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I pulled free, laughing over his eagerness, then hurried off to fetch my things. When I returned to the door where he was waiting, his eyes lit on the bag.
“Good thinking. I forgot I was going to ask you to pack a couple things for the weekend.”
I slowed to a halt. “The entire weekend?” I said hesitantly. He wanted me to stay with him the entire weekend?
Oh, God. Could this day get any cooler?
Worry flickered in his gaze. “You okay with that?”
I nodded, playing it off as no big deal. “Sure. I’m okay with that.”
And so off we went, out to his spotless Bentley that smelled like new leather inside and rode like a dream.
Luke Bryan was playing on the radio when he started the engine. I glanced at Ezra from the corner of my eye and then discreetly cleared my throat.
“Hey, uh, do you mind if I find a station that plays Twenty One Pilots, or Imagine Dragons, or Ed Sheeran?”
I even reached for the controls, but Ezra caught my hand and winked at me. “Nuh-uh. Driver picks the music.”
I scowled and returned my hand to my lap, deciding I was totally driving the next time we went anywhere, while Ezra spent the next ten minutes trying to educate me on why country music should be appreciated more. My pop-loving heart rejected every claim he made, even though I had to admit his enthusiasm for something he liked was pretty cute. Besides, Sam Hunt came on not long after that, playing “Body like a Back Road,” which also played frequently on my favorite station, so my ears were momentarily pacified. I even tapped my fingers on my thigh to the beat and hummed along, glancing out the windows until, holy wow, talk about back roads; I realized we were headed out of town and driving a beautiful back road, one that was familiar to me.
Sitting up in interest, I glanced toward Ezra. “You live out on Porterfield Lane? Oh my God, I love it out here. My dad had a friend who lived along Porterfield when I was growing up. I used to beg to go with him so I could see all the trees and countryside on the way. It’s just so beautiful and peaceful here.”
Ezra glanced at me. “Who was your dad’s friend?”
“Uh…” I racked my brain for the name of the old guy who’d owned a chain of fast food restaurants. “Mr. Octavius. Yeah, that was it. Old Gus.”
A small smile lit Ezra’s lips. “I remember Gus. I’d go with my dad to visit him too. The house I grew up in was only like five miles from his place. He always gave me sherbet pops whenever I’d come along. And he had this blind, old cocker spaniel named—”
“Princess! Yes!” I pointed at him, lighting up. “Oh man, I suddenly miss those sherbet pops.”
Ezra shook his head over the memory. “I’m only a couple miles up the road from both him and my dad’s place.”
“Cool.” I nodded, still reeling from the fact we’d shared such a common trait in childhood. “We lived out in Fairmont when I was little. Right along the lake. You could see the dam from our place.”
And then Lana had sold it within a year of my dad’s death so she could move into a luxury condo in town. Witch.
“I had a friend who had a summer house out in that area,” Ezra was saying, pulling me away from my straying thoughts. “I swear, I lived there through the entire months of June and July when we were growing up. We rarely left the lake. I always thought I’d end up getting my own place out there someday, but huh, I guess I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
I glanced at him and took in his thoughtful expression. “It’s funny how close we’ve been our entire lives and yet we never met until now.”
His gaze focused on me, his eyes warm with wonder. Then he held out a hand. “I guess we have a lot of lost time to make up for, then.”
When he pulled into the drive of a house made of tan brick with dark brown shutters and white trim, I was instantly charmed.
“Ooh. I like this.”
Ezra pulled into the garage and killed the engine before turning to me. He grinned like a kid eager to show off his Lego collection. “Let me show you around.”
He took me inside through the back where we entered a spotless mudroom and then down a hall until we came out into the kitchen.
“So this is where the grand master chef of grilled cheese sandwiches hangs his hat, huh?” I took in the stainless steel appliances and white cabinets.
“Indeed.” Ezra looped a hand around my waist and swept me along through the morning room, a great room, dining room, foyer, music room, and library in hyper speed. As we passed a hole in the wall that looked like it housed a chrome tunnel that went up, I paused to peek up into—
“What is this?” I had to ask, scratching my head.
Ezra backtracked to me, chuckling. “Oh, that. Yeah, I bought the place from a family with small kids, and they called it an indoor slide, though for insurance purposes, we refer to it as a laundry chute.”
