Was he asking or was he telling me?
“But you did know me,” he said, intensely. “I’d like you to get to know me again. Not just Mo. I want you to know who I am too.”
Okay. I didn’t know what the fuck to do with that at all.
And so I said just about the dumbest shit I could have. “Okay.” Okay? And then I kept going with the dumb shit. “I should get back to work. Have a good workout.”
Those eyes watched me for a moment. Then he nodded, strain in his gaze, and took his own retreating footstep. “Thanks again. I’m grateful.”
“It’s nothing. Don’t thank me,” I said, knowing I should stop there but not. Why the fuck did he have to say that and make it awkward? “I’ll probably have more people sign up once they see you walking around in those shorts.”
He glanced down. “Something wrong with them?”
I shrugged my good shoulder. “I’m just messing with you. I didn’t know what to say with you telling me that you want me to get to know you again, and it just kind of came out.”
His eyebrows lifted, and he smiled slowly. I watched him lift both toes of his sneakers up as he rocked back on his heels to take in his clothing… and I fought off the tiny little lap of tenderness that reached me. I should have kept my mouth shut about all of that. I shouldn’t have given him the damn membership either, damn it.
Those eyes flicked up for a moment, and he flashed me an even bigger smile like he had some reason to be pleased. “Cheers.”
This was a really stupid idea, I thought to myself the second he left.
A really, really stupid idea.
Three hours later, the alarm on my phone went off right while I was wrapping up a conversation that had me closing my eyes a minute into it.
I rubbed at the spot between my eyebrows after silencing it. “Grandpa, they’re going to check your ID when you register for the tournament. You can’t sign up for a younger age bracket—and I can’t even believe they have a bracket for people your age anyway. Aren’t they scared someone will break a hip?”
He huffed. “They have insurance for things like that… and you really think they’ll check my ID?”
Only my grandfather would try to fucking cheat in a basketball tournament by lying and attempting to play with men younger than him. “Don’t they always check?”
That got me a grumble. “Yes.” Did he have to sound so bummed out? No, but he did. “I can keep Mo here that day, so don’t worry about trying to lie and play earlier. Maybe Jonah will take her.”
That got me a grunt. “I still don’t know about that Edward.”
I fucking laughed. “Stop calling him the wrong name!”
“I will when you stop laughing over it.”
I laughed even harder, and my cheek started hurting when he started chuckling too. “You’re the worst, Grandpa. I swear you’re the worst.”
“You’re confusing worst with fun. Funnest. Best.”
There were tears in my eyes by then. “I don’t think funnest is a word.”
“It should be,” the old vampire argued.
Fucking hell. “Go pee before your prostrate exam. I need to go get Mo now.”
My gramps snorted. “I hope he uses enough lube this time. Call me later.”
I was definitely fucking crying by the time I pulled myself out of the chair with his comment about lube ringing heavily in my head. There was something wrong with him. I’d swear. All that boxing. All those hits. It explained everything. It really did.
I was still cracking up as I pulled a drawer open and got my wallet and keys out. Edging my way around the desk, I finally focused in on what I had to do… and what I should do. I hadn’t seen Jonah again all morning. Slipping my phone and wallet into the back pockets of my jeans and grabbing my backpack, I headed right out the door and stopped.
There was a broad kneecap connected to a heavy and hairy thigh right there.
“You okay?” I asked the freshly showered man sitting cross-legged beside my door with his bag sitting next to him.
“Yeh,” he answered with a happy expression. “Figured I’d wait for you to finish.”
Why though? I kept the question to myself. “I was about to see if you were still here,” I told him. “I have to go pick up Mo from the daycare before noon so they don’t charge me for the whole day. Grandpa Gus had an appointment this morning and has another one right now, and he’ll get her afterward from his friend’s house. Do you want to come with me?” I paused. “You don’t have to if you would rather see her tonight.”
He was already getting to his feet. “I’ll come. Tonight, too, if that’s not a problem.”
If there were such a thing as a right answer, that would have been it. I tried not to let it show on my face though. Unfortunately, he took it the wrong way and kept talking, like I would tell him no.
“The more time I spend with her the better. I need to make the most of it while I’m here.”
I hated him. I really did, and I didn’t trust a word to come out of my mouth right then when he was saying all these… things that were nice but too nice. Too perfect.
But the while he was here hung there, and the Still a Tiny Bit of an Asshole raised his eyebrows in return.
“Of course you can see her tonight. Let’s go,” I muttered, figuring we could talk about his plans later.
“What’s that face for?” he asked when we had gotten about halfway to the door leading outside.
I kept my gaze forward and didn’t even bother lying. “I don’t know what to think of you.”
He waited until he was pulling the door open. “Nice thoughts?”
I snorted, and I sure as fuck didn’t look at him. I didn’t need to see him smile at my sarcasm.
“Would you like to know what I think about you?” he asked teasingly.
“Sure,” I said as he caught up behind me, telling myself not to take him playing around to heart.
“You didn’t even think about it.”
I glanced at him over my shoulder and gave him a face. Like there was something he could say that would hurt my feelings. Ha. He hadn’t gone to a private Catholic girl school for a year with a buncha bitches.
Jonah lifted up one of those shoulders. “All right. You’re brave—”
That had me coughing. “Brave?” Where the hell did he get that from?
Jonah’s arm brushed mine as we walked side by side. “Yeah. You didn’t hesitate to say yes, did you? I’m not sure I’d want to know what you think of me.” He paused. “Actually, I wouldn’t want to know.”
He probably didn’t, and I was only going to feel slightly bad about that. “It’s not all bad,” I mumbled, reluctantly.
He chuckled. “Well, as long as it’s not all bad….”
I rolled my eyes and kept my mouth shut to not egg him on.
Or make him do something that would make me really smile.
What he did do was brush his forearm against mine again.
Luckily, he waited until I was backing out of the parking spot to talk again. “How ya goin’?”
“Fine. You?”