“Just like I remember not getting an answer about making that introduction in person.”
She broke one of the doughnuts in half and took a bite. “It’s strawberry.” Her eyes acknowledged that she was still avoiding a response.
“That’s why I got you two of them.”
“You’re so interesting, Mr. Worthington.” She shook her head as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “Question: Why didn’t you bring Ben when you knew Bettie would love to see him?”
I set my shoe on the footrest of the tall barstool. “If I brought my son, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
“Which is?”
“Spend time with you.”
She took another bite. I swore it was to mask whatever expression wanted to burst through her face. “And why do you want to do that?”
“You have a lot of questions, Emily.”
She turned silent for several seconds, but her stare told me that nothing was quiet in her head. “I’ve been with you—if that’s what you want to call it—three times. And now, suddenly, you want my number and you want to ask me out.” She fisted a napkin, wiping the sides of her mouth with it. “This doesn’t seem like you, Gavin. I want to know what brought on the change.”
“You.”
She immediately looked away, taking the last bite of the doughnut half, holding her hand, balled in a fist, in front of her mouth while she chewed. When her eyes returned to me, I could see the pleasure inside them.
I could even see the smile that her hand was blocking.
“What, you don’t have more questions for me?”
She swallowed and her hand stayed. “Oh, I have no less than a million.”
“Let me see if I can answer them all at once.” I rubbed my palms over my suit pants before I crossed my arms. There had been sweat on them. This wasn’t my specialty—the kind of talk I wanted to have with her—but I was trying like hell. “Here’s the deal: I’ve been thinking about you. A lot. At night. In the morning. When I’m with Ben. When I’m without him. And our meetups have been random.” I paused. “I don’t want them to be random anymore. I want to see more of you.”
“Meetups.” She moved some of the desserts so she could rest her arms on the edge of the table. “As in this is just sex?”
“No.” My reply came out faster than I anticipated. “Do I love having sex with you, fuck yeah.” My eyes dropped to her chest, and I let out a small chuckle as I thought about what I wanted to do to her nipples, my dick part of every thought, always. “But that’s not why I asked for your number and it’s not why I want to see more of you.”
“This is . . . wild.”
“Why do you say that?”
She dragged her thumb over her lips before her hand returned to its original spot on the table. “I just had a conversation about you with Maya on our way to lunch. She asked how it went when you dropped me off, and I was pretty bland at responding. You know, as a precaution. But the topic stayed on you, and she called you a forever bachelor and mentioned how you don’t want to bring a woman into Ben’s life.”
“I’m sure she learned that from Jordan.”
She nodded. “She did.”
“She wasn’t misinformed. You know that—you and I have had the same conversation.”
“But what I’m hearing is that your opinion has changed.” She looked at her hands. “Am I right?”
“Yes.”
She eventually gazed up, her eyes wide and emotional. “And that’s what I find wild. Mind-blowing, in fact.”
“Emily, you’re the one who changed my opinion.” I smiled, and it caused her to do the same. “You know Ben is my priority and always will be. You know my dedication to him and the time involved as a single parent. That’s why I’m being up front and honest and talking to you about this rather than just letting things unfold. Football may not be part of my day-to-day anymore, but I still follow a playbook in many ways.”
“Communication is the sexiest thing alive, in my opinion. I’m literally eating up every second of this.” She turned her finger in the air. “Give me more.”
I loosened my tie a little and chuckled even though we were entering the most serious part of the conversation. “About Ben. I don’t want to go there until I know. Until I’m absolutely sure.” I tried my best to soften my voice. “I need you to understand that, and I need to know you’re going to respect that.”
