Page 24 of Caught Looking

Her gaze moved to my hand again. Then back to my eyes. “Tell me something, Seth Butler. When was the last time you had sex?”

It didn’t matter what number I threw out. She probably wasn’t going to believe me. “I think it’s been about eight months? Maybe longer.”

She cocked an eyebrow.

So I gave her an explanation. “Look, I’m going through a midlife crisis.”

“You’re thirty.”

I shrugged. “And I’ve lived a lot of life in the last eight years. It was empty and hollow and I’m tired, Annalise. So fucking tired. I came to spring training drunk off my ass. I had gotten to the point where I couldn’t self-medicate with sex anymore so I switched to alcohol. Anything to drown the world out.”

Was I seriously confessing all this after a few days over diner food? Yep. Sure was. Life was short and I wanted Annalise to know the truth.

“Shit, Seth.” Her other hand came to her chest. “Why did you need to self-medicate? What happened?”

I heard the whirring of cameras outside and bit my tongue. “I’ll tell you. But not with them outside.”

Her eyes rounded. “Shit. I forgot they were there.”

I gave her hand a squeeze. “I’ve got you.” Then I dug into my food and ate like they weren’t out there writing down everything we ordered, how many times we smiled, and tried to read our lips as she talked too low for them to hear, even with the microphones they had pressed up to the windows. The bastards. I totally accepted that my life was public. That there would always be someone taking my picture or speculating about some aspect of my life. I’d put it out there.

But to salivate over a relationship to the point that they were more than happy to film us as we ate alone in a diner? That was too far.

When the plates were cleared I thanked Dottie, wrote her a big fat tip, and escorted Annalise out the door with her hand in mine and the other on the small of her back. The cameras flashed now that there weren’t windows between us. Annalise gave them one smile before turning towards her car.

It was blocked. Her Subaru faced a wall and three paparazzi vans sat on either side and behind it.

So I quickly guided her to my pickup which was parked two rows away facing the sidewalk and street. I wasn’t sure why I gravitated to the truck tonight instead of my car, but now I was glad that I did. One click and the door was unlocked. I held it open, blocking her from the cameras while she climbed in. Then I hurried to my side and turned the engine over before they realized their mistake.

“We’ll come back for your car tomorrow.” I drove right over the curb and onto the street while paparazzi ran to try and catch us. I slipped down two side streets, losing them before they ever had a chance. “Which way to Jeri’s?”

“You know where Isaac lives?”

“Yep.”

“They’re down the street.” Her fingers flew over her phone as she texted someone. Probably Jeri. “I can’t believe they blocked my car in like that.”

I could. The paps did strange shit. “They wanted to get a reaction. They probably hoped I would get upset and yell at them. Or maybe you’d cry. Who knows.”

I expected her to be upset, maybe even to close me out. But Annalise never did the expected thing. Instead she laughed. “Oh man. It was fun seeing the shock on their faces when we hopped in the truck and drove away! You’re brilliant!”

Then she leaned over the console and kissed my cheek. I was in so much shock that my mouth hung open for ten blocks.

7

ANNALISE

“He sat right next to his leg and growled the entire time,” Jeri said with a gleam in her eyes. “Nan told him she didn’t think they should see each other anymore. And the bastard practically ran to his car. I gave Roscoe a whole bag of treats.”

Seth shook with laughter behind me.

And my stupid heart did a backflip. Tonight had been unexpected in many ways. But the most surprising was Seth refusing to go anywhere. I knew he was attracted, and sure there’d been some conversation about liking me, but as we sat there with the paparazzi outside, our lives changing by the moment, his softly spoken words hit home.

This wasn’t a game to Seth. It wasn’t a favor. He was here because he wanted to be.

I did not have that on my Bingo card.

And I would have brushed it off as an act if he hadn’t been so damned sincere. I was starting to believe that Seth Butler put on a show for the world, kept them at arm’s length, because he was a big old teddy bear inside.

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