Chapter Eight #3
Hockey isn’t for everybody, and I can appreciate him not pretending like he’s into it. I tell him as much. “It’s refreshing not to be around somebody engrossed in it. I hang out with a lot of Jesse’s teammates when I go to games, and it can be…a lot.”
I could go on about the people who fall all over themselves in front of the players, or the women who will slip their numbers or show their tits to them even if they know they’re taken. It’s not worth spending time on, though. At least not on a date.
“What about you?” I return, hoping to switch to topic away from me. “What are you doing when you aren’t building something or bossing people around to build something?”
He blows out a breath. “Would it be lame if I admitted cooking? Well, grilling. I like spending time outside with a cold beer and my grill. Otherwise, I run. But I’m usually pretty swamped with work, so my hobbies are limited.”
I know exactly what he means. “The only time I run is if I’m about to miss a plane or something deadly is chasing me.”
His head tilts inquisitively. “Hopefully only one of those things is common.”
The snort that escapes me is pig-like and wholeheartedly unattractive.
“I’ve definitely ran across an airport a time or two in my day thanks to delayed layovers.
But the only time I’ve ever ran for my life thinking something was chasing me turned out to be a plastic bag. I thought it was a black bear.”
He laughs. “How do you mistake the two?”
My sigh is heavy. “I was walking in a field at my friend’s house, and we’d heard there were bear sightings a week before in the area.
Then we heard a weird noise in the woods and looked back to see something moving toward us in the distance.
We both freaked out and started running.
I don’t know how far we sprinted before realizing that there was no bear.
The bag caught up to us soon after. Blew right by like a tumbleweed. ”
Amusement brightens his face. “I like that you stopped running to check.”
I cringe. “Yeah, we decided neither of us has great survival instincts. Everybody thinks they won’t be the first to die in a horror movie, but I’m pretty sure I would.”
Those lips curve higher. “This is the part where I’m supposed to say I’d save you before anything happens. But that would be cheesy.”
I nod. “It really would.”
“So I won’t say that,” he assures.
“Wow. You’d let me die?” I ask in mock offense, hand flying to my chest. “And here I thought you were a gentleman.”
He leans forward with a smirk on his face. “I can be, you just have to let me prove it to you.”
The sultry promise isn’t lost on me, but I don’t know how to feel about it. My body doesn’t react the same way it does when Jesse says something in that low voice of his. I don’t get goosebumps when we lock eyes and I see his dip to my mouth. When Dane does it, there’s…nothing.
I swallow, offering a shaky smile and little laugh that sounds as forced as it feels.
We’re quiet for a few seconds before I finish off my wine. “Dinner was good. I’m stuffed though, so I think I’ll skip dessert if that’s okay.”
We talked about splitting a cheesecake when we saw it on the menu, but I’m not sure my stomach can handle it.
If he’s disappointed, he doesn’t say. “That’s fine. I’ll get our check and walk you to your car.”
I’m too deep in my head as he flags our waiter down and passes him his credit card, then signs the receipt when the time comes. He does exactly what he says, walking me to my car and setting his hand on my lower back as we near the driver’s side.
I ruffle in my bag for the keys, even though they’re on the top, because making eye contact with him feels too awkward. Is he going to try kissing me? What will I do? When was the last time I was kissed? Maybe I should let him. Maybe—
“I’m not going to kiss you,” he states, with a small smile on his face. “Because I don’t think you want me to. And that’s fine. It’ll give me an excuse to ask you out again.”
He’s…confident.
And sweet.
Why don’t I feel anything toward him other than friendship or work companionship? I know why, but I refuse to acknowledge it. “Is that your way of asking me out again?”
He huffs out a laugh. “I think I’ll ask you another day when you’ve let your head clear. Something tells me you have a lot going on in it right now. But don’t worry, Belle. I’m a patient man.”
I barely know him, but I believe it. “I had fun,” is the only thing I come up to say. Because I don’t want him thinking I didn’t, and I definitely don’t want him thinking my mind has wandered to a different man.
Which it hasn’t…until right now.
And now that Jesse is in there, something tells me I’ll need bleach to get him out.
“Me too.” He opens my car door once I unlock it and wait for me to get in. “Drive safe and let me know when you get home, please.”
It’s a kind gesture that I return and let myself sit in my car for a solid two minutes after he walks to his before I even turn it on.
I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and count to three. Then I exhale, put the car into drive, and go home to the person who just ruined my first date in way too long. And I have nobody to blame but myself.