Snowmen In Paradise (Book 2 Tj Jensen Paradise Lake Mysteries) by Kathi Daley

both of their needs, but deep down inside Tj knew that eventually she’d want something more.
    “Pop ’s okay?” Dylan asked. “Tuesday special is pork ribs. I love pork ribs.”
    Tj smiled . “Me too. And the pork gravy . . .”
    “Is to die for,” Dylan finished.
    Dylan wouldn’t be considered a babe by most, but he was a nice-looking man with blond hair and piercing blue eyes. A large scar on his forehead gave him a rugged look and his broad shoulders and large arms indicated a man who spent more than a small amount of time at the gym. More often than not, Tj felt her heart beat just a tiny bit faster when he looked at her with his crooked grin. And the man was tall, well over six feet, creating quite a contrast with her five-foot-two frame.
    “I enjoyed the movie last night.” Dylan held Tj’s hand as they walked along Main Street.
    “ Me too.”
    “ That action flick I told you about is coming out on Saturday, if you want to go.”
    “The r ehearsal dinner for Maude and Millie’s wedding is on Saturday,” Tj reminded him.
    “Oh , yeah, I forgot.”
    The pair walked quietly as they struggled to find a topic of conversation. Tj had asked Dylan to attend the dinner with her, but he’d refused. He’d said he was busy, but Tj suspected that really translated to uninterested . At first she’d been hurt that he’d turned her down, but somewhere along the way she’d convinced herself that casual friends shouldn’t be obligated to attend boring functions with people one didn’t even know. When he’d asked about the movie, he’d as much as admitted he wasn’t really busy, and she was back to being hurt.
    “I forgot to ask if you found a dress for the wedding.” Dylan broke the silence.
    “Helen found one.”
    Tj looked at the ground as they walked. Uncomfortable silence was new territory for them, and she wasn’t sure they’d be able to deal with it.
    “Is everything okay?” Dylan asked.
    “Yeah, fine.”
    “You’re mad.”
    Tj started to deny his allegation, then hesitated. “I’m not mad; maybe hurt.”
    “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
    Tj sighed. “I know. I’m just being a girl.”
    “You are a girl.”
    “Not usually. But in this case, it sort of hurt my feelings that you didn’t want to come to the rehearsal dinner with me.”
    Dylan stopped walking and looked her in the eye. “I’m sorry. I have a reason, a very specific reason, for not wanting to attend that I don’t care to discuss right now. I can assure you, however, that my aversion for the event has nothing to do with my desire to spend time with you.”
    Tj looks at him suspiciously .
    “How about I come with you to the wedding on Sunday?”
    “Really? You would do that?”
    “For you , I would.”
    Tj grinned . “You’ll need a suit.”
    “I have a suit.”
    “There will be dancing.”
    “I love to dance.”
    “Okay, it’s a date.”
     
    “You’re actually going on a date?” Jenna questioned two hours later as Tj sat in the kitchen of the Antiquery, watching her best friend assemble the batter for one of her famous cheesecakes. “A real date, not one of those ‘not a dates’ the two of you have become famous for?”
    “I guess.” Actually, Tj wasn’t entirely certain. “I said ‘it’s a date,’ and he didn’t correct me. Of course, he could have assumed I meant what we’ve been doing for the past three months.”
    “ Either way, it sounds like he’s making a real effort to please you, so I’d say you’re making progress,” Jenna pointed out. “Hand me those chocolate chips.”
    Tj gave her the bowl of premeasured chocolate chips. “And he could have agreed to go to the wedding simply because he was leery of making me mad after the temper tantrum he witnessed outside the mayor’s office.”
    “You had a temper tantrum outside the mayor’s office?”
    “Regretfully, yes. I went to the office to meet with Travis, as directed by Greg, but he didn’t show up. I was about to leave when