Page 12 of Erase Me
“What about Austen?”
“Why were you going to buy that book?”
“Who said I was buying it?”
“You grabbed it before I did.”
“I picked up a number of books before you got there and put them back.”
Swallowing the bite of the sandwich, I leaned toward him.“Wait, are you embarrassed to admit that you were interested in Austen?”
“Why should I be embarrassed?”
“Have you ever read any of her books?”
“No.”
“Do you know what they are?”
“Romances.”
“Sort of.But do you actually read romances?”
“Are you saying men don’t read romances?”He tried to look shocked.“Because that would sound a lot like a broad-brush generalization to me.”
“No, I wasn’t.”I took a big bite of the sandwich and watched him intently as he ate.
He broke the momentary silence.“Okay, what do you want to know?Your eyes are like black lasers.”
“Black lasers,” I scoffed.“How romantic!”
“How’s this?”He paused dramatically.“Your eyes, like the darkness of deepest midnight, bathe the depths of my soul, igniting a love that burns brighter than a thousand stars.Better?”
Laughter bubbled out of me.“And you’re a poet too.”
The feigned look of innocence, as he pretended he meant what he’d said, was even funnier.
“Fine, fine,” he finally said, smiling.“What do you want to know?”
“Pride and Prejudice.Austen.Yourgeneralization about all women having a dog-eared copy?Come clean.You were going to buy that book.”
He reached for another portion of a sandwich.“I was curious about why is it that a copy of Austen’s book would be more important to a woman than a half dozen boxes of her belongings.”
I sat back in my chair and looked at him over the rim of my coffee mug.I hated to admit it, but Reed might be the most perfect man I’d ever met.I was almost sorry to ask the logical next question.“Why do I feel like I’m missing a story here.”
Reed sighed.“This morning, you asked me if there was someone I had to call when I arrived here.”
I leaned forward in my chair.“Shit.So youaremarried.”
“No.No, I’m not,” he said quickly.“And I’m not in any kind of permanent relationship, either.”
“Girlfriend?”
“No.Not now.But there used to be one.There was a woman that I lived with.”
“For how long?”
“Does it matter?”
