“My car is right outside. You won’t miss it, New York.” I smiled away my sudden nervousness and headed to the valet outside of the ER.
Brooklyn walked out of the sliding doors, hefting her leather bookbag higher on her shoulders, searching for me. When she spotted me near the valet stand, her eyes widened at my Bugatti, and I quickly jumped out to take her bag off her shoulders and opened the butterfly door that swung slowly up and out. “Can I take you somewhere? It’s a few minutes from here.”
Her eyes didn’t quite meet mine. “We don’t need to talk. If you’ve changed your mind, it’s cool.”
“Naw, it’s not that. Still want to see you again.Youmight change your mind after we speak.”
“Okay.” Brooklyn slid into my car and let me place her bag in the back seat.
We were quiet while I drove to the Arboretum, one of my favorite spots to think.
Brooklyn sat straighter and surveyed the emptying parking lot. “It’s closed, isn’t it?”
“Not for me. I’m a major donor. Figured we could walk and talk through the garden since the Christmas lights are already up here.” I parked and grabbed my jacket from the backseat. She’d already opened the door, and I hurried around to help. “Hey... that man you’ve been with must have never opened the door for you.”
Her forehead wrinkled prettily. “I can open the door.”
“Really,youknow how to open a door?” I reached for her hand.
Brooklyn quirked a brow and allowed me to pull her out of my car, and we faced each other. The setting sun cast an orange-pinkish glow over us. She met my gaze, her expression curiously guarded. If this were the end and not the beginning of our impromptu date, I would’ve kissed her.
“You don’t touch a knob when I’m around. My mother and daughter know to wait until I open their doors.” I released her soft, cool hand and closed the door.
“Noted,” she quipped. “Never touch a knob around you, even if I have to wait a long time for you to open it.”
I chuckled. “Nothing wrong with letting a man treat you like a woman.”
“I didn’t say it was. If this were a date, I would’ve expected it. Disappointed if you didn’t do it, but I wouldn’t let it be a strike against you.” She rubbed her arms through her thin sweater.
“When you’re with me, I will always open your door.” I removed my leather jacket and draped it around her, tugging her slightly closer to me. “Warm enough?”
“Yes.” She wiggled, trying to get warm. “If you need your jacket back, let me know. Your shirt is thin too.”
I shrugged. “Your comfort is more important than mine.
Brooklyn kept her lips together, determined to keep a straight face.
“I see you’re stubborn.” Feeling the need to touch her, I straightened the collar of my jacket around her. “You want to smile so bad and won’t because you don’t want to give me the satisfaction that you already like me.”
“No, I don’t. You already see me as a challenge. Didn’t you tell your son that if a woman doesn’t like you, she will?”
“I did. Not a brag. Just the truth. Women want to be mine. My challenge is keeping her happy.”
She turned away from me, and still I caught her pleased grin. “Which way?”
My hand touched her lower back lightly. “Over this way.”
After we waved at the guard and strolled to the entrance of the twinkling rose garden, I tilted my head to see her, wanting to gauge her reactions. Brooklyn struck me as a woman whose thoughts and moods would reflect in her expression and tone. She would probably lose at playing poker. Then again, she had to remain composed while working in a busy emergency room.
“My heart has been broken twice. Once by Joi, the woman you just met. And my ex-wife, who broke my heart first because she loved another man harder than she loved me.” I clasped my hands behind my back. “You ever had your heart broken?”
“Yeah.” She said quietly, “Once, and it almost destroyed me. Haven’t been sure since my relationship ended if I will ever be ready to risk it all again.”
“Feel that. I’m not sure either. I have two broken families because of failed relationships.”
“And you don’t want me to expect anything serious,” she surmised.
“Quite the opposite. I want to be married again and have another child or two. The only way is to push through my fear and do things differently.”
