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“Do you really believe that?”
“You met her. What do you think?”
Harry’s irritated response didn’t bother Cate. In his situation, she might have reacted the same. He was an only child who had essentially been emotionally orphaned.
Cate had quarreled with her own parents over the years. She didn’t always see eye to eye with them on certain subjects. But she had never questioned their love for her. Cate’s childhood had been built on bedrock compared to Harry’s volatile upbringing.
His mother was flaky at best, and when the man who was supposed to teach him and mold him andlovehim was a mean drunk who sometimes knocked him around, it was no wonder Harry had trouble withfeelings.
Cate changed the subject, ready to move on. As they cleaned up the kitchen, she bumped his hip with hers. “You want to watch something on Netflix? There’s a new Ryan Reynolds movie I haven’t seen.”
After a long silence, Harry nodded. “Sure.” His rigid posture relaxed visibly. “I’m sorry if I was rude. Talking about my family makes me...”
“Crazy? Sorry,” she said quickly. “Bad joke.”
But her nonsense coaxed a smile from Harry.
“Very funny,” he said, his expression droll.
In the living room, she lowered the lights and started to curl up in one of the comfy armchairs.
Harry claimed the sofa and patted the cushion beside him. “I don’t bite,” he said, his grin daring her to refuse.
“Okay.” She went to sit beside him, ready to pretend this was no big deal.
But it was. She and Harry were acting like a couple. A couple on the verge of taking a step toward something that would be impossible to reverse.
Fortunately, the movie was cute and funny and entertaining. Cate was almost able to ignore Harry’s arm resting above her shoulders on the back of the sofa.
The fact that he smelled like bacon and syrup shouldn’t have been a turn-on. Unfortunately, she was a foodie, so the scent was as titillating as everything else about him.
When the credits rolled, Cate’s nervousness returned. “That was fun,” she said. “I love his movies.”
“And the fact that he’s a hottie doesn’t sway you at all...”
“I can’t help it if he happens to be handsome and funny and down-to-earth and genuinely nice.”
The room fell silent. Cate had just described Jason. She heard it, and she knew Harry did, too, because he moved his arm and put distance between them on the sofa. Now that Cate thought about it, Jason and Ryan Reynolds resembled each other more than a little.
Harry rested his elbows on his knees, not looking at her. “What time do you want to leave in the morning? Nine? Nine thirty?”
“Nine is fine.”
Her phone dinged quietly. Earlier, she had set it to “do not disturb” for the length of the movie. She glanced at the screen and froze.
“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.
“Nothing,” she croaked.
He was sitting close enough to read the sender’s name. “Jason?” he said, his tone incredulous. “He’s been texting you?”
Cate started to shake. This was why she couldn’t have a relationship with Harry. The whole situation was too screwed up. “No,” she said. “This is the first time.”
From Harry’s expression, she wasn’t sure he believed her.
“Well, read it,” he said. “Maybe there’s an emergency.”
“Why would you say that?” Now all she could think about were plane crashes and terrorist kidnappings.
