He swallowed. “I haven’t had the best luck with dating,” he said. “And I don’t want anything to be weird while I’m out here working on your ranch.”
Lila Mae knew he was worried about losing the job, even though he said he wasn’t. She reached up and touched the collar of his T-shirt, wishing she’d never threatened to hire someone else.
“All right,” she said. “Let’s say that we go out and it’s weird and awkward and you don’t like me. Or it’s tense, and you talk too much about all the other girls in town who are totally in love with you, and I don’t like you.”
He chuckled. “What if both of those things happen?”
“It can’t be both,” Lila Mae said.
“Why not?”
“Fine,” Lila Mae said. “It could be both. Let’s just say we decide we don’t want to go out again, then we just…won’t. It’s okay. I’ve dated lots of men who don’t want to go out with me again.”
“Yeah, but do you then have to see them the next day on your own property? Do you have to approve projects they’re working on? Do you have to talk to them regularly for the next six months until the project finishes?”
“No,” Lila Mae admitted. “You’re right. I’ve never dated anybody like that.”
“There will come a point when I can just send Jason or Sawyer if I have to,” he said. “But I like this project, and I don’t want to give it to one of them. I just don’t want it to be weird between us.”
“Well, I think it’s a little weird between us right now,” Lila Mae said.
“Maybe a little,” Trap said with a sigh. “Let’s pull the bench out, so I can eat with you.” His gaze switched to the wall behind the table, and Lila Mae turned in that direction.
“It’s just held on with a couple of hooks.” She pushed the bench further into the wall to give the hooks room to unlatch. They did that, and she lowered the bench. “I love this bench. It feels so inventive.” She sat down and smiled at him, hoping he’d take the compliment on his handiwork and the air between them would clear.
Trap took the seat across from her, his dark eyes oh-so-serious. “Thanks for letting me eat here,” he said. “And ordering the fruit and everything.”
“Yeah, of course,” Lila Mae said.
He took a bite of the hamburger rice, his eyes widening. “Wow, this is really good. Where did you learn to cook?” He stirred his spoon through his rice. “Wait, you’re from the South. I bet you have got a Southern granny who taught you everything you know.” He grinned at her, his expression softening and turning a bit flirty.
Lila Mae coughed and shook her head. “Absolutely not. No.”
“My momma tried a few times with me, and I can do basics like scrambled eggs, and spaghetti, and grilled cheese sandwiches.”
“If you can make grilled cheese sandwiches, you can survive for a long time,” Lila Mae said.
Trap’s eyes now danced with a playful glint she’d never seen aimed in her direction before. “Yeah,” he said. “I suppose you’re right. I ate a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch today, in fact.”
“I love everything about cheese,” Lila Mae admitted.
“Yeah? What’s your favorite kind?” he asked.
“Brie,” she said. “Melted with pears and honey.” She closed her eyes in bliss. “It issogood.”
“Yeah, fruit and cheese should never go together.”
Lila Mae opened her eyes and glared at him. “You’re kidding.”
“I am not,” he said, and he took another bite of his rice.
“I took a cooking class through an adult education center,” Lila Mae said. “The only time I ever stepped foot in a kitchen before that was to ask our family’s personal chef if she could make me something.”
Trap raised his head and looked at her. “Really?”
“Yes,” Lila Mae said, hoping this wouldn’t be a strike against her. “Sometimes I used to sit at the counter in the kitchen and talk to Dottie, because she’s a good listener, and she always gave me good advice. She still works for my parents.”
“Wow,” Trap said. “I had no idea people had personal chefs.”
