“Perfect.”
“Great.” He turns and pushes the switch on the toaster before returning to the eggs.
This is when he starts talking at a furious pace.
“Listen, I have to be honest with you, Mason.”
Here it comes.
He’s going to tell me he’s really into me, but he just doesn’t do the commitment thing, and I’ll pretend it’s no big deal since I’m leaving soon, and I’m fine with just having some fun.
I should have known better.
If you listen closely to the silence between his sentences, you can hear a faint hissing sound. This would be the sound of my heart deflating. I should be telling myself I didn’t want this to begin with. I’ve been with his type before, and it’s better to get it over with now.
I hop off the counter and take a seat at the kitchen table. Feeling a bit more grounded may serve me better.
Miles releases the giant breath he’d been holding.
Here we go.
“I’ve slept with a lot of women.”
Not what I expected.
“So I’ve heard.”
He tilts his head with a grin. “Like I’ve said…I’ve slept with a lot of women, and here I am still single. I want to get this right, and that’s why I’m going about things…well, you, differently.”
He runs his hands through his unruly blond waves, almost as messy as my insides are feeling.
“Shit, I don’t even know what I’m saying. This is a first for me, Mase. I’ve wanted to feel this and wondered when it would happen.” He glances up at me and takes another deep breath and then focuses back on the stove. “I know you were expecting more last night, and babe, you have to believe me when I say I wanted to give it to you. But, dammit, Mason. I. Will. Get. This. Right.”
He flips the eggs, and my insides do the same.
“I know you're here to write your book, and I know I’m not your typical reader base, but I’m pretty sure most of your stories have a happy ending, am I right?”
Stunned silent, all I can do is nod.
“Well, I want to be sure we have our happy ending too.” He plates our food and joins me at the table, setting our meals in front of each of us.
I certainly don’t want to offend him, but there’s no way I can eat right now. My hands are shaking while my insides quiver in excitement and anticipation.
“Mason, I’ve been waiting thirty years for you to find me. And thank God, you finally have. You took your time, but you’re here. I’ve been happily playing your tour guide, and yes, I wanted to show you around town and make you fall in love with Eastlyn, but more importantly, I wanted to show you me. I need you to know everything about me, Mason, and that’s why we need to wait until I’ve shown you everything there is to know about me. I know you’ve heard what everyone around town says about me. You know…charming, the ladies love me, and I’m a beast between the sheets. Of course, it’s all true, I mean look at me, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“You’re an idiot.”
He’s not. He’s only adding humor to lighten the mood. Like the girls said at the shop my first week here, Miles is always theperson to take care of everyone else. To make sure everyone feels comfortable.
“Also true.” Reaching across the table and touching his fingertips with mine, he continues with another heart-stopping statement. “Not sure if you’ve caught on or not, but the thing is…I’m your idiot.”
“You are?” I ask around my heart, which is currently stuck in my throat.
“I’m afraid you’ve been stuck with me since night one. Mason, you were mine the moment you walked into The Verdict. You may not have known it, but I sure as hell did.”
“You did?”
“I did.”