Page 97 of Suits and Spark Plugs

One of his hands lightly ran up and down my forearm. “You don’t seem to be in a difficult mood, so I’ll take the risk.” I poked at his chest with one finger. “Come on, sleepy one, I’ll drive. We’ll come back for your car later.”

I climbed clumsily off his lap and took his outstretched hand when he stood. We gathered our things and got into his truck. This time he didn’t need to ask for me to slide over by him. I just did it and then let my head flop onto his shoulder. He turned on some soothing music and put a hand on my knee.

“I have no idea where you live,” I suddenly realized.

“Unless you’ve been stalking me, you’d have no reason to.”

“Don’t you think that’s strange, though? You know where I live.”

“You’ve lived in that house your whole life. I’ll bet you know where my dad lives, right?” I nodded. “See. I bought a house a few blocks away from him, just outside of town last year.”

I grinned and bumped his shoulder. “You’re such a grown-up.”

“I think a lot of people are relieved that it actually happened.”

I laughed. “Nah, they’re all disappointed that you’re not giving them things to gossip about anymore.”

“Like you and Kelly used to? I almost feel bad that you have no one to giggle about behind your hands anymore.”

“Uh...” I sat up straight, instantly on alert.

“Kelly has told me a little bit about how you and her used to have a great time talking about me in high school, and afterwards.”

“Why would she tell you that?”

“So it’s true, then?”

“I feel awful about it, truly. But in our defense, you were making time with all the girls, breaking hearts, playing sports. It made for interesting conversation.”

“I put on quite a show,” he said after a brief pause. His voice was light, but now I knew him well enough to hear the effort behind keeping it that way. “No wonder you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“I...what? No. . .” I stuttered.

He laughed. “You’ve steered clear of me for as long as I can remember. You never said one word to me until a few months ago. Then when you did finally talk to me it was to give me rules and say how little you trusted me.”

I let my head plop back onto the seat and groaned. “This is a terrible conversation. What do I have to say to make myself stop looking like a monster?”

He took my hand. “You can’t save yourself now.”

“Well, it isn’t like you were trying to be my friend and prove my assumptions wrong.”

He nodded. “It’s hard to be friends with a girl who clearly wants nothing to do with me. Only a complete fool would try to scale that wall.”

“It’s not like you ever noticed me before Kelly volunteered you to look at my car,” I defended. “I wasn’t breaking your heart by keeping away.”

His thumb lightly caressed my hand, but he said nothing for a moment. Finally, he whispered, “Another assumption.”

Caught off guard I turned to look at him. His profile was serious, his gaze focused on the road. No eye crinkled or lips lifted in a smile. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I noticed you a long time ago.”

The cab suddenly felt like it was a thousand degrees, and I was no longer sleepy at all. “Well, how was I supposed to know that?” I threw my free hand up in the air. “You never acted interested or tried to talk to me or gave me any signs.”

“You weren’t ready, and neither was I.”

“What does that mean?” My voice raised. “That kind of philosophical talk hurts my brain.”

He chuckled and gave my hand a squeeze. “I’m not sure you’re ready for this conversation either.”

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