“Then I’ll try that. Medium rare.” Megan pushed the menu aside and sipped her wine, gazing at him over the rim of the glass. “You know, I’d have been happy with a burger and shake at Buckaroo’s. You didn’t have to go first class to thank me for pouring cups of cocoa.”

He gave her a smile. “You deserve better than first class, and I’m not doing this to thank you. It’s my way of telling you that you’re a special woman, Megan. I want to see more of you. A lot more, if I have my way.”

“What about your dream woman? The one you’re holding out for at the Christmas Ball?” Megan forced herself to ask the question. She could feel herself falling for Conner. But if he was still stuck on Lacy, there could be no hope for them.

Conner hesitated a little too long before he spoke. “It’s like having a crush on somebody in a movie. She might be pretty, even exciting. But she isn’t real. And she can’t compete with a warm, caring, flesh-and-blood woman, especially the one I was holding in my arms last night.”

Reaching across the table, he captured her free hand in his. “Come to the Christmas Ball with me, Megan. Whatever’s keeping you away, cancel it. I want to walk into that gym with you on my arm and show the whole town that we’re—”

He broke off at the sound of a throat clearing. Megan looked up to see a waitress standing next to their table, pen poised over her order pad. Blond and on the buxom side, with baby blue eyes and a slightly pug nose, she was pretty enough to be noticed. But her death grip on the pen and the venom in her look instantly put Megan on her guard.

“May I take your order?” Every word was razor-edged.

Conner seemed to recover from his surprise. “Hello, Ronda May,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I got my old job back,” she said. “I can’t say I expected to see you, either. Who’s your friend?”

“Let me introduce you.” Conner was clearly squirming inside. “Ronda May, this is Megan Carson, who’s visiting from Nashville. Megan, this is an old friend of mine, Ronda May Blackburn.”

Something told Megan the woman had been more than a friend, but that was no reason not to be civil. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ronda May,” she said.

Ronda May smirked. “I’ll bet. Conner and I go way back, don’t we, Conner?”

“Don’t you have a wedding coming up soon?” he asked. “The last time we spoke, you told me you were engaged.”

“Not anymore. The dirty skunk cheated on me, so I told him to take a hike. I figured I deserved better than that.”