I wasn’t quite ready to disillusion him about me yet.
“I know you probably played ball, but what did you major in?” I tried to be flirty… “Last I heard you couldn’t exactly major in baseball.”
He watched me steadily. His eyes weren’t only mesmerizing, but intelligent. I could tell I hadn’t fooled him with my change in subject. “Micro Biology.”
Wow. That shook me. That had been Bernadette’s undergrad degree. She’d been working on her master’s in environmental health sciences. Neither were easy subjects to study. I searched for something to say but whenever I thought about Bernadette all my insecurities seemed to short circuit my brain.
Now I probably looked like an idiot.
“Holly?” He spoke my name softly. I studied the liquid in my cup. When I finally got the courage to look up at him again, I noticed that hint of vulnerability I’d though I’d seen before. Was it my imagination?
He seemed serious all of a sudden. Like he wanted to make sure he had all of my attention.
“Yeah?” I licked my lips. I needed to get out of here. I was so out of my league with this man.
“Will you let me take you to dinner sometime?” His question stole my breath. I would love to go to dinner with him. It’s just that I was such a mess right now. And he was… well… he was practically a celebrity.
He was a celebrity.
“I want to,” I admitted. I wanted to wipe that look off his face. He seemed to be putting himself out there with me.
It scared me. It made me think a rejection from me could actually hurt him somehow.
“Then say yes.” He reached across and touched my hand, his thumb gently stroking my wrist.
I had so many reasons for saying no.
“Okay.” I barely whispered.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Hunter
Iwanted tokiss her. I wanted to push to find out more about her.
“I’ll put my number in your phone,” she offered.
Her voice touched something inside of me. Sweet and lilting but not so high as to grate on my nerves. I unlocked my I-phone and slid it into her hand. I didn’t let go of her hand right away though. I liked touching her, even like this.
At a high society bachelor auction, she’d spent the evening chatting with my grandparents. And she’d listened to gran’s stories. She remembered how long they’d been married. It didn’t make sense. It couldn’t be just about her looks. She had this quirky personality that was reeling me in little by little.
When she finished, I took the phone back, pulled up her name and hit send. I wanted to make sure she’d input the number correctly.
I was also gonna give her shit if she put in a fake number.
When a buzzing came from her phone a strange relief hit me. She’d already gotten away from me once today. I wanted to follow up on whatever this was.
“Now you have my number too.”
She edged off the stool. “It’s after one. I really should go.”
I grabbed my car keys from a drawer.
“No. I can’t let you take me home. Seriously. I’ll just call an Uber. It’s too far and it’s too late.”
I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable, and at this point decided to give in. “On one condition.” I still had my phone in my hand and I pulled up the Uber App myself. “I’m paying. What address do you need to go to?”
She sighed but then recited an address about ten miles south of Downtown. A small, older community.
