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“Name something else.”
“How about stop trying to impress me and just be yourself?”
That seemed to jar him. He fiddled with an imaginary thread on his shirt before gazing at me with those blue eyes of his. “I thought I was being myself.”
“I think you’re trying too hard.”
“Oh, low blow, but you’re probably not wrong. I spent a lot of time trying to impress people, especially my father. I guess I haven’t broken myself of it.”
First room service interrupted us with wine, then minutes later, the food came, and I never got the chance to prod him more about whatever he’d planned to say next. Instead, we ate and drank.
“I have a saying,” Carlton said when room service had left half an hour later. “All women are capable of being swept off their feet, even when they think they’re in love with another man.”
He poured two glasses of wine and handed one to me. We talked about Texas, my upbringing in Santa Barbara until my father passed away. My mother’s breakdown after Dad died, his father’s disappointment when Blake decided to pursue racing, though I wasn’t convinced that was what he’d planned to tell me earlier. We were all over the place, but I was relaxed and enjoying myself, and that was a problem.
“Is that so?”
“Yes, because most men don’t know how to truly satisfy a woman, and I don’t mean in the bedroom only. Men are usually more interested in their own self-gratification. It’s a common complaint of the fairer sex, and they’re absolutely right. Now and again, a woman wants to be told she is loved and needed. She wants to know that her lover thinks she’s beautiful.”
“I totally agree,” I said, sipping my wine. “You sure are pouring on the Southern charm.”
“That charm comes naturally.”
I raised a brow. He had just a hint of a Texas accent, enough to make me smile. Damn, I had to stop drinking.
“Women are very sensuous beings, and men take that for granted. I have women figured out. I know what they want from a man.”
I was pretty sure he didn’t know since he had a trail of failed relationships, including a high-profile engagement, but I indulged him. “And what is that?”
“They want men to listen, that’s all. Men are too busy doing everything else.”
I laughed. “You might be onto something, Blake.”
He tilted his head and gazed at me for a moment's time. “Does he ever tell you that you’re beautiful?” Carlton asked.
My smile faltered. I couldn’t think of the last time Devin had said it to me. Had he ever? “I’m sure he has,” I said, looking down at the floor.
“Ithink you’re beautiful,” he said sincerely. “The first time I saw you, I thought, who is this exotic beauty, and why haven’t all the other men noticed her? I think your brother scared them away. But Flynn was the only one with the guts to try, and look at what he’s got. He takes you for granted.”
“How come you didn’t notice me until after he and I started dating?”
“I did notice, but I was engaged. And when that ended, he’d beat me to you."
“About that engagement …”
“We were at different stages in our lives. I’m ready to settle down and think about starting a family. She was more interested in her career. We were on two different paths, and it was best to end it.”
I couldn’t help my traitorous mind comparing that answer to Devin’s casual rejection of his ex carrying their baby.
“As for Flynn, I really wasn’t surprised to hear that the two of you were together.”
I had no idea what that meant, but it certainly didn’t sound positive. “You seem to know him so well,” I said, looking at Carlton from the corner of my eye.
“I understand what goes on in that pea brain of his. Think about it, Luna. Why would any woman in her right mind want a man who’s shown he can’t commit? What I’m trying to say is the guy has a lot of charm. He manages to keep you interested in him, but at the same time he’s horrible to you.”
I sat up at this. “No, he isn’t. Why would you assume that?”
“His reputation, for one thing. Either he’s more clever than I give him credit for, or he’s just lucky.”
