Page 24 of Wish Lists and Road Trips

“I sleep in boxers.”

Of course he did. My eyes instinctively fell to the boxers he’d picked out. “Even in the winter?”

“Yep.”

“Alone?”

He chuckled. “Smooth.”

“I wasn’t trying to be . . . ugh, whatever. Never mind. I obviously don’t care.” Yet I still held my breath for the two beats he waited to answer me.

“Yes. Alone.”

“When was the last time you . . . you know?”

“Seriously?”

I gave him a mock look of offense. “What? I was going to say ‘went on a date’.”

“My reaction stands.”

“Don’t be a prude, Nick.” I tossed him a box of fruit snacks and he caught it. “Don’t you think we should get to know each other a little if we’re going to be travel partners?”

He turned to me and tapped my nose, smiling patiently. “I’m allergic to penicillin and my blood type is A negative. That should be sufficient for any emergencies.”

I blinked at him. “Honestly, Nicholas? Who knows their blood type?”

I hooked my arm through his and gave him a look like he was breaking my heart. He caved with a dramatic sigh. “I broke up with someone in January.”

“And?”

“Her name was Janessa. I met her at the gym, and we dated for three months. It didn’t work out.”

“Ha. Work out.” I snorted at his unintentional pun.

He tossed a family-sized package of gummy bears in the cart, which was intriguing, but I wasn’t deterred.

“Come on. I’m going to need more details than that. What brought down the epic Nickessa?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “A few things.”

“Like?”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re nosy?”

“Of course they have. Now spill.”

He picked up a coffee energy drink and read the nutrition label, avoiding my stare. “She was kind of obsessed with herself—her body, her clothes.”

“Oh.” Code for she was gorgeous. Something deep inside my chest withered at his My Little Pony comment.

Nick huffed out a breath and kept walking. “We just had different priorities.”

“You don’t like shallow,” I said, repeating his confession.

His eyes snapped to mine and the little nod he gave me made me feel like a lab rat who’d found its way through a maze.

“And her friends thought I was boring.” He tacked that on in a sort of embarrassed mumble and I wondered what that meant. I mean, he was a bit of a hard sell in the fun department, butboring? I think I could be entertained for years just wading around in those sea-foam eyes, searching for Nick’s puzzle pieces to put together. A gorgeous, dependable man with some depth to him—what more could the Janessas of the world ask for?

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