Chapter Thirteen #2
She pursed her lips one way, then the other. “Deal. About this, at least. I reserve the right to judge you about things I learn about you in the future.”
“How do you say things like that and make them sound cute and charming? I try anything close and one of my sisters smacks me for being a jerk.”
Liz came back with their drinks, including two little pitchers of cream. Ellie took a long swig and let out an audible “ah” before saying, “I’m obviously a cuter and more charming person than you are.”
“That must be it.” He was sort of joking but sort of not.
“I think you’re pretty charming.” Ellie smirked. “In a consummate fuss bucket way.”
“Fuss bucket?”
“Technical term.” She downed another massive swig of soda with another audible “ah.”
Jack stirred way too much cream and sugar into his coffee and indulged in an “ah” of his own. “I see.”
“It’s okay. You do you. Plenty of people find me too perky to be charming.” She shrugged. “I’m not going to turn into a sourpuss to make them happy.”
She made it sound so damn simple. In his experience, things might be, but people never were.
At least not when it came to relationships.
And especially not when it came to relationships involving sex.
Could a grumpy and a sunshine—as Logan so effectively put it—make a go of it after the sex endorphins wore off? Or was last night a one-time thing?
“What? Is this where you tell me I’m too perky and you don’t want to hook up with me again?”
He flinched, wanting to be annoyed that Ellie was putting words in his mouth, but mostly annoyed that he was already thinking about hooking up with her again. “You’re not too perky.”
“Does that mean you do want to hook up with me again?” Ellie leaned forward, elbows on the table and chin propped on her fists.
“I—”
She fell back as though wounded. “Undecided? Secretly married?”
Jack was used to teasing but not like this.
Ellie had this way of poking fun, then making his brain go fuzzy with sex images before he could form any semblance of a comeback.
All of which was exacerbated by the fact that they hadn’t actually discussed what last night was—what it meant, how they felt, whether they were going to do it again.
Not that he was old-fashioned or anything, but he didn’t make a habit of one-night stands.
Especially with women he had to see again.
“What? Too much? I didn’t mean to get carried away.” Ellie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and looked away, making Jack wonder if it might be a tell.
“No. You didn’t. It wasn’t.” Jack ran a hand through his hair and forced himself to look at Ellie rather than the table. “I guess, I don’t know. I figured we should check in.”
“Check in?” she asked.
“About last night. I mean, I know we established that we didn’t regret it, but I feel like there’s more to it than that.
And you made that comment about hooking up again and it made me think it was the right time.
To check in. That’s a thing, right?” He stopped talking and hoped she’d give him points for substance if not style.
“It can be. It’s not required or anything, though.”
“Yeah, but dudes who don’t are jerks.” And he might be a grump, but he wasn’t a jerk.
Ellie smiled. “Not all of them. But I know what you mean. And I appreciate it.”
That twinge of unease blossomed. “Are you making fun of me again?”
“No.” Ellie grabbed his forearm. “Not at all. I think it’s really sweet actually. I just didn’t…”
When she didn’t finish, Jack took a stab. “Expect it?”
She laughed. “Something like that.”
Their food arrived and provided just enough distraction that Jack thought maybe there wasn’t anything to talk about after all.
Though, if he was being honest, watching Ellie unabashedly go to town on her burger and fries made him want to talk and do a whole lot more.
He didn’t want to be weird about it, but Ellie felt like the most genuinely authentic woman he’d ever met.
He liked it—liked her—a hell of a lot more than he’d bargained for.
And if seeing her outside of being snowed in together was on the table, he was interested.
After Ellie polished off half her food, she wiped her fingers on a napkin and took a long swig of her soda. “Sorry. I really was starving.”
Jack laughed. “We shoveled a lot of snow.”
She cocked her head. “And did a lot of other things to work up an appetite.”
“That, too.” He told himself not to be disappointed that she didn’t want to talk. It didn’t necessarily mean things were off the table.
“I’m glad you asked to check in. You’re right, it usually falls to the woman, or the more feminine identified person, to bring up. I wasn’t sure how, and that fact was not helped by low blood sugar.” She picked up a fry and bit it in half. “I didn’t mean to turn into a goofball.”
“It was charming.” He polished off his bacon.
“Debatable. Either way, I’m well fed now and ready to talk for real.”
“I didn’t mean to make it sound urgent.” He winced. “Or ominous.”
Ellie laughed. “You didn’t. So, what are you thinking? How are you feeling?”
“Uh-uh.” He wagged a forkful of pancake at her. “I broached it, which means I’m off the hook for going first.”
“Ooh. Touché.” Ellie tapped a finger to her lips. “Okay. I like you. I think you’re hot. And underneath that grumpy exterior, I think you’re a standup guy.”
He wasn’t sure she meant that last part entirely as a compliment, but he took it as such. “That’s the nicest thing a woman has said to me after spending the night together.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not true.”
“I said nicest, not most ego stroking.”
Ellie stuck out a hand, feigning offense. “Hey, I said you were hot.”
“You’re pretty hot yourself.” He pounced on the chance to shift the focus to her. “Oh, and I like you, too. Beyond that incessantly chipper exterior is a woman of substance.”
Ellie blushed.
“Oh, so you can dish it out, but you can’t take it.”
She chuckled. “I can take it just fine, thank you very much.”
They might have been having a genuine heart-to-heart, but his testosterone-enhanced brain raced to all the ways she had taken it. All the ways she hadn’t but might be open to.
“I’ve lost you, haven’t I? A double entendre too far.”
He laughed at the accuracy. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. My thoughts aren’t so very different from yours, I’d wager,” she said.
“No?”
“No. So, I think that means we should spend some more time together, see what unfolds.” Her eyes held so many promises.
“Maybe not at Hampstead House?” he asked.
“As you may have gleaned, I’m otherwise homeless at the moment. I need to start looking for a place, but I haven’t yet.”
So many questions popped into his mind. But for now, only one mattered. “Well, you know where I live. Can I interest you in dinner at my place?”
“Depends. Do you cook?” She lifted her chin in playful challenge.
“Does your answer really depend on mine?”
Ellie nodded slowly, like she appreciated having it tossed back to her. “No.”
“Good.” He drained the last of his coffee. “But for the record, I do.”