“Never knew him or my granddad. None of the women in my family ever knew their fathers...do you know what that means, Remy?”
“I’m not that type of man.”
“Are you making me promises?” she asked.
She wouldn’t believe him if he did. Promises after all were just words and Staci needed, no, deserved action.
“No.”
STACI WASALITTLESURPRISED that he’d been so honest with her. A part of her had to respect his honesty. But the little girl inside of her who still wanted to believe in fairytales was disappointed that he hadn’t stepped up. “I guess that’s that.”
“It is,” he said. “I won’t waste your time making you promises when you probably wouldn’t believe them anyway. I’ll just have to convince you that I’m not like the other men who’ve passed through your life.”
She held her breath and her heart skipped a beat. Was he serious? Or was this just a ploy to make her believe...he’d have to be cruel to say that type of thing...to get her hopes up only to plan to dash them later.
“Okay, prove it.”
“I can’t do it right now, can I?”
“No,” she said. Thinking he probably never would. She wasn’t going to pin any hopes on Remy. He was here for hisown reasons, as was she. There was no point complicating things any further.
“We should be heading back.”
“Not yet. I want you to show me around LA.”
“Um, why?”
“We have the afternoon free and if I’m preparing a meal for you, I need to know more about you.”
“Ha,” she said. “How is walking around a city with me going to help?”
“I was thinking we’d go to the LA farmer’s market.”
“The good produce will already be gone. Besides it’s more of a shopping center with permanent merchants.”
“Then show me something that says LA to you,” he said.
“I’m farther south,” she said. “Los Angeles isn’t really my town.”
“I don’t think the producers will let us drive to San Diego,” he said with that half-grin of his that made her breath catch.
There was no denying he was a very attractive man. Even standing on the shore with the breeze ruffling his thick, black, curly hair just made him sexier. His eyes were shadowed by the sun. His T-shirt complemented his broad chest. His faded jeans hugged his legs and when he turned she let her gaze linger on his butt. She wanted to reach out and touch him but didn’t. She had to keep control of herself. Until he proved to her that he wouldn’t love her and leave her.
“Well?”
“Well, what?” she asked. Distracted by his body. She wished she’d gotten to see more of him last night.
“Where can we go that says LA to you?” he asked. “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing,” she said. Johnnie’s in Culver City jumped to mind. It wasn’t that far from where they were and thesandwiches were...well not really LA more New York Jewish Deli. The kind of thing that could transport the diner to another place. It was perfect to demonstrate what she’d said to him earlier.
“I’ve got an idea. I’ll talk to Jack and see if we can get a car.”
“Very well. I think we’ll probably have to take others with us,” he said. “I can’t see the producers allowing just the two of us to go off on our own.”
“I agree. That’s okay, Remy. You’ll figure out how to woo me even with others around.”
“That’s right,” he said.
