Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
“So, tell me about yourself,” I asked.
Graham set down his fork and took a swallow of his beer. Then he gave me a look that made me tingle. “Aw, damn, the scary date question,” he muttered.
“If you think that’s scary, wait until you hear some of my follow-up questions.” I smirked.
“It gets worse?” His eyebrows crawled up his forehead.
“Oh yeah.” I smiled. “Go on, Graham, tell me about yourself.”
He sighed. “Is there any particular place you want me to start?”
Graham might have sighed, but he asked his question good-naturedly. I liked that about him. Hell, I liked a lot of things about him.
“Nope. Gentleman’s choice.”
“How about when and where I met Miss Laverne?”
“Oh, I would love to know that story.” Graham might have sat back, but him telling me a story meant that I still had time to eat, so I scooped up some more of his heavenly mac and cheese.
“I saw her in the grocery store parking lot.”
I rolled my eyes. “Let me guess. She was trying to handle too many groceries, and you dove in to help.”
“Nope, you’ve got it totally wrong,” he laughed.
“But good guess. There was this woman with three kids. Two were in a stroller, and one was on her hip. She was trying to put things into her trunk, but every single kid was crying, and the little girl on her hip was hanging on like a monkey, and the mom could hardly move.”
“Poor thing, I can just picture it.”
“Yeah, the mom was close to tears. So, Miss Laverne swooped in. Soon she had the toddler in her arms, and immediately the kid wasn’t crying anymore. The mom got the two babies to stop crying, and then she could handle the groceries. Miss Laverne worked magic.”
I swallowed my food and took a sip of beer. “I’m stunned you didn’t try to help.”
“I know what operations I can win and which ones I’m going to lose. This was not a mission where I could be of service. Miss Laverne had it under control.”
Hmm. Mission, huh?
Interesting.
“I could totally see Miss Laverne doing that.”
“The mom was Kathy Bowers, by the way.”
“Oh, I know her. She’s stopped by a couple of times. I love those kids. But that still doesn’t tell me how you got to know Miss Laverne.”
“She saw me watching everything. I stayed around and saw her trying to wrestle all her groceries into her trunk, and I offered to help, and she let me. Of course, she offered to make me lunch.”
“Of course she did.” I grinned.
“I declined. I didn’t want to take advantage of her.
When I got back to work the next day, I told Roan what happened.
Roan told me about her and how she probably felt bad not being able to return my favor, so I realized I’d screwed up.
I made sure to do my shopping on the same day and time the following week, and she was there.
I helped her with her groceries again, but this time I said yes when she invited me to lunch. ”
“That’s wonderful,” I said as I leaned forward and squeezed his forearm in approval.
Or maybe I squeezed his arm because I’d been dying to touch some of those luscious, hard muscles.
He looked down at my hand and then up into my eyes.
He gave me a slow smile that had butterflies winging through my stomach.
Oh, the man knew what I was doing, and he liked it.
“Anyway, Roan was spot on. She sure was happy to make me lunch.”
I looked down at my empty plate. Graham did, too. “Would you like some more food?” he asked.
“No, I’m full.”
“Are you done with the inquisition?”
“I’ve barely started,” I teased him.
“Good God,” he moaned. “Didn’t you hear I helped out Miss Laverne? Don’t I deserve a break?”
“You’re tough, you can handle it.”
I loved it when he laughed.
“Okay, go for it,” he replied, still chuckling.
“You mentioned once that you were in the military. What branch?”
“The Navy.”
“What did you do in the Navy?”
“Logistics and training.”
“Were you ever deployed overseas?”
“Yeah.”
“How cool.” I looked up. I knew my eyes were wide. I loved the idea of traveling. “I got to work in London for a while. I really wanted to see more of the world. Where did you get to go?”
“Mostly places in the Middle East. Sometimes in Eastern Europe. What did you do when you were in London?”
“I worked as an au pair. That’s a fancy way of saying I was a babysitter,” I laughed.
“Did you like it?”
I didn’t want to lie, so I told him what I said to everyone. “It had its ups and downs.”
I saw his look of curiosity, but before he could say anything, I asked him another question. “Did you like what you did?”
“It had its ups and downs,” he said abruptly.
I cringed. “I sure understand that answer. I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about it?”
Graham winced. “I’m sorry, Doll. Not right now,” he admitted slowly.
“Me neither.” I thought for a second. “We could talk about favorite movies and songs and stuff. How about that? Or our families. I have funny stories. What about you?”
“Yeah, my mom and dad could really be a hoot,” he said with a small smile.
“Could be?” I asked softly.
“My mom passed eight years ago while I was deployed.” I saw his eyes fill with sorrow.
“I’m sorry, Graham.”
“That’s one of my major regrets about being in the Navy. That I didn’t spend as much time with her as I could have. I always thought there would be a later, you know?”
I squeezed his hand, and he tangled his fingers with mine. “I know.”
He waited a beat, then gave me a small smile. I asked him if he was done with his food. He nodded.
I got up and picked up the plates. “Can you open the door?” I indicated the sliding glass door with my chin.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m on clean-up duty. Isn’t that how we roll?”
Graham huffed out a deep breath. “You got me there, Doll. But I’m going to help.”
“I like that idea. Then we can spend time in the close confines of your kitchen.”
“Oh, you want to get close to me, do you?”
“Maybe a little,” I murmured, biting my lip.
He opened the deck door, allowing me room to slip by. I went into the kitchen and turned on the water so I could start rinsing plates.
“Stop for a moment, will you?” Graham put his hand over mine.
I stopped and looked up at him. His eyes were warm and gentle. “You know we’re not doing anything more than relaxing in my armchair and binging whatever show you want to watch, don’t you?” he asked.
“But—”
“No buts. I want to do this right. Take things slow. We’re still in the get-to-know-you stage, and I want to snuggle.”
I giggled. “You’re so full of shit.”
He cupped my cheek with one hand and pulled me close with the other. “I’m not. This is too important. You’re too important to rush.”
A relieved breath whooshed out of my mouth, and he grinned. The bastard realized he was handling me exactly right.
“Now, leave the dishes in the sink, and follow me to the living room.”
“We at least need to soak them.”
He shook his head and grasped my hand, tangling our fingers together. I soon found myself on his lap as he sat back in his favorite piece of furniture.
Okay, his only piece of furniture.
He handed me the remote. “You decide.”
“You must really like me if you’re giving me the remote,” I teased.
“Glad you’re catching on, Doll.”