“The rest of your trip must’ve been pretty miserable.” I winked.
“No, but nothing made me smile until today. So…”
My heart felt like it skipped a beat. “Well, I’m glad to have made you smile, if nothing else. Obviously, I’d been hoping to make you more than smile. But that’s not in the cards for us.”
I immediately felt dumb. With this guy, I couldn’t stop myself from saying what was on my mind.
But then he surprised me. “What are you doing for the rest of the evening?”
Hope surged in my chest. “Going back to my room to swipe right on the sixty-five-year-old I passed up for you.”
Tate’s expression darkened. “Not while I’m here, you’re not.”
My eyes widened. “Oh really?”
“I feel sort of responsible for you, now that I know you’re alone and don’t have the best judgment.”
My brows drew in. “I don’t need a father.”
“Whatdoyou need?”
“Something you signed up for but then refused.”
“If only what I’d signed up for was real.”
“I’mveryreal. I think you’ve determined that after several sneak peeks at my cleavage,” I cracked.
He muttered something unintelligible and looked down at his feet. “I have a kid your age, Doris-Delores.”
My stomach sank. “You’re married?”
“No.” He looked up. “Never married.”
“You have only onechild?”
“Yes.”
Not sure what compelled me, but I reached into my wallet and took my license out. I faced it toward him to show my birthdate but made sure to cover all my other information.
“Okay, so you’re really nineteen. Why are you showing me this?”
“I wanted to make sure you knew I wasn’t any younger than nineteen.”
“Well, I sure as fuck hope not, because then I might have to ask if your parents know where you are.” He shook his head. “But nineteen is young enough. So proving you’re nineteen isn’t any help.”
“I’m almost twenty. As you might’ve noticed, my birthday is next month. So, basically twenty.”
He shook his head. “Still nineteen.”
I blew out a frustrated breath. “Funny you think nineteen is so young. My mother was nineteen when she married my father. In my family, nineteen is not considered young. And someone your age should know it’s not a number that determines whether someone is mature, but their character.”
“You lied on a hookup app and had me meet you at the kiddie pool. Pretty sure your character age is about fifteen.” He winked, clearly trying to get a rise out of me.
“And you’re a grumpy old man who can’t get over a girl coming into her own, who’s just trying to have some fun on vacation. So I’d say you’re about sixty-five.”
“Sixty-five. Just like your Plan B.” He smirked.
As tough as Tate seemed, I sensed he was softening toward me, even if our bickering held strong.
