It was why she stopped him before he opened the door by calling out, "Asha."
9
"Asha."
With his hand on the balcony door, he glanced back over his shoulder at Sarah."Yeah."
"I want to date."
He didn't think she meant dating in general, so he turned, giving her his full attention.He hadn't expected this.Sure, after the last few days he'd been confident she was an equal partner in this attraction, but he'd never thought she would take the lead.
Then again, she never backed down when things were hard so he probably should have.
"Okay."
"I mean you."She licked her plump bottom lip and his breath hitched, he wanted to run his tongue along that plush curve."I'd like to go on a date.With you."
Obviously, his answer hadn't been clear, so he said, "Does tonight count or were you thinking something else?"
"Oh.Yes."Her head bobbed a few times really fast."Tonight can count."
"All right then, let's start by sitting outside and talking."
He wanted to ease her nerves, she might have had the bravery to ask him out but that didn't mean she wasn't nervous about his answer and how things would go.Reaching behind him, he felt for the door handle and opened the door.He stepped aside as he pulled it wide.
"After you."
Once he'd propped the door open using a pillow and they'd both taken a seat he drew in a deep breath of salty sea air.
"As much as I'm not a fan of hot weather I have to admit this is nice.Relaxing."
"You don't like hot weather?"Sarah asked, confusion evident in her tone."Why the hell did you agree to this trip then?"
He shrugged."Jared was in a bind and I had nothing better to do."
"You don't have family to visit for Christmas?"
"No."He turned his head to look at her."My parents are long dead.Dad before I hit high school and mom about ten years ago now.I was a late-in-life only child so no brothers, sisters, nieces or nephews."
"Oh.What about cousins or aunts or..."
"Yeah, that's a no too.I arrived very unexpectedly to the babies in each of my parents' families, my aunts and uncle were all old and my cousins almost middle-aged with their own kids when I was born.My parents weren't close to any of them."
It had never bothered him that he didn't have any family to speak of.Oh sure, he probably had some second cousins somewhere, but they'd never been in his life, and he'd never bothered to look for them.
"I can't imagine that.I've got three brothers and two sisters and about fifty-million cousins."She laughed."Well, at least that's how it feels whenever I go home."
"I'm surprised you didn't go home for Christmas."
"I went for Thanksgiving and to be honest I couldn't handle another round ofwhen are you going to get married again and have babies?so soon, plus I'm heading back again at the end of January for my younger brother's wedding."She sighed."Where no doubt I'll be subjected to the next round ofwhen are you going to settle down and have babies?"
"You don't want to get married again?Have babies?"He knew she'd been married, not the details but she'd mentioned being divorced, and he wanted to know the answers as much for himself as to learn more about her.
"I'm not ruling either out.I'd just like to do them at my own pace and without the nagging from my family along the way."
"I guess that's something I never had to deal with.Even when mom was alive, and I was married, she never nagged me about grandbabies."He stared out at the water trying to image what it would be like to have a parent so invested in his life."I suppose by then mom would have been in her late sixties, early seventies and too old for grandchildren anyway."
"I don't think we're ever too old for family and I'm sure she would have wanted to see you with a family."
