Page 26 of Under the Influence

“I’m not fake. This is me, blunt and bitchy.”

“I’m sure people don’t always appreciate that.”

“No one’s ever complained.”

“Well, you are gorgeous, and your dad’s the VP of a motorcycle club. Makes sense for no one to mention your bluntness.”

Edith glares at me for about thirty seconds before swooning. “I think you’re gorgeous.”

“I’m grumpy in the morning.”

“I’m grumpy throughout the day.”

Smiling, I tap the menu. “We should order.”

“I already know what I want. I’ve come here for more than twenty dates.”

Startled by her admission, I mutter, “Good Lord.”

“That’snota lot,” Edith grumbles and rolls her eyes. “I didn’t even kiss most of them.”

“Those poor bastards probably had no idea what they missed out on.”

Edith slides her hand over mine again. “I always order the same thing. The shrimp salad eats well, you know? Like visually, I don’t look messy eating and talking.”

“A salad, huh?” I ask, irritated to be another guy jumping through her hoops.

“It’s a large, filling salad with lots of crap in it, and the shrimp is heavily seasoned.”

“Well, it sounds great, but I’m not ordering a salad.”

Edith lets go of my hand and looks over the menu. “Okay, I’ll order something different since I’m here with you. But I can’t promise I won’t look messy.”

“If you get messy, you’ll need to lick your lips. Then, I’ll get messy.”

Edith stares at me confused. When she catches on, she smiles warmly.

“I thought about getting messy together last night,” she whispers. “You make me lose all common sense.”

While Edith turns her attention to the menu, I get a whiff of her scent. The woman’s making me crazy. I’ve begun to worry my dick might tear through my jeans and go on a rampage around the restaurant.

“I’ll have the Cajun shrimp pasta,” she says and turns her bright blue-eyed gaze to me. “Is that different enough from the other men?”

“You should understand how I genuinely don’t care what you eat. Doesn’t matter if it’s something from the healthy section or a plateful of ribs. I’m not here to supervise your eating habits.”

“Does it bother you that I dated those other men?”

“No, I get it. You were looking for someone special like your mom has. We’re from small towns. It’s rare for something to fall in our laps.”

I consider how Edith and I have lived in the same county for our entire lives. We nearly met many times. Would I be this open to a relationship if we met last year, let alone many years ago?

No, I wouldn’t. I might still feel this unhinged attraction. Edith has a special pull over me. Denying the obvious isn’t possible when I’m clinging to her like a love-starved maniac.

“I got married when I was just out of high school,” I explain, so she can understand the way things work in my family. “I had plenty of big ideas about what I could do in Basin Rock, and Kerrie’s father had the money to back me. My marriage lasted sixteen years. Kerrie is a good woman, but I never felt the magic you talk about with your family. I suspect she feels that magic with her current husband.”

“Do you wish she had loved you that way?”

“God, no, I’d have felt bad since I never felt that way about her. I didn’t think I could. People in my family don’t have trouble filling their beds, but we can’t make things stick. Our attraction and affection are always shallow. The relationships fall apart easily.”

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