Focus on your goal, Ellie. Seeing Roger tonight conceivably brought her one step closer to convincing him they were meant for each other.
By the time she returned to the store Tyler was waiting by the main door, all checked out and ready to go. She hurried over and reached for the shopping bag. “I was going to buy the stuff.”
He lifted the bag out of her grasp. “Don’t worry about it. I picked up a few things from my own list while you were gone.” He held the door open and waited while she walked through.
“What’d you buy?”
“Not gonna tell you.”
Now curiosity tickled her brain like an itch she simply had to scratch. “Why not?” flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
He held out his hand for her car keys. “I’m trying to save everyone from embarrassment.”
She handed him the keys. “Yeah, right. You’re not the least bit embarrassed.” Hiking to the passenger side, she accepted defeat. “Fine, don’t tell me what you bought, but at least let me pay you for my things.”
“Our things,” he corrected, tossing the bag into the back and then hitting the lever to adjust the driver’s seat, “and let it be. It’s my treat. Hungry?”
“Sure, but dinner’s on me,” she said as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“Ellie, let’s get something straight. I’m not your gigolo. You’re not paying me or reimbursing my fucking expenses. Understood?”
“That’s not what I think, nor what I’m trying to do.” The hint of his temper and her own indignity made her voice shaky. She inhaled a deep, stabilizing breath, exhaled slowly, and continued. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I was actually just trying to be fair. I know you wouldn’t be spending your time or money this way if not for our deal, and I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“That’s not true,” he replied, but he said it softly, with no heat behind the words.
“What’s not true?”
“That I wouldn’t spend time with you if not for our deal.”
“We’ve known each other all our lives, and you were never remotely interested in spending time with me before.”
“You’re four years younger than me. You were jailbait, Doc, and then you were gone.”
She poked him in the shoulder. “Now who’s lying to save himself embarrassment? You weren’t the least bit attracted to me even once in all those years and you damn well know it.”
He had the grace to look chastised. “You were kind of a late bloomer.”
She sat back in her seat, crossed her arms over her chest, and found herself stifling a grin. She’d looked like a nearsighted scarecrow in a fright wig most of her adolescence. The idea of the nerdy girl she’d been attracting him…well, she couldn’t hold back the unwilling laugh. “I had better things to do than chase boys anyway.”
“Doc?”
“What?”
“Late or not, you bloomed just fine. I enjoy spending time with you, and it’s got nothing to do with our deal.”
Surprised, she stared out the window and smiled. It was, quite possibly, the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her.
Chapter Eleven
Ellie stayed uncharacteristically quiet during dinner. The restaurant’s wall frescoes of gondoliers steering their boats along Venetian canals appeared to have captured her attention, but Tyler suspected she was thinking about their encounter with Roger.
He’d stood in t
he aisle at Slap & Tickle, watching a myriad of emotions play across her face. First had been surprise, followed quickly by a glow of pleasure, and then the awkward awareness of exactly where they all were and the dicey implications. She’d been so desperate to offer up an excuse for being there, with him, she’d told a fib—a rickety one at best, because no parties happened in Bluelick without the whole town knowing.
Her behavior confirmed what he’d already suspected. She’d heard the same stupid rumor about why Roger and Melody broke up, and decided to turn herself into Roger’s perfect nymphomaniac soul mate.
“It’s Roger, isn’t it?”