Chapter Twelve
Sin
Pipe Dreams
I’ve been waiting for this since I laid eyes on him tonight. I thought I would burst.
“Well, what do you really want?” I repeat when he doesn’t answer.
“What do you mean?” He holds his hands up in the air.
“I mean, what are you doing here?” I enunciate each word.
He squares his shoulders and his jaw. “I came to see your parents. My mother was their landlord. She asked me to personally deliver something to them.”
“So where is it?” I demand.
“Where is what?” He blinks at my rapid-fire questioning.
I snap my fingers impatiently. “Whatever you came to deliver. Where is it?”
“I gave it to your mom when I arrived. She said they’d open it later.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “So, they’re not being evicted?” I press, desperate for that assurance.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t have sat down to eat with them if that was the case.” He’s speaking like he’s talking to a hostage taker.
I force myself to relax my guard. He’s not dangerous. At least not in any obvious way. I look at him with exaggerated suspicion on my face. “So you really had no idea I would be here or who I was when we met in April?” I press.
“How could I have? Believe me, I was just as surprised to see you as you were to see me.” His dark eyes are somber and his gaze is direct. He’s right, how could he have known?
“Look at me sounding like you,” I quip and he’s gracious enough to smile.
“But this is a lot of coincidence. What are the chances?”
He slips his hands into his pockets and rocks back on his heels a little, still smiling. “They’re slim. But hey, I’m not complaining. I’m glad to see you. Knew I would somehow.”
“No you didn’t.” I roll my eyes.
He scoffs and reaches into the back pocket of his jeans and pulls out his wallet. “I’ve been carrying this in my wallet so that when it happened, I could return it to you.”
He fishes out the small gold earring I lost that night and holds it out to me. My eyes mist and I take it out of his palm and put it on. I reach into my small purse and pull out its partner. “Wow. I’d resigned myself to it being lost forever. Thank you so much.”
“Sure. I’m glad I got to give it back. But more than that—we’ve got some unfinished business.” His voice is gruff, and the air between us is instantly charged. I want to close the distance between us.
“Do we?” I ask, my voice just above a whisper. He cocks an eyebrow, leans forward at the waist so his face is close to mine.
“Yes.” His dark eyes are so hot my good sense starts to evaporate. Just like it had the night we met. “I want to see that woman whose body purred when I touched her again.”
Heat and lust make me clench my thighs. I take a step back and bump into one of the tall boxwood hedges that line the walkway. “I wasn’t myself. I didn’t think I would see you again, so I just...”
“Let loose?” he finishes for me.
I snap my fingers. “Exactly. That wasn’t the real me.”
He frowns and raises an eyebrow. “Sure seemed and tasted like you.”
I flush and thank God he can’t tell. “As if you know me.”
“Don’t I?”
“This may be a good tactic in the courtroom but asking me questions I’ve already answered isn’t going to get you a different answer,” I inform him in my best no nonsense voice.
“It’s not a tactic. I’m just trying to understand what you mean. Maybe you should speak plainly, Sin,” he says with a note of challenge in his voice.
I’ve never had a problem with confrontation, but I could have done without this one.
I clear my throat and choose my words carefully.
“I find you very, very attractive, and you seem nice. But I’m not ready to date again yet and even if I were, my focus would still be on getting my career off the ground.
Maybe in another life, we could pick up where we left off, but in this timeline, it’s a nonstarter.
I’m sorry,” I add when his expression falls.
He sucks in a breath, and for a split-second, looks like he’s about to push back. But then his expression relaxes and he nods with a deprecating smile.
“Hey, if that’s what you want, that’s what it’ll be. I’ve got a lot going on, too.” He gives in so easily I can’t help but feel a little offended.
I give him a stiff smile. “Yes, it’s what I want. Thank you for understanding.” I turn and continue down the path to the driveway. “Come on, let’s go. You’re driving,” I announce.
“No can do,” he says when he catches up to me.
“Why not?” I cross my arms and scan the street for his car.
“I’ve only got two wheels.” He jerks a thumb toward the garage. A bicycle that looks like it was built before the turn of the last century is propped up against the door.
I look up at him, perplexed. “What did you say you do?”
“I’m a lawyer.”
I look back at him with a puzzled expression. “You need to ask for a raise so you can buy a car.” Or a bike that was built this century.
“Why do I need a car when this baby does the job?”
“Rain, snow, late nights, bad drivers,” I tick them off my fingers.
