“For what?”
I shrug and leave my shoulders slumped forward. “I’m sure you have better things to do today than this.”
“Nope. There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
I blink a few times, staring at him. No one likes going to a car dealership. Stepfather or not, this isn’t on anyone’s things-I-love-to-do list. “You’re a good liar.”
Tiny lines form near the corners of his eyes as he laughs. “I’m not lying.”
“Yeah, you are. No one wants to spend their day off here.”
“If I didn’t want to come, I wouldn’t be here. It’s that simple, Lulu.”
“Are you here because you love car dealerships, or are you here because…” My voice trails off because I don’t want to say it.
Last night was great. The conversation flowed so easily between us. The man wasn’t lying because I watched him polish off an entire thin-crust pizza with extra cheese and extra pepperoni like it was nothing at all. I made it through a quarter of the other pizza before I felt like I’d need to be rolled out of there.
I don’t remember the last time it was so easy to be around someone who was still a stranger. And don’t even get me started on the kiss before his brother walked in. It made my toes curl in my shoes. I thought he’d try to kiss me again after we had pizza, but it didn’t happen, and to say I was disappointed would be an understatement.
Maybe he changed his mind after our tongues did the tango. Maybe he realized I wasn’t a good kisser and the entire thing turned him off. Now he’s here out of a sense of obligation to help me since my car was destroyed and he feels sorry for me.
“Because?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t know,” I whisper, unable to make myself say the words I want him to hear. I can usually handle rejection, but there is something about him at this point in my life that would make the sting hurt more than usual.
He reaches across the small space between us and places his hand on top of mine. “I’m here for you.”
I peer up at him as my belly flutters. His palm is warm against my skin, and when his fingers curl ever so slightly around mine, my heart rate picks up. “For me?”
God, I sound so lame. Anyone with a brain would know that. He isn’t here for a visit with the old man.
“Why is that surprising?”
“Well, I don’t know.”
“Because I didn’t kiss you again last night?” he asks, shocking me.
My eyes widen for a brief moment. “Kind of.”
“Did you want me to kiss you again?”
I’m speechless for a second. He’s so direct. More direct than anyone else I’ve ever known besides the people in my family. “Yes,” I say breathlessly.
“Were you sad I didn’t?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“It won’t happen again.”
My stomach drops as the realization he doesn’t feel the same crashes over me. “Oh. I understand.” I try to pull my hand away, but he tightens his grip.
“No, you don’t. You misunderstand me, Lulu. I won’t let you leave me again without giving you a kiss. Last night, when we got back to the garage, you ran away like your ass was on fire. Figured you didn’t want to kiss me, but now I know, and I won’t make that mistake again.”
My belly flutters again. I did run away like my ass was on fire because it literally was about to be. I overdid it on the pizza and the cheese. My stomach was having none of it, and I had to rush home before I had an accident in front of the most beautiful man I’d ever met.
“Sorry about that,” Randall, Oliver’s stepdad, says as he walks up to the desk, killing the moment.
Twice now, his family has ruined things, and I almost feel at home with their streak because it’s the kind of shit my family would do too.
