His brows pinched as he frowned at me. “What?”
“You can’t understand him?” I shrugged my shoulder with a huh noise. “Thought you spoke ass fluently.”
He jerked, jaw clenching as Charlie laughed a little louder behind us. “Very funny, Miss Bryce. But you should know—” he leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice “— that’s not the only body part I speak fluently. Now play nice.”
I hated how much my body melted into him. Just feeling him that close had me responding in a way that was inappropriate for a zoo, and I had to pull my thoughts together and nod like a dumbass. Don’t let him get to you, my mind repeated Kylie’s words, as if that were possible. “You play nice,” I mumbled almost three minutes later, but that was how long it took me to get myself together.
His attention had already shifted, but I didn’t miss the smirk that crossed his face as if he had any right to do that to me after shutting me down. I supposed it was my fault for opening that door and pushing his buttons, but fucking hell, did he have to be so ... collected?
We toured the aquarium after that and all three of us were instantly taken with the cute little penguins and chubby sea lions. I nearly lost it when we passed the stuffed ones, and I grabbed a penguin off the shelf to show them both with a giddy smile. “Look! He looks just like the little one that did the trick.” I hugged the stuffed animal and set it back when I saw the price tag, then attempted to distract them from my weirdness with food. “Do you guys want to go to their food shop or eat somewhere else before we head home?”
Sterling nodded once. “Yeah, we can go to the little cafe here. Take him there, I need to find a restroom first and then I’ll meet you.”
I bumped him with my hip and took hold of the wheelchair. “Let’s go, Charlie. We’ll get junk food and hide it from your son.” I didn’t attempt to whisper because I wanted Sterling to hear, and I didn’t have any intention of actually ruining Charlie’s diet.
Not completely, anyway.
The cafe was busy, but we grabbed some food for Sterling as well at Charlie’s insistence and sat down to eat. It was nice to sit down after walking so much, but I found myself on my feet again when Sterling walked in with that little stuffed penguin tucked under his arm.
“You didn’t,” I squeaked, reaching out to grab him and pull him to my chest. “Please tell me he isn’t for you and I just made an ass out of myself?”
He held up his hands with a soft smile. “All yours, Miss Bryce. Consider it a thank you for getting us out of the house and into the sunshine. I think we needed it.”
“Told you.” Without stopping myself I wrapped my arms around him for a tight hug, holding for a few seconds too long before I remembered where we were and sat back in my seat. “Sorry, thank you. I love him.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” he mumbled, cheeks flushed and gaze lowered as he picked at the food we’d gotten him. “It’s just a toy.”
I stopped the child in me from retorting “you’re a toy” and allowed myself to enjoy the scene before me. Sterling was embarrassed. The beautiful, frustrating, always-put-together Sterling Bishop was embarrassed, and my god, it was stunning. Not only that, it was painful. There was a sweet man under that tough exterior, just as I’d always suspected from the tiny flashes he allowed me to see ... and that man was off limits.
I held my penguin a little closer, only loosening my grip when I caught Charlie staring at me like he could see right through my soul and then decided to lighten the mood. “I’m going to name him Donkey.”
“Because you think I’m an ass?” he asked.
“No,” I responded with a soft smile. “Because I want to remember every detail of today, including the random donkey.”
He met my eyes, but my phone rang so loudly and suddenly that it made me jump and look away.
“Excuse me,” I stood and left Donkey on the table where I knew he was safe and walked out of the buzzing diner. “Great timing as always, Ollie. Who’s pregnant now?”
“Wow, hello to you too. I think that actually just answered my question,” he laughed. “So I guess I called for nothing.”
“What do you mean?” I rushed out. “That was supposed to be a joke, sorry I suck at those some— all of the time.”
Ollie snorted. “I was calling to find out why my brother has been an extra big bag of dicks at work lately. You have any insight for me, by chance?”
I sighed, not liking that Sterling’s mood has been so bad that Oliver felt the need to call me. The fact that he did call was enough to have me wanting to open up to him, especially because he knew him better than most. “I probably haven’t been helping. I like to tease when he drives me crazy and lately that’s all the time.”
“Like tell-him-his-hair-looks-bad tease, or wear-the-shorts-he-told-me-haunt-his-dreams kinda tease?” he asked, already sounding like he knew the answer.
I bit my lip before responding, but it was only to give myself a moment to think about what he just told me. My shorts were doing their job. “Both?”
“Christ. Okay, so he needs to get laid. Explains a lot,” he teased. “I don’t suppose you’re going to volunteer as tribute for that, huh?”
“I’ve tried multiple times.” I felt my cheeks heat up at the admission. “If he truly wanted me, he’d have fucked me a while ago, Ollie. I just can’t compare with those club girls.” Part of me knew that wasn’t true and I was being dramatic, but the other part of me actually feared it.
“Yeah, that gig’s not for everyone. And that would be all fine and good if the fucker had gone to the club at least once since we hired you, but he hasn’t. Guess I get to deal with Dickbag Sterling for the foreseeable future. Thanks anyway, Led. Can’t wait for dinner.”
“Wait,” I said before I could stop myself, blushing harder before taking the plunge. “Any tips?”
He paused, then sighed quietly. “You want my advice? Stop giving him room to back out. In chess, we’d call something like this a king hunt. You’re playing a long game trying to tear down his defenses, to make him vulnerable so he doesn’t have a chance to shut you out. Shoot your shot, and you’ll either call me thanking me for it or it’ll make him explicitly tell you he doesn’t want you, in which case you’ll be thanking yourself for finally getting to the truth. Just my two cents. I’d go for gold.”
I glanced to where I could see Sterling and Charlie through the window and saw he was watching me. Not knowing who I was talking to was driving him crazy, and if he truly didn’t want me, why would he care? It was the thing that made me decide to take Ollie’s advice and hope I wouldn’t regret it. “Yeah, okay. Thanks. I don’t know when I’ll have the guts, but soon. I’ll see you at dinner this weekend? I’ll make enchiladas.”
“You’re a fucking hero, Led. See you then.”
He hung up, and I took another moment to breathe before I went back inside. My mind was reeling, but the second I saw Charlie smiling it calmed me and reminded me to live in the moment. I could deal with everything else later.