“You once told me I don’t owe you any favors,” I remind him. “Plus, most people don’t insult my entire worldview.”
“I didn’t insult it,” he says quietly. “I’m just surviving inside it.”
That makes me pause.
Really pause.
Because…okay, he’s not wrong.
And I hate that.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I say automatically. “Just thinking.”
“About?”
“How much I hate that you’re not entirely wrong. And that’s annoying.”
He smiles like that’s the best compliment he’s ever received. “I’ll try to be more wrong in the future.”
“I’d appreciate that. Thank you,” I acknowledge, checking the clock and noting the time. Fifteen minutes till my shift ends. “So, what brings you in to this little hole of a bar tonight?”
“I like talking to you,” he says simply.
I blink, speechless for a second because that wasn’t the answer I was expecting. “That’s it?”
He smiles. “That’s not enough?”
I hop down the bar serving several other people before circling back to Shepherd.
“You can talk to lots of people,” I answer with a mindless shrug, glancing up at the clock one more time.
Ten minutes to go.
“True.” He nods. “But most of them don’t tell me my pants are stupidly expensive.”
I can’t stop the laugh that escapes me. “So, you’re here for the abuse?”
“I’m here because…” He pauses, trying to find the right words. “Because I don’t have to be anything specific when I’m here. With you.”
My eyebrows lift slightly and then I glance at the clock again.
I don’t mind staying over if it means talking to him a little longer.
“And what are you supposed to be everywhere else?”
“Depends on where I am and who I’m with.” He shrugs. “Steady, reliable, the guy with all the answers, team leader, role model, whatever the press needs that day.”
“Sounds exhausting.”
“Sometimes,” he admits. “But it’s part of the job.”
I search his hazel eyes like I’m looking for the lie, but all I see are beautiful flecks of gold that seem to shimmer against the light.
“So, I’m what? Your vacation from responsibility?” I try not to come off offended, more curious.
“More like…a breath of fresh air,” he responds, and when he says those words something in me shifts.
