11. Making Assumptions

11

MAKING ASSUMPTIONS

W anting to talk meant bad news. At least in her experience.

Laurel didn’t know what to make of the text from Easton.

It’d be one thing to ask if she wanted another date. Or to hang out.

But she’d told him to come over when he wanted. It’s not like she had any plans today.

She was doing some chores around her rented house and thinking about the sexy guy she locked lips with yesterday.

If he was going to tell her that she was too much to handle and he was not up for it, then it was best to know now. She could still be a friendly neighbor.

After she got past her frustration.

An hour went by and then there was a knock at the door. She thought maybe he’d text first, but it wasn’t a big deal. She’d only been watching some movie that held no interest.

She opened the door and held it wide for him, “Hi,” she said. “Come in. Want me to take your jacket or aren’t you staying long?”

He took it off and handed it over. “I’d like to stay longer than it takes to say what I need to, but that would be up to you.”

She frowned. “Not sure what is going on,” she said. “We just met. Unless you are going to tell me you’re dating someone else. If that is the case, get out now.”

But she hadn’t seen any other cars coming or going in a few weeks here. No way he could be dating another woman unless he went to that person.

She had to tell herself never to say never because she hadn’t thought Philip would be on Tinder having mindless sex behind her back and think it was okay. After all, he loved her and not them.

“I’m not cheating,” he said. “I’d never do that. I don’t like liars or cheaters anymore than you. And that’s why I’m here.”

“So you’ve lied to me?” she asked.

“No. I haven’t. Not once. But I let you assume and that was wrong of me. I guess I didn’t think much of it until yesterday. I mean, it’s only been two dates.”

He was right, two dates weren’t a big deal, but the way she felt about him already was.

She wouldn’t share that because she had no clue what he was going to share with her.

“Go on,” she said. “What have you let me assume?”

“That I own Cooke Landscaping.”

She pursed her lips. “That’s you’re last name, right?”

“It is,” he said. “It was my uncle’s business. When he passed away, it went to my cousin Abe.”

“Oh,” she said. “So. You don’t own it. That doesn’t mean anything to me. I don’t believe telling you about my type of man had any words in it that meant wealth or business ownership.”

He snorted. “No,” he said. “It didn’t. Which is why I didn’t think anything of it. I am doing the work for Abe right now and will be for another month or so. My Aunt Carrie had an accident and is in a wheelchair while she recovers. Abe needed to be with her in Florida.”

“Which is nice of him to do. So you’re filling in and helping him out. Got it.” She frowned. “That’s his truck you’re driving?”

“It is,” he said. He was still standing. They hadn’t moved out of the foyer and sat. Maybe he didn’t want to get too comfortable. She wasn’t so sure she liked that, but so far he hadn’t said anything outrageous to her.

She’d assumed he owned the business, but no big deal that he didn’t.

“You’re pretty comfortable in the house and on the property. But if it’s his truck, is that his house?”

“Yes,” he said. “It’s the house I grew up in. So yeah, I’m comfortable in it and always will be.”

She pursed her lips. This was making a bit more sense. “Then you don’t live around here, I’m assuming?”

“No,” he said. “I live in Stamford.”

Which was about ninety minutes away. “You’re able to just walk away from your life for a month or so? I’m not even sure how long you’ve been here. I feel like an idiot I didn’t notice a difference between the man I was waving to before and you.”

“Abe,” he said. “Yeah, we look a lot alike. He tends to have a hat on all the time, me not so much. At least this time of year. I realized last weekend you thought we were the same person.”

“And you didn’t think to say anything?”

“Why would I?” he asked. “You came over to work off some steam. I let you. We didn’t talk much.”

“Let me?” she asked, grinding her teeth. He wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t a fact though.

“Yes,” he said. “You asked and I said sure. The same with Sunday.”

He hadn’t come to get her. She had to see him out there and join him.

Again, she took that step.

But he did ask her to lunch after.

“I’ll let that part pass. I thought it was a thank-you lunch until yesterday.”

“It felt like more to me,” he said. “I wanted to see if I was the only one feeling it. That’s why I piddled around the yard hoping to see you yesterday.”

Laurel smiled. There was part of her that was glad he admitted that much to ease her feeling like such a damn fool.