“Taxis exist. And this is my preferred mode of transportation and will be until the wheels fall off,” he grins.
“Oh, so any day now?” I say as I look pointedly at the rusted wheel spokes.
He snickers. “You’re funny.”
“I’m not trying to be.” I roll my eyes. “I guess we’re taking my car.” I open my purse to fish for the keys. “But you’re still driving.” I toss them to him.
He opens passenger door. “Your carriage, Queen.” He takes my hand and guides me in and tucks my dangling purse strap in before he closes it.
I have to bite my lip to stop the stupid smile forming. He’s probably just doing what his mom raised him to.
“Thank you.”
“Yup,” he closes the door and runs around the front of the car, and I admire the way his clothes hint at the muscular frame beneath them but still leave something to the imagination. And I love that I don’t have to use my imagination. I didn’t get to see it all that night, but I felt it all.
He presses the ignition key to start the car and I press my thighs together. The car illuminates and my audiobook starts playing.
“I gasp at the hot rasp of his tongue twirling around my nipple.”
“Oh my God,” I screech and press the button to pause it. “Sorry.” I grin sheepishly and switch to FM.
“What was that?” He sounds scandalized, and I laugh.
“It was an audiobook.”
“About what? Sucking nipples?” He snorts.
That wipes the smile off my face. I know that I can be irrationally irritable when people give me unsolicited, uninformed opinions on the books I read. “No, it’s a romance novel.”
He lets out a low whistle. “Wow, I didn’t figure you for that type.”
I bristle “And what type is that?”
“You know, to read fluff.” He’s making a tight right turn into the grocery store parking but takes a quick glance at me.
“Wait, did I say something wrong?” he asks and pulls into a parking spot.
“Have you ever read a romance novel?” I cross my arms and lean back against my door.
He looks taken aback by the question. “No.” He draws the word out and puts the car in park.
“Then what makes you think you know the type of person who reads it?”
“Well, I mean…I don’t know. I just…you’re a journalist. I figured you’d read history or politics.”
“I do…and they’ve taught me a lot of about the world.
But I’ve been reading romance since I was twelve years old, and those books have taught me more about humanity than any textbook could.
Yes, it’s something I do for pleasure, but so is eating.
So is fucking. That doesn’t make them any less impactful. Why should reading be any different?”
“Sin, wait. I—”
“When the world is shit, I can open my book and escape. As a genre, it’s got some of the best writers in all of fiction. I don’t have to choose. I get to be entertained, educated, enlightened, and embraced. And if you want to have any peace in my presence, you better put some respect on it.”
He holds his hands up palms facing me. “Okay, I’m sorry. I spoke out of ignorance.”
“Fine,” I grumble. I’m glad he apologized quickly, but I’m still miffed. “You’re lucky we didn’t have this conversation the night we met.”
He barks a surprised laugh. “Noted. Sin doesn’t play about romance.”
“It never lets me down.” I wink. “I’ll be right back.” I smile, open my own door and climb out.
When I get back into the car thirty minutes later, I have an apology on the tip of my tongue.
Instead of the irritated “what took you so long” I anticipated, he smiles and starts the car. “I looked up some books on my Libby app. You’ll have to tell me where to start.” He hands me his phone.
I shoot him a sidelong glance and take it. I scan the screen and gape at him. “You looked up romance novels?”
He nods and then turns his attention to the rearview image. “I’ll pick a few of my favorites,” I tell him as I scan the titles.
I buckle in but feel vulnerable as hell as we make our way back to my parents. Taking an interest in the things I care about is a cheat code for earning my devotion. And he has a library card. I try to focus on the task at hand and keep my giddiness at bay.
Oh Lord, why do you have to tempt me so?
“So, do you not like driving?” he asks after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
“I get road rage, especially in Arlington. I prefer being a passenger.” I glance over at him.
He’s smiling like I just told him a secret. “Now that I know that, next Sunday, I’ll bring my tandem extender and you can ride with me.”
“Never.” I snort, and we share a laugh. I glance out of the window. There isn’t a cloud in the sky, and I realize it’s a beautiful day and roll it down. I open my music app and then the rest of what he said registers. I snap my head in his direction. “Wait, did you say next time?”
“Oh, your mother said you all have a family meal together every Sunday and invited me to join. I said yes.”
I sit up. “You didn’t have to say yes. And you don’t have to come. If they weren’t my family, I wouldn’t give up my Sundays.”
“That’s easy to say when you get to see them so often.”