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“Looks like I need to feed you first. Ruby’s okay?”
“We can go and do something else if you like? If you’re bored?”
He scoffed. “How can I be bored? There’s nothing more exciting than being with you.”
Warmth spread through her. She looked at him, taking in his brilliant green eyes, his dirty blond hair swept back, his leather jacket. He looked like some kind of fifties rock star and he wanted to takeherfor dinner? He wanted them to be more than friends? Hell yes, please and thank you, ma’am.
He gripped her hand and linked their fingers together, resting them on his knee as he drove and she launched into a rapid explanation of meeting Sandi, her excitement carrying her words away. She told him about the techniques Sandi had shown her and what some of the other women were doing and the timeline which Kayleigh expected to achieve them by.
When they arrived at the diner, he held the door open for her as they entered. She loved this place and the enigmatic owner who greeted them.
“Well now, ain’t you a pretty looking couple?” Ruby crowed, sizing them up and down. “I think he would look better with me but on this occasion, I’ll adhere to girl code and step aside for you, sweet cheeks.”
Kayleigh laughed. “Thank you, Ruby. It’s a great sacrifice, I know.”
Ruby waved them into a booth, her eyes lingering on Ben, and Kayleigh began to think she would launch herself at him. Hell, she couldn’t blame the woman, he was gorgeous. He just had something—an aura—about him.
Once they ordered their food, Ben took her palm in his, his thumb rubbing small circles against her skin and she sighed, truly happy.
“Can you tell me about your family and your life before you moved here?”
“Why do you wanna know about that?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.
“Because I want to get to know you, you’re a mystery. Also, it’s a massive red flag if you don’t want to share about your past,” Kayleigh replied.
“I just don’t like talking about it, that’s all.”
“Massive walking red flag.”
He snorted. “It’s boring.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” she said and removed her palm from his, playing hardball. She folded her hands together and gazed at him with interest. She was in listening mode.
He sighed and began playing with the cutlery on the table. “We don’t get along. We’re not cut from the same kind of cloth.”
When Kayleigh didn’t say more, using silence to see how he would react, he continued.
“They’re business and academic focused. There was a lot of pressure to follow in my father’s footsteps and become the next in line to inherit the clinic. My brother has done a stellar job, my father has an heir in all the ways he wanted one. But I just never…fit. I was never good enough for them. They looked down on me, belittled me. My father is a well-known surgeon, famous actually. My brother just qualified, and is set to follow right in my father’s footsteps. Everyone is overflowing with pride, and I’m just…a failure.”
Kayleigh’s heart ached at seeing how much he was beating himself up for being different. There was nothing wrong with different. Different was interesting.
“You’re not a failure, what makes you think that?”
He shrugged. “I tried. I really tried to do what they wanted but I’m just not wired that way.”
“You said before you had medical training?”
“I tried to become a paramedic.But even that wasn’t good enough, why would I be a ‘lowly paramedic’ when I could have been a world-renowned surgeon like my dad? They looked down on me for not living up to their legacy.”
She reached across the table and took his hands in hers and gave them a squeeze, hating what his family had done to him, what they had put him through, making him doubt himself so strongly.
“I’m intrigued to hear what kind of cloth you are cut from then if you don’t want that kind of career?”
He tugged at the collar of his shirt and wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Well, I guess I like music and perf-”
They were interrupted by Ruby bringing their food over, flirting some more with Ben and entertaining them with her raunchy humor. The old woman definitely had a soft spot for him, again, who could blame her?
“Where were we? Oh wait, I was wondering if something in particular made you move here?” she asked when Ruby left them.
