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“Why haven’t you been in a relationship?”
“I’m too busy for that.”
“But you’ve never been in one.”
He took a bite and then another one, elbows off the table, his head down. “Why do you ask?”
“Doesn’t everyone want someone?” I asked. “To fall in love and grow old together?”
“I don’t know. Never really thought about it. I didn’t want to have a woman in my life until you were out of the house.”
“Well, I’m twenty-five now…” I’d moved out shortly after I became an adult. Got my own apartment, took a couple classes at the university, spent my time figuring out what I wanted in life.
He chuckled. “Time goes by fast, doesn’t it?”
“Why are you evading the question?”
“Nothing gets past you, huh?” He continued his smirk. “I think I got comfortable being alone, and now I don’t have an incentive to change it. And when I said I was too busy, that was the truth. To slow things down to get to know someone…” He shook his head. “That seems like too much work. And then she’d probably want to have children, and I’m not interested in having more. I already have my pride and joy.”
If she wanted to have children, that told me he would only be interested in women half his age…women my age. And it would be weird to see him with someone who could easily be one of my friends.
“How’s your gnocchi?”
“I haven’t tried it yet.”
“I know you haven’t.” He gave me another playful smile. “Enough of all this seriousness. Let’s enjoy our dinner.”
2
SCARLETT
I sat in the lounge with my laptop, a glass of wine beside me, paperwork around me. Someone stepped through the door, and without looking up, I knew who it was just by the heat of his stare.
The chair was pulled out across from me, and he took a seat.
I lifted my eyes to look at him, his sleeves pushed up to his elbows, his blue eyes hard as usual. He stared at me in a way no one else ever did, not even Ryan in our most heated moments.
I tried to break the tension. “How are you?”
That hard stare softened slightly, and then a handsome grin moved on to his lips. “I can’t remember the last time someone asked me that.”
“You need to get some better friends.”
“You think we’re friends?” he asked, on the cusp of a chuckle.
“What else would we be?”
“Friends don’t want to fuck each other.”
“I don’t want to fuck you?—”
“Whatever you say…”
“Is that why you’re here?” I asked. “To start shit?”
He brushed his fingers across his hard jaw as he continued to grin. “As much as I love to start shit…I’m here to see your father. Business as usual.”
I gave a nod and turned back to my computer. I worked on the spreadsheets, looking at all the numbers I processed for my father.
