AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sucked in a breath. "Really?"
"Definitely."
Damn he was sexy.
"What was your favorite subject in school?"
I didn't want to answer school questions, so I kept the answer simple. “English lit, I suppose.”
“You suppose. What does that mean?”
I thought about his question. Sipped my fruity drink. “I guess I like to escape. Reading fiction allows me to travel to different places. What about you?"
Rush nodded. “Personally, I hated anything academic. My brother and I were sent to an expensive private school, but anything academic just bored the fuck outta me.”
“And now you build motorcycles." I assessed him across the table. “You must need design skills for that, so you had to have enjoyed some subjects.”
He leaned in, pleased I’d worked this out about him. “I said I didn’t like the academic part. But design, art, or anything like that, I loved.”
I glanced down at the ink that peeped from under the cuff of his button-up. “Did you design your tattoos?”
“Some.” He shrugged offhandedly.
“Some? That’s evasive. How many do you have?”
His lips smirked at the edges. “Maybe you’ll have to find out.”
As heat prickled down my back, I squirmed a little in my seat, unable to meet his eyes. "After dinner, maybe?" That was as close to a proposition as I could get.
“You’re a complex character, Lux.”
I looked up to meet his gaze. “Why’s that?”
He nodded his head, bemused. “I sense a feisty streak in you, but you are also shy. You’re a paradox.”
I smiled a little. “Maybe I am, but I do want to see your tattoos.” No doubt about that. And I wanted to feel his skin against mine, too.
We watched one another for a long moment, the air crackling around us. My appetite for food was all but forgotten.
“Where do you work?”
His question caught me off guard. Sure, I helped my mom with her bookkeeping. I answered calls from her clients and mom's staff. Mom and I bother agreed it was vital I stay busy, and I liked helping with the business. But I wasn't her employee. I'd never received a paycheck. Still, technically, it was a job.
I paused way too long, trying to work out how to answer without sounding pathetically embarrassing. Twenty-two and never had a real job.
“Phone sex worker?” he asked, his lips twitching.
“What? No!” My face officially burned like the sun.
"By the lovely shade of red staining your cheeks, I'd have to concur." He tapped his fingers against his chin. Chuckled that warm rumble of a laugh, the one that came from his chest and made me feel all gooey inside. "How about mountain climber?" he went on.
I shook my head and laughed. “It’s complicated,” I finally said, wishing it wasn't complicated. Hell, I wished life had been sort of normal for me growing up. That I’d had regular opportunities like other people. As it was, I'd crossed off first date, first kiss, first time riding a motorcycle, first time falling for someone … I let those thoughts die in my throat. My eyes met his. I had fallen for him. Already. That had to be a romantic record. But it was the truth. The Whitesnake song questioned whether this was love? Well, yes, I believed it was.
With Rush, I wanted to try everything.
"Calf roper?"
I shook my head again and laughed. "As I said, it's complicated. Things are difficult sometimes at home."
