“About what?”
“Everything with my dad. Him cutting me off, the whole drama scene in front of everyone. He’s been riding my ass for a while now, and it all kind of blew up, right in front of you.”
“You think I care about any of that?”
“I don’t know, but I didn’t want you to think less of me than you already do. After everything that happened, it felt like I was looking a lot like Ian’s dad.”
Whoa. There was a lot to unpack there. She bit the corner of her lip as she processed his words. “I knew you were upset after brunch so I gave you some space. However, I didn’t think less of you until after you didn’t show for the appointment you insisted on going to.”
“I am so sorry about that.” He shifted his position with a wince. “And for not calling. The other morning when you said this is all new to you? Well, it’s new to me, too, remember? Figure things out as we go.”
“You have to be present to figure things out, Merit.” Her chest tightened, and she had a hard time swallowing past the lump in her throat. “I thought you’d decided to walk away.”
His gaze locked with hers. “No. Never. Just…doing a little growing up, as humiliating as it is to say.”
And then his mouth tugged up at one corner the tiniest bit and her stomach fluttered. Oh, great. How the hell could she not forgive him now? She certainly couldn’t keep from smiling at his sheepish admission.
“For heaven’s sake, tell the boy yes already!”
Mae jerked her head up to see Henry and his lady friend standing on the sidewalk in front of her house. Good Lord, now they thought Merit was proposing!
She glanced down to see him frowning over his shoulder. She grabbed his arm to haul him to his feet, and while pushing him inside the house, she called out, “That’s not what this is, Henry. Move along. There’s nothing to see.”
Merit stumbled back a step as she shoved him past the door and slammed it shut. “Sorry,” she muttered. “Nosey neighbors.”
“Did they think I was asking you to marry me?” The look on his face was exactly like when she’d told him she was pregnant.
“Relax. Clearly they don’t have a clue what’s going on.”
All of a sudden his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows dipped low. Her pulse skipped when she saw the wheels turning in his head.
“Oh my God—is that what you thought I was doing when you first opened the door?”
Heat seared her cheeks as she avoided his gaze. “Of course not. That would be insane.”
The oven timer went off, and she nearly ran for the kitchen in relief.
“I’d have to be out of my mind, wouldn’t I?” Merit said as he followed her.
Her specific words thrown back at her confirmed he didn’t buy her denial. She shut off the timer and the oven, peeked inside, and decided the pizza could wait a few minutes in the warmth. Closing the door, she spun around to find him watching her, taking up all the room between her counter and island, as well as most of the oxygen in the room.
She sighed and looked pointedly at the bouquet still in his hands. “Well, what’d you expect when you drop down on one knee on a woman’s front porch with flowers in your hand?”
“I didn’t think about it, but...” He trailed off, eyes closing as he leaned his head back to curse at her ceiling. “Fucking Grayson.”
“Excuse me?”
Dropping his chin back down, he winced and glanced toward the backyard where Ian was still busy playing. “Sorry. It’s just that my brother is the one who told me I should get the flowers and get on my knees when I apologized. No wonder he was grinning when I left.”
Mae fought her own smile, because it was kind of funny to see him realize he’d been played. He really was clueless when it came to women—except in the bedroom. She may not have much experience, but she was pretty damn sure in the bedroom, the man was a frickin’ specialist.
“That’s what you get for believing him,” she taunted.
“I didn’t, though.”
She gestured toward the front door and let her grin loose. “And yet, there you were.”
His return smile was half-grimace. “When he told me they did it in the movies, I knew he was full of sh—full of it, but then you opened the door, and I panicked.”