Page 49 of Tasting Fire
That made Cash want to shove cucumbers into his ears. “Don’t go there.”
Using her elbow, she poked him in the ribs. “Hey, where do you think you and your brothers got your good looks? Your dad is hot.”
“This is the reward I get for making a picnic?”
“And he gives good veggie.” Her salad was already halfway gone.
“You didn’t eat while you were at work, did you?”
“I was already late and I didn’t want to chance the vending machine. Those sandwiches look like they were made when Clinton was president.”
“Randi can have someone deliver from Triple B.”
“Good idea.” The movement of her fork to her mouth finally slowed and she sighed. “So what did I do to deserve food and water? And if you start saying thank you for this morning again, I’ll stab you with my fork.”
“It has nothing to do with that.” Not totally true, but mostly. “I told you I wanted to help you make it through your strategic plan. And honestly, there’s not a lot to it yet, so this was an easy pick to start with.”
Looking down, she fiddled with her shorts, straightening them so Leonardo’s mouth flattened into a serious line. “It’s downright sad, isn’t it?”
He reached for her hand and leaned in. How he’d ever thought he had emotional control over this thing with her, he didn’t know.
So he gave in to his need to kiss away her pain and uncertainty. She responded right away, her lips soft and warm beneath his. Her palm stroked down his cheek, and his heart punched his rib cage.
If only they could sidestep the past.
When he drew away, her brown eyes were heavy and sleepy with something more complex than simple desire. If he had to name it, he would call it emotional need. “No, your plan is not sad. It just needs some time and attention. And if we’re marking off fun experiences, then you’ll be forced to add more to it.”
“What if I like the idea of completing the list? A short list makes that way easier.”
Oh, Em.Her reluctance to have fun made him both sad and softhearted. “Life isn’t about marking things off the list. It’s about making a list so long that you’d have to live three lifetimes just to get to them all. But you damn well try to do them all in this one.”
“Isn’t that how you live your life—purely for the fun of it?”
“Are we back to the 'if you stay in a small town you can’t possibly have real ambition’ thing?” Cash’s salad had suddenly become unappetizing and he shoved it away.
“No, I meant that you’ve always enjoyed life. You embrace what it gives you and run with it. I envy that sometimes. That easiness with who and what you are.”
Somehow it still made Cash feel as if she believed who and what he was wasn’t all that impressive. But it kinda made sense, seeing as she was the doctor and he was a medic.
Just a medic.
Something he’d taken a fuckload of pride in before Emmy hit town again.Thanks for the ego check, Em.
How had his dad handled the financial and status imbalance of his marriage to Cash’s mom? She’d always been the primary breadwinner. As a kid, Cash hadn’t thought much of it until he went to school and discovered few families were like his. His dad had been the primary waffle maker and knee kisser while his wife pursued a long and lucrative engineering career.
But it must’ve worked for them because they’d been married for over thirty years.
And if he and Emmy had any possibility of success, Cash had to figure out how to navigate all this because she was a doctor to the bone.
And professionally, Cash would never completely be her equal.
