“Do you mind if I ask you something personal?” he said after the waitress had brought the bottle of wine they’d ordered.
Lacey tensed, unable to help it. She’d never been a big fan of getting too personal with any guy, especially one she’d just met. She forced herself to relax. If Alex asked her anything she wasn’t comfortable talking about, she had the feeling he wouldn’t get upset if she told him just that.
She nodded. “Sure. Within reason, I guess.”
He smiled. “I couldn’t help noticing how close you and Kelsey are. Something tells me that you’ve been looking out for your sister for a long time. How old were you when your parents disappeared from of the picture?”
The question was so unexpected—and perceptive—that Lacey was speechless. Alex must have taken her silence to mean she was upset, because he held up his hand.
“You don’t have to answer that,” he said. “I apologize if I touched on a sensitive subject.”
Lacey shook her head. “No, it’s okay. It’s not something I talk about very often, but it’s not some big secret.”
The fact that she’d just said those words was as shocking as Alex’s question. She never talked about this part of her past with guys—or anyone, really. Other than Wendy, no one else knew about any of it. But something about Alex made her want to share stuff she normally didn’t.
“Our dad bailed when I was twelve,” she said quietly. “Kelsey was only five, so she doesn’t really remember him. Mom didn’t handle his leaving very well, and I ended up being the one who had to take care of my sister. It wasn’t a big deal really. I just made sure she got to school, ate her veggies, did her homework—stuff like that.”
Across from her, Alex sipped his wine. Lacey mimicked him without thinking. The Cabernet was dark with just the hint of blackberry, dry but still easy to drink.
“It sounds like a big deal to me.” He set down his glass. “What about your mom? Is she around these days?”
Lacey debated telling Alex the truth but decided against it. He might be easy to talk to, but telling him exactly why their mom wasn’t around anymore was a surefire way to ruin the night’s mood.
“No. She left right after I graduated high school,” Lacey said simply, leaving out the details—and the unpleasant parts. “Kelsey and I moved in with an aunt who lived in Weatherford, just a few miles from where we grew up. She was involved with the rodeo circuit though, so we rarely saw her either.”
“Wow. It sounds like you and Kelsey were dealt a pretty crappy hand. It’s impressive that you were able to make it through all that and still go to college to become a vet.”
Lacey snorted. “You want impressive, you should see my student loan balances. I’ll be paying for those until I’m forty, if I’m lucky.”
“That doesn’t diminish the fact that you got yourself and your sister out of a really bad situation,” Alex insisted. “You have a good job and a nice place to live. And let me guess, you’re paying her way through school so she won’t be strapped with the same student loans you’re stuck with, right?”
She was paying for her sister’s education. Why wouldn’t she? Kelsey meant the world to her. But the way Alex said it—not to mention the look of admiration on his face—made Lacey’s face heat. Dang, he actually had her blushing.
She grabbed her wine and took a quick sip, hoping the dim lighting and flickering candles on the table hid her reaction, but when she glanced up from under her lashes, Alex was smiling at her. Yeah, he’d seen.
“Enough about me and my student loans,” she said. “I’m just a simple Texas girl. How about you? From that slight accent of yours, I’m guessing you didn’t grow up around here.”
He gave her a confused look. “Accent? What accent?”
The way he deliberately put extra emphasis on the w-h-a part of the sentence made her laugh.
“That one!” she said, pointing at him across the table. “Where’d you grow up? Somewhere in the Northeast, right?”
He grinned, and Lacey felt a little tremor roll through her. Okay, that was different. Getting turned on by a guy’s smile was definitely a first. But dang, that grin of his could make a girl’s knees weak.
“Rochester, New York,” he said, dropping back into that sexy voice of his, the one that had barely a hint of inflection that she’d first picked up on. “It’s upstate, so we don’t have the usual heavy accent that everyone seems to associate with New Yorkers. I’m surprised you even noticed it.”
“Oh, I noticed.” She smiled. “It’s slight, but it’s there. Especially compared to the Texas twang I’m used to hearing around here. So, what’s the story? How’d an upstate New York kid end up in Dallas?”
He waited as the waitress placed their first course on the table. The woman had said the entrées were big, so Alex had agreed to share the deep-fried ravioli appetizer with her. She hadn’t wanted to pass up a chance to try the crunchy pasta treat, especially since the waitress had said they were amazing.
It turned out that the woman was right. The cheese-filled goodies were delicious. Lacey didn’t realize just how much she was enjoying them until she looked up and saw Alex regarding her with an amused look on his face. She quickly lifted her hand to cover her mouth, sure she’d dribbled marinara sauce down her chin. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. But she didn’t feel anything.
“What?” she asked.
“You were moaning,” he said.
She blinked. “I wasn’t moaning. I was just making appreciative sounds because the ravioli tastes so good.”
