He waved his fork in the air, dismissing that possibility. “A minor detail.”
She laughed, delighted with him today. Besides the moment when he’d first stepped into her tiny house, there had been no intensive, sexually explosive moments.
“So, what are your parents like?” she asked, wanting to know more despite her vow to not ask anything about his family.
“They are great,” he beamed. “I think they’re in France right now. But I’m not exactly sure. They take a long trip every few months. My dad worked so much when we were kids. Not to mention, it was hard to travel with four energetic boys, so my dad is spoiling my mom now, traveling wherever she wants to go and doing it in style.”
“Of course,” she smirked. “Is there any other way with the Steele family?”
“Absolutely not. What about you?”
“What about me?” she asked, suddenly very interested in cutting her omelet into precise, bite-sized pieces.
“What are your parents like?”
“Divorced.”
“Ouch! Was that hard?”
Naya shook her head. “No. It was hard when they were married. It was better after they divorced.”
“How so?”
She shook her head, not wanting to discuss her childhood or her parents’ vicious marriage. Or, more specifically, her parents’ vicious divorce and the horrible things they would say and do to each other for years after their marriage was finally dissolved. “I was fine. Perfect childhood, no worries. I think you should look at this site first. It has the best views from what I could see, has easy street access, but isn’t off of a main road so you won’t have traffic problems.”
Luke suspected that there was a story behind her avoidance. He decided to let the subject of her parents go for now, but he’d definitely return to it. More subtly though.
Looking at the picture on the paper, he nodded, accepting her advice. “We can do that.” And he looked down at the details below the picture. He was surprised that it really was a good piece of land. “What else?”
Naya was relieved when they stayed on the subject of business for the rest of the meal. Business she could handle, personal stuff, not so much.
A half hour later, he wiped his mouth on a napkin and nodded his head. “These all look great. Let’s go,” he said and stood up, taking both of their plates over to the sink.
She stared up at him, not sure what he meant. Go? Go look at the sites? “What? Now?”
He looked down at her. “Sure. Why not?”
She stammered, not sure why but she had to come up with a good reason. She wasn’t mentally prepared to spend the day with Luke. He took a bit of bracing to deal with, especially if she was going to be in a small car with him. Oh no, that can’t happen!
He was already rinsing off the plates and putting them into the dishwasher. “I normally don’t use the dishwasher,” she told him, feeling stupid for even saying that.
“Why not?” he asked as he continued to load everything up.
“Because I don’t have enough to fill it,” she said, then glanced down. With all of the bowls and utensils, cutting boards and pans he’d used, the machine was more than half full.
“You don’t normally cook, I take it?” he asked and moved closer. He wanted to reach out and touch her, so instead, he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
“No. Normally, I just grab a microwave meal.”
“I like to cook, but I don’t do it often with just myself. When I get together with my family, there’s a lot of food and I go a bit crazy. Big appetites with my brothers.”
She laughed. “I can imagine.”
“So, are you ready to go?” he asked.
She looked up at him, then down at her feet that still didn’t have shoes. “I can’t do this today,” she told him, being honest. “I can’t be around you.”
He moved closer, refusing to let his hands come out of his pockets because he desperately wanted to touch her skin, to feel the soft perfection. He was being good, but it was hard. Especially when she looked so delectable. “Why is that?”
In the end, her white teeth bit down on those rosy, red lips and he couldn’t hold back. His hands slipped out of his pockets and landed on her waist, her soft, perfect, tiny waist that made her look so incredibly feminine.