“That was a little more like a question, I guess. I’m already late for work, so I’ll have to stay at the bakery a little later tonight. Probably until around six. So, I’ll meet you at La Luna at seven-fifteen,” I responded.
“Geez, fine, I’ll meet you tonight. So bossy,” he said with a wink. “Seven-fifteen at La Luna.”
I took a few sips of my coffee, and was surprised that it tasted so good. I really wondered what I was doing here. I had decided after my break-up with Dillon to give the whole dating thing a break for awhile. So how was this guy, who I actually despised seven hours ago, pulling me back in? He was growing on me, sure, but I still wasn’t completely certain I liked him yet. He was becoming a little more charming than the first time I met him, but he was still a little aggressive. And the dead fiancé thing I wasn’t supposed to know about, what was that? How would I ever bring that up in a normal conversation?
“Are you thinking about giving up on work today so we can just spend the morning back in my room?” Greyson asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“Absolutely not. Carrot cake trumps all, remember? So I am actually leaving you to go make some. That seems like a far wiser decision,” I replied, standing up from my patio chair. Greyson walked me to his front door, resting his hand on the small of my back.
“Thanks for coming around,” Greyson said shyly. It was the first time I had seen him look even remotely vulnerable. “Do you even want to know my answer to the question you asked me last night?”
“No. In fact I don’t want to ever talk about that again. I would rather just pretend it never happened. I can’t believe I even said that out loud. I’m still not sure this whole thing is a good…” Greyson’s lips pressed against mine before I could finish my sentence.
“I’ll see you at seven-fifteen,” he stated, smiling as he pulled away.
I felt as though he had just seen me at my worst, and yet this handsome guy was still into me. Any other guy would've run for the hills after being asked a question like the one I uttered last night. So the fact that this guy was still interested in whatever this was suggested one very, important thing. He was completely, utterly crazy.
Chapter 6
My time at the bakery flew by, throwing together a few birthday cakes, nine dozen cookies, and some other assorted pastries. While we worked I had to confess the details to Addie about the night before, especially since I was late that morning. She knew something was up right away because I usually beat her in to the bakery every single morning. I explained my first meeting with Greyson at the art gallery, and how I still wasn’t sure if I was even into this guy yet.
“He just really gets under my skin, you know? It’s like he knows he’s irresistible, which apparently he is since he duped me into going home with him. But I just don’t know what this guy wants,” I told Addie. She was such a good listener and never seemed to judge me for my apparent impulsive actions. “I mean, I don’t think I even know two things about this guy, and then bam, I’m watching his roommate eat Lucky Charms in his underwear the next morning. What am I doing?”
“I don’t know Mallory, but why does this have to be such a bad thing? So a handsome guy wants to take you to dinner even though you asked him to love you better than your ex-boyfriend while you were making out. If that doesn’t scare a guy away,” she said playfully.
“Well speaking of my ex, Dillon did kind of make a good point. I am really busy with the bakery, so it’s true that I don’t really have time to get involved with someone right now,” I said, packaging up all of the desserts we made.
“But if anyone understands that, don’t you think he would? I mean, he runs a business kind of similar to yours so he must be just as busy,” Addie replied optimistically.
“Great, so maybe if we’re too busy to ever see each other, we’ll be together forever,” I said sarcastically. “Or maybe he’ll piss me off all over again during our dinner conversation with his arrogant prowess and I’ll end up throwing my glass of wine at him before our meal is over.” I really wasn’t too confident things would end up well tonight. Greyson was so unnerving, and I just wasn't sure I could handle him.
We finished baking and cleaning up all of the counters around six o’clock, so I was glad to have at least an hour to get ready. I didn’t want it to look like I put too much effort into my look, but at the same time I also felt like I had to get it all right. A guy as attractive as Greyson probably dated lots of beautiful women. Granted, according to his roommate he never brought them home. Or conversely, maybe I was just easier than all the others. What a way to start out a relationship, or whatever this thing was.
I carefully applied my make-up, accentuating the colors around my hazel eyes. I curled my hair, happy to note it looked drastically better than it did in a tousled mess when I left his apartment this morning. I opted for a black fitted top with a loose ruffly white skirt. It made my legs look tan and went well with my slender five-foot-eight frame. It was a little less casual than a dress, but showed more effort than a pair of jeans.
Satisfied with my appearance, I grabbed my clutch purse and headed out of my apartment around ten after seven. I purposely chose La Luna because it was only a few blocks from my apartment so I could walk. That felt much nicer to me on a beautiful summer evening rather than getting in my car to drive somewhere.
The restaurant was crowded, but Greyson was easy to spot near the hostess area with his tall muscular build and blonde hair. I smiled as soon as I saw him, then quickly reminded myself that I still wasn’t all too sure as to why I was here. I guess saying no to this guy was becoming a little more difficult after our bonding on the patio this morning. It slightly ticked me off that he was such a gentleman about the situation last night. If he would have handled it like most other guys would have, he would be so much easier to walk away from.
Greyson walked towards me and gently laid his hand around my shoulders onto my upper back. He smelled amazing as he leaned in to kiss my cheek.
