“Then maybe for your next bachelor auction promo.” The words were out before she could stop herself.
He laughed in surprise, then gave her a funny look. “You know about that?”
“Saw a flyer yesterday.”
“Fuck me.”
Her lips twitched. “Someone reassured me it wasn’t that kind of auction.”
“What? Who?”
She cringed. “I stopped at the bakery. Had a very nice conversation with Isla.”
He puffed out his cheeks, then shook his head. “Well, of all of my sisters-in-law, she’s probably the most discreet. If Catie had met you, everyone would know about it by now.”
“Catie is the real estate agent?”
“And probably the future mayor, yeah. She’s a very well-meaning emotional tornado. Also, the bachelor auction is her project.”
“And you can’t say no to a well-meaning emotional tornado on a mission?”
“Something like that.”
“I bet you’ll bring in a lot of money for a good cause.” She meant it. She did. So what if saying it was harder than swallowing razor blades?
He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Not really a top priority, I promise.”
“Charity?” She raised her eyebrows, and he chuckled.
“Touché. Itisfor a good cause. But I don’t want to talk about that today.”
She ticked off the verboten topics on her fingers. “No bachelor auction. No social media talk—”
“I didn’t say we couldn’t talk about social media. I just said I’m over it. Having my face on the internet, having people make up shit about me.”
“That part is a shame, because you have a nice face. Does it have to be all or nothing?” And then she held up her hands. “You don't have to answer that. Just being nosy.”
He gave her a look that bordered on affectionate. “That's just you being you. And if anyone else asked, I would dodge the question, to be honest. But I think—as much as I hate to say it—I think you know me. I always felt like I could be honest with you about my aspirations.”
She sucked in a surprised breath. He said that with more ease than she ever would have imagined.
Then he stretched his legs out beneath the table and leaned back. Relaxing into the conversation, finally. “Yeah, I guess it feels like it does have to be all or nothing. Because if it doesn't work, why would I do anything?”
She gave that some careful consideration. “Well, some people would say there is inherent value in the doing of a thing, regardless of the result.”
Those lines around his mouth deepened, and his eyes crinkled. Like he was smiling with his whole face, even as his expression grew serious. “Didn’t we just talk about how you’ve built a whole business around telling people to stop doing the things that don't get the results they want?”
“But only if the goal is to get a result! That's not the only reason people build an online presence. Sometimes it’s just a celebration of what you've done.” She leaned and gestured around. “This is amazing.”
Silence rang out in response.
He didn’t move.
But the easy back and forth stopped, immediately.
Then he glanced around, slowly. Exaggerating his inspection of his apartment. “This,” he drawled with deliberate cool, “is not amazing.”
She swallowed hard. “I mean the garage.”
