“Then I don’t see why not. I mean, you’ve already ditched the hair,” Sophie said.
“Thank you. I owe you.”
“Great. I know what I want.”
“What?”
“I want nothing but smiles out of you on Monday even after you’ve had a chance to read what my T-shirt says.” She took a seat and picked up her wine.
“I’m not great with surprises,” he said gruffly. “Why don’t you show it to me tonight?”
“Eww,” she squealed, but not in disgust. She wore a huge smile. Instead of immediately explaining the exclamation, she paused and took a leisurely sip of her wine.
He raised a brow. “Eww?”
“That’s your fatal flaw,” she said with a shrug as if he should have figured that one out on his own.
“I’m going to need more context,” he said.
“It’s the thing you’ll need to overcome to become book-boyfriend-material worthy.”
“Say what?” He picked up his goblet and took a drink.
“You’ll need to learn how to be okay with not having full control in any given situation,” Sophia explained, eyeballing him like a pet project.
“Being in control is not a flaw.” He spoke the words slowly, clearly as if talking to a child.
“Isn’t it?” she said, tilting her head.
He fisted his good hand. “Stone-cold control is a superpower that was branded into every fiber of my being by the fucking United States Navy. It’s because of that superpower that I was so successful as a SEAL. And am successful in my current line of work.”
“What can I say?” Sophia said. “One woman’s heartthrob characteristic in a guy is another’s meh.”
“Meh?” She found his best asset a meh? He took a large gulp of wine and emptied the rest of the bottle in his glass.
“It’s not personal,” she said, picking up her fork. “I’m sure your superpower does come in very handy for what you do for a living. It’s just not my cup of tea in a guy I wish to pass off as my boyfriend. So, for the sake of us both being happy in our forced time together, you’ll pretend to be working on your control issues, while I pretend you are my boyfriend. Deal?”
“And what will you be working on? Or is it just me that gets assigned a fatal flaw?”
She finished chewing and then smiled sweetly. “Just you. I’ll be so busy executing my superpower that there won’t be time for me to work on myself.”
“But if there were time, what would you need to fix?”
“Honestly?”
“Every time.”
“I have a slight blurting problem.”
“Expand?” This sounded very much like another solid reason why he could never give Sophie his heart. In a case where hetried love again, the woman would have to be able to keep a secret.
“I say things better left unsaid.”
No matter how much she might possibly love his secret, he couldn’t share it with a blurter. “Such as?” he asked, sounding like a man hoping he’d misunderstood.
“The usual. Jeopardy questions, Wheel of Fortune Puzzle answers. World-domination secrets.”
It wasn’t until he saw her lips twitch, that he realized she was messing with him, and his lungs filled with air again. “What exactly is your special power and who gave it to you?”
