"Well, considering that my closest friends are a prostitute, a thief, a hacker, convicted of manslaughter, and assault and battery, well..." I shrugged. "I think I tend to be more impressed with how a person thinks than what their life has handed them."
"Yeah," he agreed. "I guess I'm just fascinated with the woman who won't let anything stop her." Then he grabbed the plates. "How do you feel about eating on the back porch?"
"Sounds great," I told him. "You want to carry that out and I'll get the drinks? Just tell me that you drink beer?"
"You," he teased as he headed that way, "are perfect. Yes, I drink beer, and no, I won't be offended if you only take one bite."
Evidently, this date wasn't going as bad as I'd feared. Somehow, we'd just tackled the heavy stuff, and he hadn't found an excuse to leave yet. I hadn't scared him off. If anything, he made me feel like he was actually ok with all of this. Maybe Luke really was everything I'd daydreamed him to be.
Chapter Twenty
Outside, the only light came from the mostly full moon. It turned her hair into silver and shadows. Her eyes sparkled in the darkness as she picked on me about the size of my dinner compared to hers. I didn't care, since Violet actually ate more than one bite of her salad. When she told me it was good, I may have puffed up a bit, but I tried not to make a big deal out of it.
I'd made plans for tonight, intending to pull out all my smooth moves. Then, when I got here, I found her in Vera's office on the verge of tears. Her comment about not crying made me realize what an idiot I was. This woman was not like the girls I knew. She'd probably heard every pickup line a man could come up with. Hundreds of men had moved in to sweep her off her feet. She was featured in magazines, for Christ's sake! Being beautiful wasn't something to make her feel good; it was simply how she paid the bills.
What I wanted was to find a way inside her shell. I'd watched her pick up the phone and make things happen, using nothing but a color to prove her worth. Seeing her with Ashton - that asshole - made it clear that she did have a softer side. I got the feeling that the only way to see it would be to stop caring about how long her legs were, how amazing her cleavage looked, or thinking about grabbing a handful of that ass.
I had to stop caring about how she looked and start listening to how she felt. Surprisingly, she'd answered my questions, and she hadn't stopped yet. We'd moved from her eating issues to her plans for the property, and the whole time she kept taking one more bite. The salad was almost half gone, her wine glass was still mostly full, and I'd inhaled my steak while I listened to her dreams.
"Horses," she said, making me look over. "I don't know how many I'm going to need, and I'm pretty sure I'm not qualified to buy them."
I flicked a finger over toward the barn. "You can fit about ten in there without a problem."
"So, eight," she said, mentally making space for mine.
"No, ten." I chuckled. "Vi, it's a twelve-stall barn. If we moved the equipment, I could build a few more stalls in that space and double it, but I don't think you'll need that many horses. You could probably do a dog program too, you know."
That had her attention. "What do you mean?"
"Like with the jails," I said, hoping I wasn't crossing a line. "Get foster dogs, have the kids take care of them, train them, and get them ready for a good home. Gives them a companion, teaches them responsibility, and there's a million mutts around here that end up with animal control." I pushed myself to my feet and offered her a hand. "I'm guessing you're done?"
"Stuffed," she admitted.
I glanced back to her plate. This woman was stuffed on a handful of salad and tofu? No wonder Ashton was worried about her. But when she took my hand and let me help her up, I didn't say a thing. I just turned her toward the fence, leading her out of the yard and toward the grass beyond where I'd already set up a blanket. After all, this was my first date with her.
"So," I said, moving my hand to lace my fingers with hers, "I figure that a big-city girl like you probably doesn't remember what the stars look like." And I gestured to the dark square in the grass.
She sucked in a breath, her eyes jumping to my face. "When did you do this?"
"Before I came in," I admitted, letting her go to lower myself down. Then I patted the spot beside me. "Promise I make a pretty good pillow, and I happen to know a few of those constellations."
She claimed the spot beside me, then leaned in. Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, I guided us back until her head was resting on my chest and both of our eyes were on the sky. There were a few clouds tonight, their edges outlined by the light of the moon, but the stars were almost as bright. Without the lights of the city to hide them, they twinkled like glitter in the air.
"Wow," she breathed, shifting just a little closer. "You're right. I forgot how bright they can be."
"Mhm." I pointed. "There's the Big Dipper."
"And the little," she agreed, aiming her finger beside it.
I moved my arm to lie across her stomach, letting my fingers make little circles on her shirt. "What's it like to live in a big city?"
"Busy," she said. "Around here, the sun goes down and everything slows down. There, it speeds up. The bars open after dark. The stores never close. Everyone has someplace to be, and there's never enough time, but the lights shine a little brighter. It's like everything you wanted is intensified, but there's never a chance to just stop and rest."
I turned to look at her, my next words softer. "Did you like it?"
"I loved it," she breathed. "The possibilities were endless. There was no one to tell me I was making a scene or embarrassing them. My clothes weren't slutty, they were sexy. It was like the shackles had been removed, and I was free to figure out who I wanted to be."
"And this is it?" I asked.
