by Lea Hart
“But…”
Moving in the last inch, he pressed his mouth to hers, and a hundred shards of light filled her vision as reason and logic flew out of her brain. Yes, Claire thought as he cupped the back of her head and drew her closer. Her hand moved to his shirt and she felt the beat of his heart as she pressed her hand to his chest. Yeah, she could safely say that logic had nothing to do with what was happening between them.
“Cancel the date,” he said against her lips once he released her from the kiss.
“I really shouldn’t,” she said as she rested her head against his chest. When he lifted her chin and she saw the desire in his eyes, she knew that going out with Vince wouldn’t be fair. Whatever was happening between her and Brady should be figured out before she went out with anyone else.
“Please,” he said quietly.
“Fine,” she replied. When he let out a little breath of relief, she felt like melting. For some reason the idea of him not being one hundred percent confident was endearing. It told her he was a little off balance, and that made her relax. If a man who could face anything was affected by her at all, then she knew she should probably get to know him.
***
When she finally acquiesced to his request, he felt his heartbeat slow down. The idea of Claire going out with another man made him feel the same as when he’d been out hunting an enemy. Adrenaline had started to pump; his focus became laser-sharp and he’d had his next ten moves planned. Had she not agreed to cancel the date, then he knew exactly what he was going to do. It involved him planting his butt in the restaurant and letting Claire know that he wasn’t going to give up.
The time they’d spent over the last couple of days told him that he’d found the girl he wanted to get to know. And he wasn’t going to let another guy sniff around and get in his way. Claire might very well be the one for him and they needed uninterrupted time together to see if that was true. “How about you come over tonight after work? I can grill something and we can take a swim. Bring that questionnaire you got and I’ll fill it out and we can get to know one another.”
Claire leaned back and crossed her arms. “You really gonna answer a hundred and fifty questions?”
“Holy shit, that’s a lot of questions.” He stood, then tugged on her hands and pulled her out of her chair. When they were looking into one another’s eyes, he saw that she didn’t have too much faith in his ability to do as she asked. Which would never do. If he couldn’t do something as small as this, then he should just leave her be.
Clearly, she had something vested in this process, so he’d better get vested too if he wanted to make her happy. Which he did. “Send them to me now and I’ll get started as soon as I’m done with the meeting with Erin and Damian.”
“All right.”
The smile he got from her made him want to do everything he could to keep it there. Knowing he made her happy in some small way had him wanting to beat his chest in triumph. “You want something, all you have to do is ask.”
Claire pushed at his chest and laughed. “If I asked you to listen to an hour of my music, would you?”
Swallowing, he stood tall and nodded. “If that’s what you want, then sure.” So what if his ears would bleed and his head would ring? Small price to pay…hopefully.
“I wouldn’t do that to you. How about if I check out your playlists on Spotify and mix what you like with what I like? One-to-one ratio on song choice should ensure that neither one of us wants to beat our head against a wall.”
Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he rested his head on top of hers. “Compromise, the best ingredient for success. We’re not a day into our relationship and you’ve come up with the answer to our different musical tastes.” Feeling her arms go around his waist made him about as happy as he’d ever been. For some reason, that small gesture was making his insides go all soft and mushy.
Which isn’t something he could recall ever happening.
Claire Hughes was going to either make him the happiest man in the world or destroy him. Didn’t seem they had an in-between. Which surprisingly didn’t scare the shit out of him. In fact, it settled something deep in his gut.
“Why are you meeting with Erin and Damian?”
Emptying his head of hearts and cupids, he cleared his throat. “Apparently, the stalker she’s had for a couple of years is ratcheting up his crazy. Quinn said we need to put a comprehensive plan in place for her safety while she’s here in Lafayette. Erin extended her stay and is working on some project with Lilly that’s going to keep her in town for at least a month.”
“That’s going to make Hunter so damn happy, he may actually be forced to smile.”
Leaning back, Brady looked down and raised his eyebrow. “What does Erin staying in town have to do with Hunter smiling?”
“Don’t tell me you missed the big crush he’s got?”
“Hunter has a crush on Erin…the famous actress?”
Stepping away from his hold, she laughed. “Yeah. He hates the idea of it, but I can see he can’t help himself. He’s a smitten kitten and he’s doing his best to fight it.”
Rubbing his hand along his jaw, Brady chuckled. “Had no idea.”
“Men don’t usually pick up on the more subtle emotions, so that’s not a surprise.”
“I’m a trained observer. I pick up on subtle things all the time,” he responded with conviction.
“Maybe if you’re at work, but in social situations, probably not.”
“I’m not sure if I agree with that assessment.” Just as he was about to say more, his phone buzzed, alerting him that he was due in the conference room. “We can talk about this more tonight.” Taking a step forward, he kissed her head. “I’ll check with you later and see what you want me to cook tonight.”
“Okay. I better cancel my date with Vince before I forget.”
He lifted her phone off the desk and handed it to her with a smile. “Thank you for clearing the field and giving me a chance.”
She gave him a small smile and then pushed him away. “Go.”
