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“You always stare at people like that?” he asks.
I sit up and look around; he’s still staring at his phone.
“I’m talking about you,” he says, putting his phone away.
I point at myself and mouth, “Me?”
“You and I are the only ones in this room. You’ve been staring at me for the last...six minutes.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“It’s okay. I didn’t take it as rude. Just assessing.”
I nod, pulling my knees to my chest as I wrap my arms around them.
“What have you learned about me in your assessment?” he asks.
Smirking, I say, “You’re okay with your own company. You’re serious, and you’re a planner. You don’t seem so self-absorbed that you can’t engage with whatever’s happening around you and that you’re observant.”
Shaking his head, he replies, “No, you only know that last part because I busted you.”
I laugh, rocking backward before nodding, acknowledging he’s right. When I open my eyes, he’s wearing a curious gaze and an amused grin as he stares at me. I don’t bother to tell him that I realize he’s unaware of his beauty. That would be too close to admitting my attraction to him.
“So, what’s your story?” he asks as laughter floats to us from the bar area, and I can hear Tyler and Shepherd’s voices raised in playful bickering.
“I don’t have one.”
“The weed, I mean. You seemed a little bothered when it was offered to you.”
Shrugging, I answer, “Not bothered. I just don’t smoke, is all.”
“At first glance, one might think that you’re innocent and naïve, but I don’t think that at all,” he says, narrowing his eyes.
“Whatdoyou think?”
He pauses, watching me closely as he pulls his bottom lip into his mouth. Then he pushes it back out before he speaks.
“I think you’re a very intelligent, observant woman who is cautious with her decisions and actions. I think you hold back a lot, and it’s difficult to truly know you because you’ve either been hurt or have a secret to hide. You’ve been through a lot at a young age, and although you can look a bit closed off and supercilious—”
“Supercilious?”
He holds up a hand, telling me to wait. “Although you can look like all those things at first glance if no one cares to pay attention, I know it’s not that. I think you’re cautious because of self-protection.”
My heart thunders in my chest. It’s always been so easy to hide in plain sight from everyone. It’s always been easy to make people believe what I want them to, but not him. Kincaid is different. He sees me.
He truly sees me.
I turn my gaze away and nod.
“Am I right?” His voice goes low and deeper.
“I’m not saying I’m innocent, but I wouldn’t say I was worldly either.”
“They say you should never ask a woman her age, but....”
“Twenty-five.”
He nods. “Okay, older than I thought.”
