ve been nice if she could have given you a little more notice.”
“Ya think? Where are you going, dressed like that?”
Anna blushed and crossed her arms in front of her, suddenly seeming self-conscious again. It was one of the things he found most endearing about her.
“I’m not going anywhere. I bought some new clothes and I was trying them on so I could figure out what I wanted to wear on my date with Joseph. He texted me today and asked what I was doing next Wednesday. So I figured I needed to decide what I was going to wear. What do you think of this dress? I wasn’t so sure, but Emily talked me into getting it.”
She put her hands back on her hips and struck a pose. The tags were dangling under her arm and he had an urge to suggest she take it back and exchange it for something a little more modest. Something that didn’t make her look like such a knockout.
“It’s, uhh... It looks great.”
Maybe a little too great for a first date with a guy like Joseph Gardner. He and Joe had been roommates in college while Jake was doing his undergraduate work. Joe lived in Dallas now. He was a friend, a good guy, really. That’s why he’d decided to fix him up with Anna.
And that was why his own attitude about the dress confused him.
“In fact, since you’re dressed, why don’t you give it a test run and wear it to the jazz festival with me tonight?”
Anna groaned and shook her head. “No, Jake, I really wasn’t up for doing anything tonight—”
“God, you’re so boring.” He smiled to let her know he was just kidding. “Besides, since you fixed me up with a dud, don’t you think you owe it to me to not let this extra ticket go to waste?”
She sighed and cocked her head to the side. She smiled at him. He could see her coming around.
“In fact, if we leave now, we will have just enough time to grab something to eat and get over to the pavilion for the first act.”
She shook her head. “Jake, I took my makeup off when I got home from work. Can you give me a couple of minutes to fix myself up?”
She looked so good he hadn’t even realized she didn’t have any makeup on. Her skin was clear and her cheeks and lips looked naturally rosy. Standing there with her auburn hair hanging in loose waves around her shoulders... And with just the right amount of cleavage showing, he couldn’t imagine that she could make herself any more beautiful.
Something intense flared inside him. It made him flinch. His instinct was to mentally shake it off. When that didn’t work he decided to ignore it, pushing it back into the recesses of his brain where he kept all unwelcome thoughts and memories and other distractions that might trip him up or cause him to feel things that were unpleasant.
It was mind over matter.
Right now, what mattered was him getting his head on straight so that they could get to dinner and the jazz festival.
“You look fine,” he said. “Besides, it’s just me.”
“Yeah, you and the hundreds of other people that will be at the jazz festival. You don’t want them looking at you and wondering, Who’s that homely woman with Jake Lennox?”
Homely? How could she see herself that way? It didn’t make