“You look beautiful, Mallory. I’m really glad you came. I was a little nervous you might stand me up again,” he said with a boyish grin.
“I would never stand someone up for a date I’ve actually agreed to,” I touted back. “I didn’t realize it would be so busy tonight. We may have to wait awhile for a table.”
“Greyson, right this way sir,” a young perky hostess said, eyeing Greyson as we walked. She led us to a small booth towards the back of the restaurant.
“Wow, are you a regular here or something? That was awfully quick service. Let me guess, you know the hostess and she adores you,” I said dramatically.
“Not exactly. I actually just called in earlier and made reservations. That hostess girl was, like, nineteen. Do you really think I’m that guy?” he asked, looking amused by this conversation.
“How would I know? I’ve only spoken to you for about six minutes total since I met you. I don’t even know how old you are,” I responded, reaching for a glass of water the hostess set down on our table.
“So you’re interested in getting to know me then,” he said confidently.
“I haven’t made up my mind on that yet,” I rebuffed.
“Well, I’ll save you some time thinking about it then. I’m twenty-eight, raised by a single mother after losing my dad in Desert Storm. She owns a small breakfast diner in Reno. I majored in accounting, but quickly realized that was the most boring path I could have ever chosen in life, so I took a sabbatical of sorts. That’s basically just a fancy way of saying I kind of freaked out not knowing what to do with my life. So, I grabbed a backpack and traveled around the country, hiking, camping, trying to ‘find myself’ if that’s really such a thing. I think I just wanted to be irresponsible and adrift for awhile. Anyway, I grew up helping my mom out in her diner so I was always a pretty good cook. Then it just hit me one day that I wanted to open up my own catering business. That way I could cook when I wanted without the chain around my foot of opening up my own restaurant. That was a couple years ago, and bu
siness has been pretty good since I started.”
“Wow, your life story. That’s helpful. You seem relatively normal,” I said, eyeing him cautiously. “But I’m sure there’s more to it, right? How about your love life? That's what women really want to know about when they meet someone. Perhaps there was one girl who led you astray, or some great romance story along the way. What about those? Any serious relationships? Where's the crazy? Let’s get to the good stuff,” I mused.
"Wow, you're getting right into it. Isn't that more like fourth date conversation?" he responded.
"I'm still not convinced there will be a date two," I replied speculatively. "So we may as well just get all of this stuff out now."
“Well, there were a few girls, sure,” he responded honestly. “But none of those are good stories. I've never been great at the whole relationship thing. I’ve always been a sucker for tragedy. You know those girls who are damaged with lots of issues. I always felt like I should save them, when really the entire relationship was a train wreck from the beginning. I’ve really never been good at the whole dating thing.”
“Whoa, so that’s why you were drawn to me? You think I’m damaged?” I said, only half-sarcastically.
“No, just the opposite. You actually seem to have your life put together. The kind of girl I actually should be with,” he said, staring at me with his smoldering blue eyes.
“I’m not so sure about that,” I muttered quietly.
“What about you? Where’s the boyfriend you mentioned last week when I met you in the alley? Any chance he’s the one you brought up last night before you passed out?”
“Well, he broke up with me the morning I met you, actually,” I replied, hoping not to get into the details. “I really suck at the whole relationship thing too.”
“That’s not possible. You seem like the kind of girl who would be good at anything you tried,” he answered sincerely.
“He told me I was completely unlovable,” I blurted out, shrugging.
“A guy actually said that to you? That seems a little harsh.” Greyson took a sip of his water.
“That’s what I thought. But maybe he had a point. Maybe I’m just not really the kind of girl to love,” I said, trying to speak objectively.
“Oh no. Don’t you even think about agreeing with him on that. Then you will be damaged and I’ll have to fall in love with you out of spite,” he replied, lightening the mood.
The waitress came by to take our orders.
“Don’t you want to look at the menu first, Mal?” Greyson asked politely.
“I’ll have the shredded chicken platter, extra sour cream, no guacamole but a couple of limes on the side,” I said to the waitress. I looked back at Greyson. “I get the same order at every restaurant I go to. I’m not exactly spontaneous in that regard. Once I find a good thing, I stick with it.”
“In that case,” Greyson looked up at the waitress, “make that two.” The waitress took our menus and walked away. Greyson’s blue eyes sparkled as he stared at me, and I knew I was quickly losing all will power I had if I really expected to leave here alone.
“Look Greyson, what are we doing here? I mean, last night was fun. My vague memories of it anyway, minus any conversation we had of course. But I just don’t see how this will go anywhere. I told you, I suck at relationships. But I’m not a casual friends-with-benefits kind of girl either, despite what impression you got from me going home with you last night. If we’re both terrible at making relationships work, maybe we should just eat our food and then go our separate ways. You know, before anything gets too involved. I’m actually kind of okay with being unlovable. It works for me in a weird way. I’m not looking to be saved from that.”
“You’re not unlovable, Mallory. That’s impossible. You said last night while we were talking that your parents are still married, right? So at least you were raised with a good example of that type of thing. My mom never even dated after my dad passed. She always said she was a hopeless romantic and couldn’t go through it all again. So I never witnessed a normal long-lasting relationship like you have,” he said somewhat nostalgically. “So you at least have an upper hand there. You’ve seen it work.”
