3. Quade
“Tell me more about yourself?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.” I glance over my shoulder and merge with traffic as we leave the airport parking lot. “I told my mother we’d been seeing each other for a few months. That would mean I’d know a lot about you.”
“We should start with basic things, like favorite food, movies, books, that kind of thing then go deeper. For instance, no one would expect you to know I broke my arm in the eighth grade.”
“No, I guess not, but now I do.” I shoot a grin in her direction before looking back at the road in front of us.
From my peripheral vision I see her wiggle in her seat a little, turning toward me slightly. She lets out a soft hum that does strange things to my insides. It doesn’t help that she changed into a short dress and I can see a glimpse of smooth thigh, that tiny sliver of flesh pulling my eyes toward it.
“Okay, my favorite food is red velvet cupcakes with vanilla frosting.”
“Cupcakes? Really?”
“Yes. What’s yours?”
“Steak with a loaded baked potato.”
“Huh. I would have picked you for a lobster guy?”
“Why? What makes you think that?” I glance at her again and see her nose is scrunched up, her lips pursed. She looks cute.
And I’ve never thought of a woman as cute in my life.
What the hell is this woman doing to me?
“Well…”
I try to shove aside my confusing thoughts and concentrate on our conversation. “Don’t be shy, tell me.”
“You come from money.”
“Obviously.”
I see her shrug from the corner of my eye. “I just figured you’d have expensive tastes.”
“I do. The last steak I had cost over a hundred and was served on a gold-rimmed plate.”
“Wow. Please tell me I’m not going to have to eat off one of those.”
“No. It was at Raff’s, a restaurant in New York.”
“Oh, okay, good.” She fidgets for a second before adding, “I’ve been known to drop plates.”
“Noted. We’ll keep you off kitchen duty.”
“Would I be expected to do that? I thought your family would have staff—not that I’m judging or stereotyping or…I’ll shut up now.”
I laugh. “We do, well my grandmother does. She lives at the Love Beach estate year-round. And to put your mind to rest, the expensive tastes thing? My mother’s favorite food is lobster.”
“I’m sure I won’t need to know that but I’m filing it away. All right, favorite movies. I like any romantic comedy. I watch other genres but my go-to is rom-com. You?”
“Does Grease fall into that category?”
Her light laughter fills the car. “You remember that?”
“Yes, why wouldn’t I?”
“Ah, I don’t know. I guess because I threw that line in there for effect. I didn’t think you’d take notice enough to remember.”
“I’ve got an excellent memory.”
“Noted. Okay, answer my question, what’s your favorite movie?”
“At the risk of losing my man card I’ll admit I’m partial to a good rom-com too.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and don’t sound so surprised. I’ve got three younger sisters, all of whom have at one point or another insisted I watch movies with them. Actually, that’s a lie, growing up they usually hijacked movie night in our house with their choices and after years of that I learned to love them.”
“I don’t think that warrants handing in your man card. I think it shows you care about your sisters and what they like.”
“Maybe. But being the only boy meant I had to defer to them regularly.”
“You don’t sound unhappy about it.”
“I’m not. I love my sisters; they’re pains in my ass and part of the reason you’re here, but otherwise they’re three of the best women I know.”
“Three of the best? How many others are there?”
“My mother and grandmother for starters. Then again, most of the women in my family are incredible. In spite of their obnoxious need to see me married with children.”
“You don’t want to get married and have children?”
“Sure.”
“But you’re not actively searching for Mrs. Sanderson.”
“No. I’m open to it but I’ve spent the last decade building my business. There hasn’t been time for dating.”
“At all?”
“Don’t sound so appalled. I’ve dated. Occasionally.” A sigh leaves my chest as I settle back into my seat. “Okay, not recently.”
“Except you can’t say that now. We’ve been dating recently.”
I smile. “Yes, we have. Which reminds me. Where were you and what were you doing five months ago?”
“Um…I think…wait. Why do you want to know that?”
“We need to work out how we met. I can say I flew you in to see me or I flew to you after we met but mostly we’ve been long distance. That makes our breakup at the end of the summer more believable. We can say after doing the long-distance thing, the closeness showed us we weren’t as compatible as we thought.”
“Won’t your family go back to harassing you about settling down?”
“Yes. But by then they will have dispersed across the country and I won’t see any of them, except maybe my mother, until Thanksgiving when everyone returns to Love Beach. Well, those that can anyway, which if I’m honest is usually everyone. Nobody likes to miss out on Gram’s Thanksgiving meal. She goes all out.”
“So you’re okay to break up at the end of August?”
“It’s how long I’ve hired you for.”
“Hmm…”
There’s that soft little hum again. The one that has me shifting in my seat in an attempt to conceal the reaction beneath my zipper.
To wipe my mind of the scandalous images flicking to life I ask, “Tell me why you’re able to drop everything for the summer and come here.”
“I needed to get away from home.” At my small growl of anger Hadley sits straight and rushes out, “Nothing bad. Just my dad putting pressure on me to join the family business.”
“You don’t want to join it?” I recall something about an agency of some sort, but the specifics escape me at the moment.
“No.”
When she doesn’t elaborate, I look over to find her frowning through the front window. “No?”
Shaking her head, she repeats herself. “No.”
“Shouldn’t I know about this?”
I probably should if we’re going to pull off being together, but it’s something we can gloss over if we have to. Except I want to know why she’s frowning at the thought of going to work for her family. Most people would take advantage of that possibility. Then again, I’m not one to talk. I chose to walk my own path, leaving the family business to my sisters.
“It’s okay, we don’t have to talk about what your family does.”
The sigh she lets out sounds like she dredged it up from her toes. “It’s okay. My dad owns the Blush talent agency.”
“Not to be offensive but, I’ve never heard of it.”
“Good.”
I can’t hold back my chuckle. “Sounds like some bad feelings there.”
With another sigh she shakes her head and says, “I can’t stand fake people. And most of the actors and models my dad has on the books are faker than fake.”
A knot of unease tightens my chest and churns my stomach. “Um…aren’t we being fake?”