Page 11 of Nothing to No One

She laughed. “What is this? Deflection Derby? Yes, I’ve had a one-night stand. No, I don’t plan to have one tonight.”

“Just trying to figure you out.”

“That’s why people date, isn’t it? To figure each other out. But it goes both ways.”

He popped the mallow between her lips and scrutinized her as she lingered over chewing.

“I’m tired of talking about me,” he said, grazing his thumb over her lower lip. “I don’t want to talk about me. Tonight’s about you, Fawn. Have you got kids?”

“No. Do you?”

Knowing so little about Lowe worked in her favor. She’d learn about him the old-fashioned way.

“Not yet.”

That answer led to a natural next question. “Do you want them?”

Laying a forearm on the mattress, he descended toward her. “One day.”

Her smile grew. “This is a little intense for a third date… shouldn’t dessert come after a movie or something.”

“You wanna break up the conversation,” he asked, brushing a fingertip across her brow. His digits seemed drawn to her. “Or want something to make out to?”

“I thought you said no more kissing.” The smirk that lit his eye came closer; kissing was exactly what was on his mind. Just before he got to the end zone, she drew back. “You’re squashing our bears.”

He retreated, giving her room to gather the pile of multicolored gummy bears into her palm.

“Care for the bears, huh?”

“I care your jacket’s worth more than I make in a year.”

She wriggled closer, pushing him onto his back with a forearm, resting it on him, holding the handful of bears above his mouth.

“I care that you care,” he said, his arm creeping around her shoulders. “There aren’t many left.”

“Only these and the red ones.”

Taking hold of her wrist, he guided it down and opened his mouth to consume all the bears in one shot. Oh, wow… His lips lingered on her palm, parting hers in anticipation of… something. Mmm. Just watching him eat churned her hormones, quickened her heart.

“I’ve never been jealous of gummy bears before.”

His head bobbed as he swallowed them down. “Anything else you want to put in my mouth…”

Sitting up before she was tempted to do just that, the red bears were a better, safer, point of focus.

“Did you always want to be an actor?”

“No,” he said, linking his fingers behind his head.

“How did you get into it? You started young, didn’t you?”

“I bet I’ve got something downloaded on my phone,” he said, shifting to fold the jacket over to retrieve the device from his pocket.

“Something?”

“A movie. You wanted to watch a movie.”

“Don’t you like to watch movies?”

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