“And you asked me out,” she said. “I’m still trying to figure out why you didn’t tell me all of this last night.”

“Because we got sidetracked. We were talking about a lot of things. Everything I’ve told you is the truth. About my parents, which I tell very few, me growing up next door. Nothing was a lie.”

“In summary, the only thing that is different is that I assumed it was your business and your house and that was your full-time job rather than helping a family member out in need?”

“Yes,” he said.

So far this wasn’t anything major and she had to stop feeling like it was.

“What is it you do in Stamford?”

“I’m an attorney,” he said.

She stared at him. Her mouth opened and closed and she laughed. “No, you’re not. You’re just busting my ass because I said what I had about them yesterday.”

He lifted one eyebrow up at her and she saw another side of him.

Or maybe something that was there the entire time, but she wasn’t seeing beyond what her mind wanted her to.

He was cocky, confident and guarded his words carefully. Just because he didn’t look the part didn’t mean he couldn’t be if she put him in a suit.

Urgh!

“Prove it,” she said. Though she could easily just pull out her phone and do a search on his name. She didn’t bother to do any of that when she would have in the past because she figured she had him pegged.

He had his phone out and turned it around after he unlocked it and there was a picture of him in a navy suit jacket, a light blue shirt, unbuttoned at the collar and no tie. Gone was the light beard he’d had the past two weeks too.

She pulled it closer to look again to make sure it was him.

Not only was he a lawyer, but he was also a freaking partner .

“I normally have the beard,” he said. “In the winter.”

“I didn’t think lawyers had facial hair.”

“There you go making assumptions,” he said. “You’ve got it in your mind I’m a suit-wearing dick that struts into a courtroom and talks circles around jurors. I’m not. I practice business law and I work remotely. What I’m wearing now is normally what I’ve got on daily unless I need to be on a call with a client and, depending on the client, will just change my shirt.”

She was shaking her head over this.

She felt duped and had no one to blame but herself.

Everything he said was true.

She’d judged and shouldn’t have. She had her head up her butt because of her bad experiences and then lumped everything else in the same category.

He’d even called her out on it last night.

“Why didn’t you tell me last night?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“We got interrupted with dinner. Then I thought you might make a scene. You said your coworker’s family owned the place. I thought it might be best to avoid that.”

She wanted to argue what he’d said, but she had already proven to him she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind in a public setting.

He didn’t live here, he wouldn’t have cared if she made a scene or not.

She supposed she should be thankful at least.

“You could have said something when we came back here,” she argued.

“I could have but made the decision not to. I told you I was absorbing the information at dinner and I still was when we returned here.”

“You were feeling me out,” she said.

“I was. There isn’t anything wrong with that. I wanted to know if what I’d felt the few times we were together was honest. If it was true. If it was worth me upsetting you and telling you the truth knowing you weren’t going to like what you heard.”

“So you would have continued to date me and not told me or just blown me off?” she asked. She wasn’t sure what she was more pissed about.

“I could have easily kept things light for a few weeks, then gone back home. You would have seen Abe and realized what was going on, but I’m not that person. What were my parting words to you last night?”

She played it back or tried to. All she could think of was the kiss he’d given her.

Then she remembered. He wanted her to think of the kiss later and not the conversation.

He was giving her a hint already. Or planting a seed.

“I get it,” she said.

“I know you’re ticked. If me having a different career than you thought is a deal breaker, then let me know now and I’ll go back to what I was before last week.”

“Just like that?” she asked, snapping her finger. “Without another care?”

He put his hands on her arms and yanked her close to his face, their mouths just a whisper apart. “If it was that easy I wouldn’t have come here to confess.”

“Confess means you lied,” she said.

“No,” he said. “It means to tell or make known. That is what I just did. But you’re the one who found me guilty without even knowing the facts.”

He let go of her arms and she wished he hadn’t. She would have liked that he stayed close with their lips a whisper apart.

“Where do we go from here?” she asked.

“That’s up to you,” he said. “I’ve been down the road before where a woman can only accept half of me. I’ll never let it happen again.”

He turned and grabbed his jacket that she’d put on the banister and then walked out the door.

Well, guess she blew that.