“That’s understandable. I don’t know why either of us tried so hard to be someone we aren’t.”
“I don’t know. It comes from my friends calling me an old man and boring all the time. I got sick of it, you know? I thought I’d prove them wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed being spontaneous with you, but I don’t want that to be all there is between us.”
“That’s basically what I was thinking, but I was afraid I’d lose you altogether if I spoke up.” She turned her hand over and squeezed his. “I’m relieved.”
“Yeah. Uh, I was thinking we could talk, and I can make lunch for us.”
Her countenance brightened. “That would be great.”
Grant stood and went through the fridge, pulling out ingredients for lunch. Alex decided she might as well be the one to start talking since he was busy.
“On the first day I came to your shop, the first thing I noticed was your tattoos.”
Grant smiled at her over his shoulder. “That noticeable, huh?”
“Yeah. Especially to a horny twenty-seven-year-old.”
That time, he turned fully to stare at her. “You’re older than me.”
Her brows went up. “Really?”
“I’m twenty-five.”
“I’m not old enough to be a cougar, then.” He turned back to the stove. “Oh, well.”
“So you thought I was hot and kept coming back?”
“I guess that was it. I wanted to see you again, but I didn’t know anything about you. I came back thinking you’d have to talk to me and that maybe I could flirt successfully and get your number. But you weren’t biting.”
“Not because I hadn’t noticed you, too.”
“Well, I didn’t know that. I don’t know what came over me that day that it was raining. I expected you to jump at the chance to take money from an unsuspecting female who would accept whatever bullshit you fed her about her car. I didn’t expect you to be a gentleman, and when I found you alone, I couldn’t take it anymore. I’veneverdone such a thing.”
He came to the table with plates full of what looked like fried rice. “Here you go.”
“What is it?”
“Chicken fried rice. I made it from leftovers.”
“Aren’t you clever,” she mumbled as she took a bite. “Damn, that’s good. I’d never have guessed it was leftovers.”
“That’s the beauty of it.”
“I also need you to know I’ve never slept with a man and not used a condom. I know I said I’m on birth control, but I think I lost my mind with you.”
He rubbed one hand over the back of his neck. “I don’t know what I was thinking, either. I just let you lead and barely even asked.”
She had a few more bites before she spoke again. “After the night in the bar, I was afraid I would never see you again unless I kept coming back to the shop. You didn’t call me or anything.”
“I was trying to make up my mind about you. I thought you were rich, and I equated that with snob. I wanted to be with you, but the guys kept ribbing me about being a predictable octogenarian.” Grant looked into her eyes. “Spending the weekend with you was much more important to me than the times we hooked up. I felt so much for you that it freaked me out. It was actually my sister that convinced me to stop being a baby and take a chance with you.”
“Tell me about your sister.”
Grant wiped his mouth and sat back in his chair. “She’s nineteen. She goes to the University of Maryland, and she’s a sophomore this year. She and I are a combo of brother-sister and parent-child. Our parents were killed in a car accident when we were younger. At seventeen, I had to learn how to care for Reagan and pay the bills to keep a roof over our heads.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
“It was incredibly rough. Our parents owed a lot of money to various places. I had to let the estate lawyer sell the house we grew up in to pay off the debts. It wasn’t quite enough. All the money in the bank, all of their retirement funds and annuities, as well as their life insurance went to their debts. As much as they’d diversified, there wasn’t much in total. With the help of the lawyer, I managed to get most creditors to agree to take a portion of what was owed. Reagan was only twelve at the time, and came really close to being shuffled off to foster care.”
