Chapter Eighteen
Reagan and Hudson gotoff the phone a little before four. Reagan knew Grant would be home soon so she showered and got dressed like the responsible adult she was pretending to be. After that, she went into the small kitchen she and Grant had fixed up to their liking. Everything looked the same as it always had, each item still in the exact place as it had been for six years. It would have been a good sign if something was out of place; it would have meant he’d had someone over. As she put together spaghetti for their dinner, she realized that regardless of how many months she’d been away at school, Grant hadn't dated anyone seriously. She made a mental note to ask him if he’d dated at all, but she had a feeling the answer was no. The one personality trait of her brother that she had a hard time understanding was that he never seemed interested in dating.
She heard the front door open and close as she pulled garlic bread from the oven.
“Hi, honey, I’m home!”
She laughed. “In the kitchen, dear!”
“Ah, just the place I like my little lady to be.”
She wrinkled her nose as he kissed her forehead. “That was funnier when we were younger.”
Grant laughed. “Let me get a quick shower and I’ll be right back.”
She set the table and finished everything off while he was gone. Did Grant need a traditional woman? Someone who wanted nothing more than to be in the kitchen all day? She didn't think so, but then she sure as hell didn't know his romantic preferences.
“Thanks for cooking, Ray.”
She looked up at him in his clean white t-shirt and jeans. He was barefoot, as usual, and she remembered Luna’s comments about his attractiveness. “Have you been out on any dates since I moved out?”
Grant’s eyebrows went up as he sat at the little round table. “Why are you asking me that?”
She huffed as she sat across from him. “I want you to be happy.” She fixed him a plate and handed it over. “I thought that was obvious.”
“Okay.” He waited until her mouth was full before he spoke again. “I had a few girlfriends while you were still here.”
She froze with a mouthful of spaghetti. Since she couldn't respond, she chewed and tried to swallow around her surprise.
Grant watched her in amusement. He didn't want her immediate reaction, because it was likely to bewhat the fuck. He wanted her to have to think about it and what it meant.
“So you’ve had girlfriends.”
“Yes.”
“And they didn't work out, apparently. Why not?”
He got up to get a drink from the fridge while he thought about it. He turned to face her, propping his hip on the counter. “They were nice women, but I couldn't picture introducing them to you. I knew that if they weren't special enough to bring home to meet you, then I didn't want to spend my life with them.”
“I’d already assumed you weren’t a one-and-done kind of guy, but seriously, sometimes you can just be casual. Not every woman you go on a date with has to be your soul mate.”
He sat back at the table and took a long drink before he answered her. “I can’t believe my eighteen-year-old sister is giving me advice on my love life.”
“I’ll be nineteen in a month,” she reminded him. “But that’s beside the point.”
“I haven't met anybody since you’ve been gone. I went out with Brent and Josh a few times, tried to flirt and dance with a woman here and there. There weren't any sparks.”
Reagan took a bite to keep from blurting out that there should most definitely be sparks. She let him eat, but she worried over how to tell him that she was sleeping with her professor. She knew for a fact that she was going to wait until she was no longer taking Hudson’s class before she told Grant about their relationship. For all she knew, once there was no more rule against them being together Hudson wouldn't want her so badly anymore. She knew a large portion of their attraction for each other came from the fact that it was forbidden.
“Ray?”
She looked up. “Yeah?”
“I asked if you were seeing anybody.”
She took in the narrowed eyes and the slight scowl. “No. There’s a guy I think is hot, but he’s older than me.”
“Not that I want to push you into anything, but don’t let things like that stop you.”
