“I don’t want to keep you from anything.” Pulling out my phone, I began typing out a text to Fritz and Gilly. I didn’t get to press send because his hands went to my phone, taking it.
“Let me rephrase. I want to take you home.” He paused, a vulnerable look coming over his face. “Could I bribe you with dinner?”
“If I ever say no to that, kill me.” I joked, my heart and body burning up around him. “What did you have in mind?”
“Barbeque. There is an amazing hole in the wall place not too far from here. The bread dissolves in your mouth and the meat, oh baby. This place is one of my favorites. It’s always crowded except for early evening on Sunday afternoons. I know that sounds weird, but trust me.”
“Barbeque sounds great.” I grinned, my stomach growling like it heard us talking about food. She was temperamental and needy, but she was so ready for some barbeque. “Also, when you talk about food like that, it is kind of sexual.”
“Yeah?” He grinned, slowly dragging the tip of his tongue over his top lip. “Brisket.” He dragged the word out, making it four syllables instead of two. “Barbeque.” His voice lowering to an octave I didn’t recognize. “Corn muffin.”
“That’s it! Enough!” I laughed, swatting his arm. “Corn muffin? No. No one can make that word sexy.”
“I thought I did excellent, thank you very much.” The corners of his lips were turned all the way up, his megawatt smile almost blinding me. “You try and make it sexy.”
“No way in hell. I would look absurd.” I laughed, wiping a tear from my eye. “You are,” I stumbled for the right words, searching the length of his face, “ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.”
“I think you meant to say charming. Wonderful. Awesome. Any of those words.”
“No. I meant what I said.” I rolled my eyes, my stomach doing cartwheels at flirty Brock. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you today, but you are a handful.”
“Thank you.” He grinned, putting his hands on the seat in front of us. The bus came to a stop, he stood, and I was face to face with his crotch. It was inches away, his arms stretching up to touch the roof of the bus. I gulped, my face turning red as hell. I forced my greedy eyes away. I had never been this tempted. Ever. And now, I was panting like a damn dog who ran in the park all because I was eye level with his magic stick. “Grace. My face is up here.”
“Asshole,” I mumbled, then flicked my eyes up and met the smug smile that drove me mad. I punched his arm, the good one, earning a small chuckle from him. We got off the bus, carried our bags to his Jeep, and if anyone thought anything of me hopping into his car, no one said a word. I was pretty sure everyone knew we were friends and hung out. I had no idea why the idea of what people thought bothered me.
When he buckled up seconds later, his playful tone changed. “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
My eyes flew to his, but he was focused on the road. I wanted to read his mood. I had no idea if this was casual conversation or something deeper. I exhaled, tapping my fingers on the console. “I can’t imagine living anywhere else but here. If the right opportunity came up, then I would explore it thoroughly with T-charts and pros and cons. It would be totally insane.”
“So, you’ll probably be here?” he asked, an edge to his voice. “Doing what?”
“That is the final question, isn’t it?” I said, now studying the cuticles on my hands like they held the answer. “I want to have a stable job with great insurance. I want to work in rehabilitation or athletic training. I don’t know if that means at a high school teaching or at a college or a minor sports team. I need to be on my feet and challenged. I refuse to settle, so I’m still searching for that one perfect opportunity or answer.”
He hummed for a second, pursing those lips. “You do not strike me as someone who would ever settle for anything in their life.”
“Thank you.” I snuck a glance at his strong profile, and the feelings I had pushed down for months came out. “I’m stubborn and always searching for that feeling of belonging. I know it’s because I’m alone in the world and have no family to ground me. I don’t want a job that just pays the bills. I want a career, a passion, and a way of life to help ground me. Does that make sense?”
He didn’t answer. The silence grew in the car, my anxiety annoying me. My leg twitched. I nibbled on my lip so much it needed a severe layer of Chapstick. I’d bared my soul to him, like I had countless other times, and his stoic silence drove me up a wall. He pulled into the parking lot and held up a hand to me. “Wait here.”
I had no choice, really. I sat there as he got out and walked to my side to open the door. He held out a hand, a small smile on his lips. “Ready?”
“Uh, yeah.” I took his hand to get out of the car but released it as soon as I was on two feet. “Brock, did I say something wrong in the car?”
“What?” He gave me a baffled look, an eyebrow raised. “Why would you think that?”
“Because I told you something really personal, and you remained silent when I asked you if it made sense.” I stared at the asphalt.
“Grace, look at me.” He stopped walking, just the two of us on the sidewalk near a deserted street. I only looked up because he’d purred my name. My body warmed. “Sometimes, it takes me time to digest things. Specifically, when you say things like you’re alone in the world.”
“Oh?”
He brought his hand up to my face, cupping one side of it not different from what I did the night before. My body betrayed me on every level. “You hungry?”
My poor body was going to have whiplash. He was sweet, then confusing, then swoonworthy, then a typical man, wanting food. I snorted, raising my brows at him. “Yeah.”
“Good. Me too.” He gave me a wicked grin that I did not return. I was now taking my turn, digesting or whatever crap he’d said.
We walked up to the barbeque place, and his hand moved from my face to my lower back as he pushed open the door. I walked past him like I had hundreds of times before, but this time his fingers grazed my neck. I jumped, the sensation unexpected and not unwelcome.