“Fine. Don’t forget to send me the questions.” As he walked out of the room, he wondered what kind of questions he was going to have to answer. He was never one for a lot of self-revelation and it seemed that was about to change. Thinking of Claire’s smile, he knew it would be worth revealing whatever he had to. Hopefully, she would still want him when all was said and done.
CHAPTER NINE
Wednesday, July 26th
Brady’s front door opened before Claire could get out of her car. When he stood on the doorstep with a big grin on his face, she figured he was looking forward to their evening together. The delay in their date due to work had seemed to ratchet up the excitement for both of them.
She had to reschedule on Monday and he’d had to reschedule yesterday. Which meant Claire was left at home last night all dressed up with nowhere to go. Instead of fretting, she had turned her energy into making a fruit Jell-O mold that resembled a floating island. Not that she meant for the creation to become so elaborate, but one thing led to another and she had outdone herself.
The chances of Brady thinking she was ridiculous for making something so outdated were pretty good and she had debated bringing it over a hundred times in her head. The thing that made up her mind was that she wanted to be as authentic with him as she could. He’d seen her at work for a couple of months, so he had a pretty good idea of who she was and what she liked, so she decided not to paint a false picture.
That’s what the online dating thing was for. At first, she thought the only way to succeed was to craft an honest, straightforward profile. Then reality seeped in and she realized that there was only so much honesty a stranger could take. The difficulty of marketing herself to potential suitors was a lot more challenging than she ever could’ve guessed. And it had taken her a good long while to polish herself up like a piece of her grandmother’s silver and come up with something that worked.
Which felt kind of
lousy, but what could she do? Had she told the truth, she would still be sitting at home on her couch. It wasn’t like she could say, “Twenty-six-year-old woman with high IQ and impressive hacking capabilities seeks hot guy to spend time with, watching Netflix, making dinner, and smooching.”
Because if ever there was a truth…that was it.
Instead, she fluffed herself up and included things like “enjoys reading” (true, but mostly thrillers), “loves to dance” (true, but in the kitchen), “interested in adventure” (not true, but could be forced). She even gave herself some hobbies that she had only vaguely thought about. Which meant that she was no better than anyone else on the site. She understood that the men she’d met had probably done the same thing.
But such was the nature of dating in the twenty-first century. Hookups, meet-ups, and swiping right had never worked for her because she wasn’t someone who would be appreciated in the first thirty minutes of an introduction. Unfortunately, it often took people some time to see that she might be worth the effort, and that wasn’t how texts and DMs worked.
Looking out her car window, she saw Brady, handsome as sin, waiting for her to pull her butt out of the car. It just didn’t make any sense, but neither did sitting here questioning things. Pulling her purse across the seat, she opened her door and got out. “Hey.”
“I thought you might not get out and were having second thoughts about our date,” he said as he crossed his arms.
“Let’s not call it a date. Let’s just call it hanging out,” she replied. She walked around to the back of her Honda, opened the trunk, carefully extracted the Jell-O extravaganza, and hoped he wouldn’t laugh. “I brought dessert.”
Brady walked over, took the dish out of her hands, and grinned. “My mama used to make these when I was a kid. They were my favorite dessert.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “No one has made me one except her.” He lifted the dish up, turned it around, and whistled. “This is a damn impressive creation. Reminds me of a floating island.”
Putting her hand to her chest, she felt a well of emotion bubble in her chest. Not only did he like it, he knew what it was. “I’ve won a couple of contests with my molds, and this isn’t even my most impressive. I’d be happy to make you one whenever you want.”
He shifted the dish into one hand and then slung his arm over her shoulder. “Got to say this date is starting off beautifully. Not every day a man gets an offer like that.”
Looking up into his eyes, she tried to determine if he was making fun of her. When all she saw was sincerity, she felt the wall around her heart crack a little. “Hanging out, not a date,” she reminded him.
“I don’t care what we call it as long as we’re together, enjoying one another’s company and getting to know each other.”
As they walked into the house, she figured she couldn’t argue. Why she was trying to name what they were doing? It was silly…but it was the only thing she could come up with to gain some control.
God, she loved control.
But Brady wasn’t going to be a man she controlled, nor was whatever was happening between them. So, she might as well relax and save her energy. Lord knew she was going to need it if the sparks that were happening ignited into a flame.
***
Sitting on the patio, Claire enjoyed the small breeze that brushed across her skin. The summer heat wasn’t bothering her as much as it usually did because it had forced Brady to take his shirt off while he grilled the steaks. Admiring his wide back and muscled arms was a fine way to enjoy the evening. The fact that he had nice legs as well was a bonus that she was also appreciating. “You want me to do anything else for dinner?” she called out.
“No, darlin’. I’ve got the taters in the oven and you already made the salad, so as soon as these steaks are done we can eat.”
“Thank you for cooking.”
He glanced over his shoulder and winked. “This is the extent of my culinary abilities, other than the mean scrambled eggs I can whip up.”
