Flirting with the HR Girl

Chapter 35

Jennifer jumped up without thinking. She glanced in the mirror by the door and tried to flatten her hair a little bit from her tussle with the cat. She opened the door to find Austin in jeans and a light blue button-down. She had never seen him dressed so casually. He looked good. Really good.

"Hey," she said feeling her shyness return and wondering if it would be that way for the rest date. And the rest of their lives? Would she be embarrassed to see him at the altar? Would presenting him with their first newborn child make her blush? Would they be on their fiftieth anniversary, and she'd still be so enraptured with his good looks that she wouldn't know what to say? "I'm almost ready. Come on in."

She left him standing by the front door as she dashed back into her bedroom and bathroom to grab a few pieces of makeup and her phone to stuff in her purse. She went to her closet for her tennis shoes and was ready. She walked out of her bedroom and asked, "Is this okay to wear?"

"Absolutely," Austin said looking at her like she was looking at him. She pulled her jacket from a hook as he held the door open for her. She locked the door behind them, and he was already standing next to the open car door. Her heart melted. She and Eric had been so young when they got together, they would both just slink up to the car and hop in. He had never gone out of his way to do anything for her really. And here was Austin, a total gentleman holding open the door and she was ready to climb into the carriage and be whisked away.

"Where are we going?" Jennifer asked safely ensconced in his small sedan. It was old but it was clean, which was more than she could say for her car. She tended to leave everything in her car for months until the season changed, and she had to clean it out to find an ice scraper or sunscreen. But Austin's car was neat and even smelled good thanks to the air freshener pinned to the front vent.

"Still a surprise," was all Austin said as he shifted the stick into a higher gear as they entered the highway. They were obviously going far enough away from their mall that they shouldn't see anyone they knew.

"If you're not going to tell me, is it okay if I guess?" she asked not just to fill the silence, it was surprisingly comfortable, but because she was very curious where they were going and what he had planned.

"A movie?"

"No, why would you need tennis shoes for a movie?" he asked with a laugh.

"I don't know," she said a little embarrassed because she had forgotten that. "Maybe we're going for a jog afterward. Maybe we'll need to jog off all that popcorn we just ate!"

"You don't need to jog off anything," he said giving her another appraising look. His gaze landed down at her shoes which looked a little more beat up than cute than Jennifer had remembered. "Are you a runner?"

"Yes, ever since having to run laps before softball, I've loved it," she said thinking about the weather changing and her runs getting less and less. She would have to go back to the gym, which she hated. Her favorite thing about running was feeling open and free, inhaling all the fresh air and sunshine. Maybe it was time she moved south. Maybe she and Austin could move back to his hometown in Nashville with a much longer running season. "What about you?"

"Nah, I prefer to lift weights," he said flexing his bicep and shooting her a sexy look. "I banged up my knees playing football in high school and running hurts sometimes."

"That sucks," she said sorry to bring up a sore point. But happy to know that he played football in high school. As a softball player, she had been roundly ignored by the football players in high school. There had been one, in particular, she really liked but he was into cheerleaders and show choir girls. A quiet, sporty dork didn't do it for him. This had led her to be ripe for the picking when Eric had been nice to her in college. "So, we're not going for a run then?"