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“You want to feed me? I don’t have to forage for it myself?”
He pulled out her chair. “Not tonight.”
The bowl had a massive amount of pasta in it. And it smelled amazing.
“So you can cook?”
“I can boil water and open a can,” he said and dished it up. It was funny how gentlemanly he could be. Manners and kindness and grace. Things one wouldn’t expect when looking at a man like Dex. But he had charm, that polite southern boy thing that made his wild side all the more exciting.
He sat next to her and ate his own pasta.
She looked at him, then the food. “So, is this some kind of luring trick?”
He smiled. “You’re skeptical.”
“I’ve met you. There’s an ulterior motive here.”
“Oh, absolutely there is. I want you to up your caloric intake since I plan on running you low on energy.” He lifted his chin at the pasta. “It’s called carbo loading. So eat up, princess. Long night ahead.”
Now she was excited and curious about what he had planned. Hopefully a night of wild sex. But this was nice in a different way. Sitting at a table and having a meal with him hit something in her chest she realized she’d been missing. Family.
Obviously Dex wasn’t family. But she couldn’t remember ever sitting at a table with her parents and having a conversation or pasta. If she was honest, somewhere scribbled in her notebook of desires, she’d find “a home cooked meal and eye contact” on the list. It sounded stupid, but those were two things she’d always longed for but been denied.
“So,” he twirled his pasta, “tell me how you got into the boutique business.”
He was asking about her. Wanting to know her. She wasn’t sure if opening up like this was really wise, but she went with it since everything in his voice and how he looked at her was genuine.
“I expect a fair exchange,” she said.
He grinned. “Of course you do. What, you give me some details about you, and I do your chores? You have some windows you need replaced?”
“No, I want to know how you got into the search and rescue business.”
The question seemed to shock him. Did no one really ask about his life?
“Beauty before brawn,” he said.
“Well, I’ve always liked pretty things.”
He snorted and nodded and took a bite of pasta. He was going to make a crack about her upbringing or class or whatever, she could tell, so she moved past that quickly.
“I’ve also wanted something of my own. Something I could create and be proud of.” She twirled her pasta now, but it was so she could avert her eyes.
“You should be proud,” he said. “That’s a hell of a shop you have. All class and perfection. You did that.”
His words made warm fuzzies dance up her spine. She was so used to defending every move she made. Explaining and re-explaining her choices, decisions, and above all, why she’d left. No one took her seriously. Not her father and his weekly calls, trying to get her to come home. Not with the looks everyone had given her as she’d left town, like they were basically waiting for her to fail.
But Dex was different. He told her to be proud. And more, he looked at her like he believed she could succeed.
“Is that why you have all those lists?” he asked. “A way to organize and check off all the things you want?”
She thought about that for a moment. “I guess it is. I figure if I write it down, it makes it real. If I can tackle a certain bullet point, I have physical proof that I can do it.”
He nodded. “That makes sense. It’s like taking a concept and turning it tangible.”
She smiled. “Exactly.” Which was why she was so stuck on this independence idea. All the things she’d listed, from sex, to success, to desires, it was all part of checking off reasons she was okay. Competent. Whole. Something to cling to when she was worried failure was creeping in.
“Will you tell me something on your list that you haven’t done yet?” he asked. “And just assume that I have all the bedroom stuff covered.” He gave her a wink, and she couldn’t help but blush a little. But his eyes were serious for a moment. “Something important to you,” he said.
