Greer had to dig his fingernails into his palms to keep from reaching out, wanting to give comfort to a man who sure didn’t appear to want any. “We’ll absorb all of the business’s debt. I saw nothing that seemed unreasonable. You’ll be taken care of. This will never work if we let the owner go belly up.”
“Are we walking across the street?” Dallas asked, pointing to the new green walk arrow. Greer had to follow the line of Dallas’s arm. His one-track mind had blipped momentarily, forgetting they were standing on a busy street corner having a very personal conversation.
Greer shook his head to dislodge his single-minded focus. He stepped off the curb again and started across the street. “We’re not done sorting this out. I live about two blocks away.”
“You really live around here?” Dallas asked, taking long strides beside him.
“Yeah, I’ve always liked this area. When I graduated from college, I decided to stay,” Greer said, jogging the last few feet as the traffic light shifted from green to yellow.
“You live here?” This time Dallas’s question stopped him in his tracks. The odd expression on his face had Greer looking around his neighborhood, trying to understand what Dallas found confusing.
“Yeah, why?” he asked. “It’s a nice neighborhood. Quiet-ish. Friendly neighbors.”
“You own an investment company. Google says you’re a venture capitalist. People trust you to invest large sums of their money. You dress like a million bucks. I saw that car you were driving.” Dallas threw his hands out toward the neighborhood before them. “This is nice but a normal nice. I expected you to live in a penthouse or some equivalent place that wealthy people congregate.”
Greer added charming to the long list of Dallas’s attributes. Hell, even if the temperatures dipped, he wouldn’t have needed a jacket with Dallas’s words warming him from the inside out. Greer ducked his head to keep his giant grin hidden and slowly walked toward his home. Dallas fell in line, easily catching up.
“I don’t know whether to dash your image of me or not.” Silence held between them. Greer cocked his head in Dallas’s direction. That expectant stare had him answering. “Everything in my life’s environmentally friendly and sustainable. My clothes are generally handmade and locally sourced. I guess that’s also true about most of my material items. My home uses solar power combined with a hybrid energy system for minimal carbon emissions. My car’s a hybrid. Travel’s always difficult in today’s world. I fly coach and I walk when I can.”
So much for the suave and debonair persona he’d hoped might lure Dallas in. He wasn’t sure reduced carbon emissions screamed bringing sexy back.
“And your investment company. How did that happen?”
The undeniable chemistry building between them just added another layer to the depth of his attraction. It pleased him more than he might admit that Dallas hadn’t scoffed at him or laughed at his environmentally conscious ways. So many people did.
“My company’s a personal motivation and a means to an end,” Greer explained, knowing he came off vague. Dallas nodded, looking down at his feet as they walked. His date didn’t verbally push Greer to say more, but Dallas’s silence might as well have been a spoken directive to keep Greer talking. “You’re ruthless with that quiet thing you do. It drives me crazy. Do you want the whole story or a condensed version?”
“Which is better?” Dallas’s side grin set his heart in a pitter-patter. The playful emerald side-eye that followed had Greer vowing to always do exactly what Dallas wanted him to do from this moment forward.
“The complete version includes me stealing my father’s identity at the age of twelve?” Greer said by way of a question.
Dallas laughed. “That one.” His genuine grin was instant and alluring. The trainer’s whole attention focused on Greer, encouraging him to continue.
“This story stays between us,” Greer said, taking the right turn down his street.
Dallas nodded his oath, glancing around the neighborhood. Something about walking this well-worn path with Dallas by his side had Greer recognizing the romance of their stroll. The houses were smaller and close together, but the tree-lined street had a cozy, inviting feel with porches and streetlights creating the perfect cast of dim-lit shadows to guide their way. With spring right around the corner, soon he and his neighbors would go all out decorating their front yards with bright, fragrant blooms as the grass turned green and the trees began to bud. He really did love living here, and he appreciated seeing it from Dallas’s fresh perspective.
“Well, I was twelve years old when my family went on vacation to Hawaii, and I found Kamilo Point. Have you been there?” he asked, turning on the walkway leading to his front porch. Dallas shook his head, following along beside him. “There were so many indicators that I didn’t quite fit well with my family, but that vacation sealed my fate with them. Much to their consternation, I spent my entire vacation cleaning Kalimo’s disgusting beaches. By the end of our stay, I had organized the locals and other vacationers. Together, we gathered what had to be tons and tons of garbage. It was a whole thing, and my parents thought I’d lost my mind,” he explained, unlocking the front door as he spoke.