9. Living The Fantasy

9

LIVING THE FANTASY

L aurel knew when a man liked what he saw. Just like she was trying to keep the drool from her lips over how well he wore his Levi’s.

She’d never thought she’d be a sucker for that, but here she was living the fantasy.

Didn’t Aunt Helen tell her that once you found a man that made you stare at his ass in nice fitted jeans, the rest didn’t matter?

She’d thought that was hilarious, but now she wasn’t so sure it was as funny as it came across.

Laurel had a few nachos and took in Easton’s words and looks.

“Can I ask why you said that and the reason you did?”

His voice had gotten low and she wasn’t sure why. Almost as if he was thinking of something in the past. Not even a good memory.

He shrugged. “Just that life passes you by before you know it.”

“That does happen,” she agreed. “One minute you are telling yourself you have nothing in common with someone, the next you’re dating and engaged. Then you find out what a cheating lying jerk he is, and you hate you wasted a year of your life. And normally, not something you’d bring up on a first date, but you already know I have an ex-fiancé.”

“I do,” he said. “You’ve shown you can bounce back from pretty boy sleaze bags.”

It was said tongue in cheek and she burst out laughing. “I’m pretty tough,” she said. “I know what I like. I should have just stuck with that all along.”

“And what is it that you like?” he asked. “Someone rough around the edges? A person not afraid of hard work because it means more when you do it yourself?”

“It absolutely does,” she said. She watched him pick up his beer and take a sip, then go for a few more wings that he’d ordered. “Someone with good table manners but isn’t afraid to get some food on their fingers either.”

“Please don’t tell me that douche ate wings with a fork and knife?”

She coughed on the bite of food she put in her mouth and had to cover her mouth. “He most likely would have used utensils if he ever ate wings, but he never ate them. He did use a fork and knife with pizza when he had no choice but to eat it. Normally he didn’t order food that everyone else picks up. Like a sandwich. Fork and knife there too.”

“Criminal,” he said, shuddering.

“Exactly.”

“I’m trying to figure out how he wore you down.”

“Me too,” she said. “As I said, I always had a type and it wasn’t working out. I think I just decided to try something different.”

“Which didn’t work out either,” he said. “Tell me your type other than someone not afraid of hard work, getting dirty, and eating with their fingers.”

She smiled. “I want something like my father.” He lifted his eyebrow at her. “Not in a creepy way. Just that I was raised by a single father and my aunt.”

“I was raised by my aunt and uncle too.”

“Really?” she said. “Okay, we can get to that in a minute. My mother took off when I was young. What I’ve been told is that she just didn’t want to be a mother. She was in the area for years and I’d see her on and off, but nothing set or consistent. Then she just stopped coming around and moved. But when she left, my Aunt Helen, who had just lost her husband, moved from Texas to help my father out.”

“That was nice of her,” he said.

“It was. She had no children of her own and said that she was bound to only love once and she’d had it. End of story for her. She took me in like her daughter. My father bought a two-family house and my aunt lives upstairs. They have their own space, but still under the same roof.”

“Like a blended family,” he said.

“That’s what it was. It was great. I’m still close with them both to this day. My aunt, though she is a little out there on appearance, or I should say a little stuck in a time warp, she taught me how to be a lady. My father taught me how to be a man.”

“I think everyone needs to know both sides.”

“Did your aunt teach you to be a lady?” she asked, smirking.

“If you mean did she teach me how to cook, clean and do my laundry like the old stereotype that I don’t believe in? Damn straight. She told me never to rely on a woman to do it for me. She didn’t teach me to get in touch with my feminine side though.”

Laurel snorted when he’d said that. “Sounds like a smart woman. Are you still close with her?”

“I am,” he said. “My uncle, he was the best. I’ve got a cousin, Abe, who is the same age as me. I moved in with them when I was around eight. We were raised like brothers. Our fathers were brothers. I was never treated any differently than if I was born to them. He passed a few years ago. Still breaks my heart.”

She reached her hand over. “I’m sorry about that,” she said.

“It happens. He worked hard his whole life. He had a brain aneurysm. It was quick and heartbreaking, but he wouldn’t have wanted to suffer either.”

“I don’t think anyone wants to,” she said. “Can I ask what happened to your parents? Or don’t you want to talk about it?”

“Like your mother, mine chose to take off. She had some drug and alcohol issues. My father did too, but he tried to get them under control. But he had a weakness for my mother too.”

He picked his beer up again. “So they both left?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “They were still around but not caring for me. Social services got called in more than once. The school was concerned, lots of things. I didn’t live in town, but my Uncle Kurt had enough. He came to my house, packed me up and said I was moving in with them. I can’t tell you the relief I felt.”

“Your parents didn’t fight it? Or your father at least?”

“No,” he said. “My father signed over guardianship easily enough and then went after my mother. I’m not sure where they are right now and don’t care. I haven’t had any contact with them in fifteen years. I doubt my father even knows his brother died.”

“That’s sad,” she said.

“It is, but it’s life. I don’t let it bring me down.”