“I love to cook. My gran taught me every one of her secret recipes and I can cook as good as any woman from the 1950s. Unfortunately, I never learned much beyond that, so my skills are stuck in a time warp. Hence, my love of Jell-O molds.”
“When my mama passed away, Lilly’s mama took us into her kitchen and into her care. If it wasn’t for her, we might have starved because my daddy fell apart. Rochelle Bertrand made us sit at her table every day for two years and then as often as she could wrangle us after that.”
“I met her when I was over at Lucy’s restaurant and she is a sweet woman. Formidable, but sweet.”
“That’s her. She’ll just as soon hug you as she’ll lecture you. If she can do both at the same time, then she’s accomplished her goal.”
“Sounds like my gran,” Claire replied, running her hand over the patio table. Sweet memories floated up of the woman who had loved and cared for her.
“So, your gran raised you after your parents passed?” he asked as he shut the lid of the barbecue.
“Yes, she took me in and raised me through my teens. Not everyone wants to take on a teenager, but she did and seemed to relish having me with her. I think who I am today has a lot to do with her.”
“Only if you’re lucky do you get someone like that in your life.”
“That sure is the truth. I was very lucky to have someone so loving and strong. The woman passed on her love of flowered dresses, Jell-O, and chicken-fried steak, and I embraced it completely. I also developed my programming skills due to her failing health during my senior year in high school, and I ended up with a career.”
“Now, there is a story that I want to hear.” He checked his watch, then pulled the steaks off the grill and plated them. “Let me get my T-shirt back on and we can go into the kitchen and get everything together.”
Standing, she put her hand on his and shook her head. “It’s hot. You might as well be comfortable.” When he gave her a blazing, sexy smile, she figured that she’d somehow shown her hand. So what if she wanted to enjoy a beautiful view at dinner? It didn’t make her a bad person for thinking that Brady was the beautiful view she wanted to enjoy. “It’s your home. You should be comfortable.”
“Same goes for you, Claire. You want to take anything off to cool down…feel free.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I like my guests to be comfortable.”
Clearing her throat, she looked down at the very interesting concrete and prayed her face wasn’t the color of a tomato. “You’re an excellent host.”
“You have no idea, Claire, how excellent I can be.” He took her hand, lifted the plate filled with steaks, and led her into the house.
Breathing deeply, she tried to get herself calmed down. Being around Brady felt both familiar and exciting. Like she’d known him for a long time but had the hots for him just the same. Two of the best feelings in the world rolled into one. She’d never thought the two went together for some reason, but being around Brady let her know she’d been wrong.
Very wrong.
Once they were in the house, they worked side by side in the kitchen with complete ease. No bumping into one another or fussing. It was like a dance they’d done a thousand times before. Once they had their plates made and glasses filled, they walked into the sunroom and sat down. Just as they were about to start eating, Claire popped up. “I almost forgot. I made a playlist. Let me get it and we can see how our tastes collide.”
“We collide just fine,” Brady commented as she pulled her bag off the counter and got her phone and wireless speaker out. Once she had it set up, she hit Play, and the sound of Johnnyswim filled the room. “I hope you like this. I just discovered this duo and I love them. They marry a Nashville vibe with some LA cool.”
Brady listened for a moment and grinned. “I like it. What’s the name of this song?”
“Summertime Romance,” she said quietly. When he covered her hand with his and lifted an eyebrow, she knew he was going to read into it more than the
re was.
“Our romance is going to last about a hundred summers, so it seems fitting.”
Bingo, she thought. Definitely making more of her song choice than there was. When he didn’t say anything else, she moved her shaking hand away and set it into her lap. Maybe just leave it alone and hope he let it go.
Brady lifted his fork and pointed at her plate. “Let’s eat so we can get to the Jell-O.”
Laughing, she decided not to worry about one summer or a hundred and just tried to enjoy the evening. “So, how do you like being back home and working in the private sector?”
“I like how you start out with the easy questions. What happened to ‘What’s your favorite movie?’ or ‘What do you like to do in your free time?’”
“I already know that because you filled out the questionnaire and I read all your answers.”
“And…”
“You were really honest when you answered all the questions.”
“Kind of thought that was the point. Show who you are and see if it’s going to work?”
“In theory, yes.”
“Let me guess. You polished up your answers for your online dating profile and expected that everyone else did the same.”
“Well…if you want an honest answer, yes, I polished myself up so that I might appeal to someone. Let’s face it, admitting that you don’t much care for wild nights and prefer watching a movie at home is not going to get many men interested.”
“I’m interested. I like what we did this weekend. Minus the trip to the crappy bar across town, the weekend was about perfect. We had ice cream sundaes on Friday night, breakfast and a walk on Saturday. Plus, dinner at my brother’s house with friends. Then we had a late lunch and an afternoon in a park looking at dogs. Granted, we didn’t find one yet, but we can keep looking, and I expect by the end of summer, we’ll find the one meant for us.” Leaning over, he kissed her gently. “If we add a couple more thousand of those kisses, then I’d say we have a formula for a weekend that we’ll both enjoy.”
