He cleared his throat. “Okay, new question. What do you like best about being a dental hygienist?”
Lina held her hand up. “Nope, let’s go back. Why do you want to know if I have plans for Thanksgiving?” She did, but that didn’t mean they were set in stone. Unless of course this was a pet sitter thing, and then she totally had plans.
Dillon rubbed a hand over his face. “Seriously, never mind. It was stupid.”
Lina gathered up her things, but went and sat down on the workout bench next to him, plopping her bag on her lap. They never invaded each other’s space in here. It was like an unwritten rule. But maybe it would help him spit out whatever he couldn’t say. She patted his arm. “See, I have to know now. Good job, Dillon. You created a mystery.”
***
Dillon was going to kill his brother. This was all his fault. Lina, ever the curious little imp, would never let this go. He had to tell her, and then endure her laughter. And that was before the inevitable rejection. Because what he was about to ask her was ridiculous.
“Okay, here’s the thing. My brother—”
“The workaholic lawyer,” Lina inserted.
“No, actually this is a different brother. He’s bringing a girl home for Thanksgiving to meet the family. But he doesn’t want to be the only one. So…” He took a deep breath and blew it out. Why did he think he could do this? Trent had flat out said no, and Alec had laughed in their baby brother’s face. But not good old Dillon. Dillon, the one who stayed with the family business, the one who always answered Mom’s calls, he wouldn’t disappoint his brother without at least trying.
“He wants you to bring a date for Thanksgiving?” Lina grinned, obviously loving his discomfort.
Everything about her made Dillon both insanely irritated and intrigued. He looked away from her perfectly sculpted legs and sighed. “Yeah, something like that. Then my mom would have someone else to focus on besides my brother’s girlfriend. She’s dying for one of us to get married.” He rubbed his neck.
“How many brothers do you have?”
“I thought we were trying to keep the mystery alive.” He couldn’t resist using her favorite line against her.
Lina bumped his shoulder. “I’m not walking into this thing blind.”
“Wait, so you’re actually …”
“Yes, Dillon. I’m considering it. Am I supposed to pretend to be your girlfriend or something? Because it’s not normal to bring a blind date to Thanksgiving.”
“No, it’s not.” Neither was bringing a pretend girlfriend, but he wasn’t about to point that out. “To answer your first question, I have three brothers and one sister. What else do you want to know?”
Lina’s light brown eyes sparkled with all sorts of mischief. There was hesitation there too, but he could tell a part of her was loving this. “I want to know a lot of things. But I have to go get ready for work. We can talk about it tomorrow. Same time, same place?”
“Yeah.”
She stood to leave, but he touched her arm to stall her. “Maybe we should exchange phone numbers. That way, you can ask me questions as you think of them.”
She shrugged. “All right.” She gestured for his phone, and he unlocked it and handed it over.
While she added herself as a contact, he began to sweat. This was going to end in disaster. He never should have asked. He already wanted to go back to being two friendly strangers sharing a workout space.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that I don’t even know which apartment you’re in or what your last name is. If you suddenly decided to give up your morning workout, I’d never see you again.” He should shut up now.
She looked up from his phone and smiled at him. “My last name is James. What’s your last name?”
“Curtis.”
“Dillon Curtis. I like that. And I’ll be here tomorrow, okay? Just like I always am.”
“Of course.” Somehow he couldn’t be smooth around her, and the more he was aware of it, the worse it got.
She gave him back his phone and waved as she left, slinging her gym bag over one shoulder, her dark ponytail bouncing.
Before he put his phone away, he checked his contacts. She’d added herself as Lina, Pretend Girlfriend Extraordinaire. He gave a strangled laugh and edited it to Lina James.
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