“That’s what I like. It’s what I said earlier. I don’t like focusing on the negative.”

“So back to your type,” he said. “Hard working, table manners, someone who can take care of himself and doesn’t need a maid.”

He had lifted his eyebrows at her when he said that. “I didn’t say that. You did. I don’t need someone that doesn’t want an equal partner. I don’t need to be taken care of and don’t want to take care of that person. I want a partner. I’d say I don’t think it’s that hard to find, but it obviously is for me.”

“I could say the same,” he said.

“Have you had any serious relationships?” she asked.

“I have,” he said. “One ended not that long ago. About six months. We were together for about four years. She got engaged to someone else last month.”

“Ouch,” she said. “Can I ask what happened?”

“I wasn’t what she needed even when I gave her what she wanted.”

Her head went back and forth. “My guess is you didn’t give her what she wanted or she didn’t know herself what it was.”

He frowned at her. “I’m not sure if that is an insult or not.”

“Nope, don’t take it as such. I meant it as if you gave her what she wanted she might have stayed, so you didn’t do it. Maybe what she wanted you just didn’t have to give her and that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. I look at it like Philip. Even if he hadn’t cheated on me, he didn’t have what I wanted. He couldn’t be someone I always wanted. He was too much like his fancy suit-wearing flashy lawyer father. He couldn’t change who he was any more than I could. I couldn’t be what he wanted, which was exactly what he was. Men in suits are a big no-no for me. I can’t trust them any more than I can a lawyer.”

He snorted and she wasn’t sure why. “Not everyone is like that,” he said. “That sounds pretty judgmental to me and I didn’t think you’d be like that.”

She took a deep breath in and let it out. “You’re right. I shouldn’t judge everyone like that. Or everyone in a suit or in the legal profession. Maybe I’m just raw, but when I see that now, I just see smooth talkers. Suit or not, lawyers are all about getting their way and making sure they win. And though Philip wasn’t one, it was his dream to be, if he could have just passed the bar.”

Easton laughed and she wasn’t sure what he found so funny. “Sounds like a dick wannabe to me.”

“Good assessment,” she said. “That is exactly what it was and will always be. Even down to knocking on my door last weekend trying to get me back. I’m sure he doesn’t want me in his life.”

“What he wants is to save face,” he guessed. “Make Mommy happy to get her money back on the wedding?”

“That is never happening. I’m so glad my father didn’t pay for the wedding. He wanted to. He planned on it, but then Philip’s mother had to have it at their country club. The one where I put his ring back on his plate in front of people who knew who we were. There was applause when I did it.”

He started to laugh. “Good for you.”

“My buttons can get pushed fast and then I react. I try not to, but have too much of my father in me. But truthfully, I wouldn’t put it past Philip to try to win me back and then he’d be the one to drop me.”

“Seriously?” he asked.

“Yeah. That’s his way. He has to win too and he came out the loser on this. I think I remember him saying before no one ever broke up with him. He was the one who ended all his relationships. I find that funny since he most likely cheated on everyone he dated.”

“Cheaters never win in the end.”

“Nope, and neither do liars,” she said. “I like those that are upfront and honest. I don’t like secrets. I don’t like being taken by surprise for anything.”

“Can I get you another drink?” the server asked when she came over to set down their dinners and took away their appetizers. They’d been chatting right along and finished them off without even realizing it

“I’ll take a club soda with lime,” she said. Her wine was almost done and she’d finish it with dinner. Easton got another beer.

They started to eat and didn’t talk about what they wanted after that. “This is good,” he said of the steak he was eating.

She felt as if she came off too strong and hated that. “You’re quiet,” she said. “Too much?”

He looked up and held her stare. “No. I’m absorbing it all.”

She laughed. “Which means it was a lot. I’m sorry. I don’t usually come off that way. Or never used to.”

“You have to be you,” he said. “Just like I have to be me.”

“That’s true,” she said. “Sometimes it works and compromise is the name of the game. Other times there is just too much to overcome.”

“I don’t believe there is too much to overcome in life if you want it bad enough.”

She smiled over his words. “I think you’re right.”

An hour later after she’d had another glass of wine at her place with him drinking another beer, he pulled her in and laid his lips to hers. She was wondering if that was going to happen and was thrilled it did.

Maybe running her mouth wasn’t that bad of a thing.

His hand went into her hair and held her head in place while he showed her how a real man kissed. Not a gentle little peck to test the waters. In her mind, they’d jumped in to their ankles already with the dinner conversation.

This was more like them standing waist-deep in a hot tub, their lips on fire as his tongue swooped in and took control.

She let him too.

She held on because she started to wonder if she’d fall down and lose some hair in the process if she didn’t anchor herself to him.

And when he ended the kiss, she sagged like she knew she would, his fingers loosening the grip on her scalp.

“I guess I didn’t ruin it by coming off too strong,” she said.

“Nah,” he said. “Or maybe I want you to think of the kiss later tonight and not the conversation.”

It was the smirk and the rise of his eyebrows that had her blushing and heat filling her body faster than she thought was possible.

“I’m pretty sure that is going to happen.”