“Well yeah, my parents are still married. But they didn’t exactly have a conventional 'get to know each other and fall in love' story. They actually met on a blind date and got married three weeks later. Who does that? So many other people, they date for years first and then they can’t make a bigger commitment work. How could anyone know they found the right person after just three weeks? I’ve never understood that,” I said, shaking my head. “Honestly, after all the dating I’ve done, and yes, I’ve had my fair share… the facts of their romance baffle me more and more as I get older. I’m telling you, it’s me. I’m just bad at relationships.”
“Well, if we both suck at relationships, then maybe we should try something different. You know, find a way to make something work for us as we are.” His eyes looked deep into mine, though I couldn’t read them.
“What do you suggest?” I asked with amusement.
“Well, we’re both relatively successful when it comes to our businesses, right? So I have a proposal for you.”
“A proposal?" I responded curiously. "I'm pretty sure that word should be forbidden on a first date. How do you have an answer for everything?"
"Just hear me out, Mallory," he replied. The corner of his mouth turned up into a smile.
"That grin on your face looks like trouble. This should be good.”
Chapter 7
The waitress brought our food and I eyed Greyson suspiciously.
“Why do you think you suck at relationships?” he asked.
“I thought you had a proposal,” I responded.
“Right, I’m getting to that. Answer the question,” he said smiling.
“Well, it probably is me. I guess I’m just not good at changing who I am for someone. I hate having to worry about what they want from me, you know? I wish I could just have what I wanted, but I know it doesn’t work that way,” I replied honestly.
“Exactly. So what if you could choose the kind of relationship you ultimately wanted? What if all the wants and needs and expectations were laid out like bullet points. Like a business contract,” he said, raising an eyebrow. He paused, waiting for my response.
“Oh no, I’ve read those books. A relationship contract, red rooms, and flogging, whatever that is. That is so not my style,” I said vehemently shaking my head.
“Flogging? What are you talking about?” he asked, looking quite perplexed.
“Never mind. I’m kind of glad you have no idea what I’m talking about. Just continue, what do you have in mind? What are you getting at?”
“Well, what do you want from someone? Like if you could make a list of the things you absolutely wanted from someone, what would you pick?” Greyson stared at me curiously.
“Well, I don’t know. I would probably have to think about it. But that’s not really fair. I mean, what about you? What do you want?” I asked, intrigued by what he had in mind.
“What if we each wrote down some things. We can do it on the back of our napkins,” he said, pushing a paper La Luna napkin towards me. “We can each write down a few things that would make a person our ideal relationship partner.”
“I’m listening,” I replied, giving him my full attention.
“Then, as long as there are no deal breakers, we could give it like a month or two. Or hell, how about three weeks. Somehow your parents knew in three weeks, so it’s possible, right? That way it’s not so much time that were deeply invested, but it's enough time to at least roll the dice on this idea to see if it works. So we just spend three weeks giving the other person their ideal relationship. And then at the end of the three weeks if one of us wants to go our separate way, fine, no hard feelings. But at least for a few weeks we’ll each get a perfect relationship. Then we can’t claim we suck at relationships anymore,” he said shrugging.
; “So really, you’ll be Mr. Right for me for three weeks? And then if you still make me crazy, I can just walk away? No questions asked? No dramatic break-up?” I asked skeptically. I had to admit, something about his idea intrigued me. A guy who finally cared what I wanted? Who was willing to just lay it all out there right from the beginning? I wondered if this could actually work.
“What do you think?” Greyson asked, amused at my interest in the idea.
“So, like a business contract, but for a relationship? It sounds mechanical and completely not romantic. But yet, in a weird way, it kind of makes sense to me,” I responded, mulling it all over in my head. Did I even know what I really wanted from someone?
“Think about it. Relationships really are like a business transaction. I mean sure, all that ‘love’ stuff, but there has to be some mutual agreements going on for it to actually work, right? Some boundaries, expectations, that kind of thing. So many people get married just to find out they wanted kids and the other person didn’t or they wanted to move out of state and the other person wanted to stay put. So those relationships just fall apart, or someone ends up unhappy at the very least,” he explained matter-of-factly. He was quite convincing as he spoke. “And not that this relationship has to be that serious, but we’re both busy, right? And relationships don’t work out for us. But maybe if we just put what we want on the table now, then there’s less room for error. We wouldn’t have to waste time trying to figure out what the other person wanted or expected.”
I stared back at him for a moment, taking in his boyish smile, his perfectly combed hair, and his defined jaw line. I suppose if something like this could really work, he wouldn’t be a terrible person to experiment with. I reached into my purse and grabbed a pen.
“What’s your lucky number?” he asked casually.
“Easy, thirteen,” I replied.
“Thirteen? That’s your number? Who has thirteen as their lucky number? That seems dreadful,” he retorted. “Especially in a gambling town like this. There’s really a reason these casinos don’t have thirteenth floors you know.”
Six Rules: Book Two in the SIX Series Page 4
