Page 13 of Had to Be You

People always had opinions about middle children. Knox wasn’t sure if he agreed with the traits commonly associated with familial placement. Although hedidlike attention, which he believed was one of the qualities typically regarded as a middle-child trait—so that was spot on. "What about you? Brothers and sisters?"

"Sisters. I have three."

"And where are you in the lineup?"

"Second oldest. There’s Lorena, then me, then Luciana, and my baby sister Leticia."

Knox smiled. "I see your parents went with a theme."

"Theme?" she repeated as her head tilted at the cutest angle. "Do you mean girls?"

He noticed the slope of her neck, and the sight made his mouth water. Her smooth skin looked downright delicious. Necks had never been a turn-on for him, but seeing hers brought out the innerTwilightin him. He’d watched that movie at least twenty times because his nieces had been obsessed with it when they were teens. Not that they had to twist his arm. Knox has always loved romantic movies in either dramatic or comedic form. The guys in his squad always gave him shit about it, but just like the nickname Kermit, Knox felt it added to his appeal. And he had proof to back it up. Women loved when he slipped in references to Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock, or his personal favorite Jennifer Lopez rom-coms.

He cleared his throat and buried his Edward Cullen urges. "No, the letter L."

"Oh, right. Yeah." Her hazel eyes sparked with life as she explained, "My sisters all did the same thing. Lori, the oldest, has five, all with M names. Then Luci has three, and she went with S. And my youngest sister, Leti, has two, and she went with P."

Laura’s entire being lit up when she spoke about her family. It was clear how much she loved them. He wanted to keep her talking about the subject.

"That’s a lot of kids. How old are they? What are their names?"

"My nieces and nephews?"

"Yeah."

"You want to know my nieces and nephews’ names and how old they are?"

Knox nodded. He wanted her to keep talking. He loved the sound of her voice and the way her eyes sparkled when she talked about her family.

"Ooookay, well, Lori’s kids are Marissa, who is sixteen. Marianna is fourteen. Then she has the twins, Matthew and Michael, who are eight. And her youngest, Matteo, is six. Luci has Samuel, who is five. Sergio is four. And Santino is the baby; he’s eight months old. And then Leti has Priscilla, who is five, and Penelope, who is three. And those are just my sisters. I have twelve first cousins who are all married and have kids. I have thirty-second cousins."

"Do they live close? Your family?"

"About two and a half hours away. They are all still in my hometown."

"Do you see them often?"

A smile spread on her face. "I go to my parents’ house every Sunday."

"You drive five hours, round trip, every week?"

"Yep. Sunday dinner is a big thing in my family. I made a promise to myself and my mom when I moved away that I would be back every Sunday."

Wow. Knox loved his family, but he didn’t know if he loved them that much.

"What about you?" Laura asked, lifting her eyes to meet his. "Nieces and nephews?"

"Just two nieces. My older brother, Ford, has twins, Ivy and Iris. They’re twenty-three."

Laura grinned, and as he stared down at her, he noticed gold flecks floating in her light green eyes, which were surrounded by dark lashes. Her eyes were mesmerizing and held him captive. He couldn’t look away, even when he tried. As if it were out of his control, he realized his chin was tilting down and his head was lowering toward her. It was so subtle that he almost didn’t realize he was even moving. He’d never felt a magnetic pull like this before, and he felt powerless against it.

He noticed her breathing coming in short pants before she blinked and turned her head away from him. The moment their eye contact was broken, he straightened his head back up.

What had just happened? Was he about to kiss her? No. That was crazy.

He felt like a middle schooler at his first dance; he held Laura in his arms, and they moved in time to the music. Her curves were lethal, and the way they molded against him was making it very hard, pun intended, to keep his appreciation of them to himself.

"Do you have any kids?" Knox normally didn’t date women with kids because it was too difficult when the relationship ended. He liked uncomplicated. But he would make an exception for this woman.

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