Page 94 of See Me

“I feel like we really don’t know each other. Coffee or tea?”

He cocks his head as if he’s debating whether to answer or not. “Coffee in the morning, tea in the evening.”

“You drink tea before bed?” I giggle.

“It’s a calming tea, according to the label at least. Hasn’t made much of a difference, really. I don’t sleep well.”

The smile slides off my face. “Oh. Sorry.” He raises a shoulder to shrug off the personal detail and I take another drink of beer.

“Sunrises or sunsets?” He asks.

“Sunsets,” I answer without hesitation.

“You don’t like sunrises?”

“Well, they’re the same as sunsets just at an unreasonable hour.”

He laughs. “Not a morning person?”

“Absolutely not. No matter how much sleep I get, I fight the urge to smash my phone every morning when my alarm goes off.”

“So why choose teaching? That inherently comes with early mornings.”

I huff out a breath. Are we really doing this? Getting to the real stuff? “If you want to get into the deep stuff, we can. I can tell you why I chose teaching and the same story will explain why I go by Ella and not Ellie, but then you have to tell me what happened with Benny and all the MMA stuff. Are we ready to go there?”

He tilts his head and narrows his dark eyes. His face remains stoic for a moment and then he grins. “Why don’t we enjoy the holidays and a few days without my dumbass brother and then we can start the real talk. If it’s still necessary. You might find me very annoying in the next day or two and kick me out.”

“I already find you annoying. You’re still here because I like this little gray fluff in my lap.”

“Is that right?”He tips his bottle back and drains half of it. “And the orgasms?”

I throw my head back and laugh. “First, I have an arsenal of toys that can get the job done in less than a minute. Second, if you think I can’t go out and find someone to lay it down in fifteen minutes flat, you don’t know men very well. Your brother offered on my first day.”

His lip curls up a little and his fingers flex around the bottle before he checks himself and smooths his features.

Someone has a jealous streak.

“My brother will bag anything that moves. He doesn’t count.”

“And that’s different from every other guy, how?”

He nods. “Point made.” He gets up, tossing his bottle in the trash and opening the fridge for another. “You ready?”

I tip my bottle up and see it’s still half full. “Not quite, but you can bring another and I’ll get to it.”

He sets the bottle on the table in front of me and sits back down. “Favorite movie?”

“Oh, that’s a tough one. ProbablyThe Proposal.”

“I don’t know that one.”

“It’s about this guy whose boss is from another country and her green card is expiring so they come up with this plan to fake a relationship to trick immigration into thinking they’re getting married so she can stay. And of course, they fall in love and get married for real. And it has Betty White. Every movie with Betty White is an automatic winner.”

“Sappy rom com. Predictable.” He shakes his head and tips back his bottle.

I scoff. “Listen, Mr. Knight Rider, there’s nothing wrong with a little fluffy distraction to soothe the soul every now and then. What’s yours?”

“Probably City of Angels. It’s about an angel who visits theliving at the time nearing their death. He becomes obsessed with this doctor and shows himself to her, even though it’s against the rules. He falls in love with her and finds out he can fall from Heaven and become human, but he loses everything that comes with being an angel. So, he chooses her… and falls. Then she dies.”

---