Wrong for You (Before You #3)(22)

“I am,” she replied softly.

He could feel her eyes burning into his back. She wanted to ask him about his family, and he offered her the perfect opening, but that subject was off limits. He’d talk about Taylor, but as for the rest of his family members, they didn’t exist, at least to him.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and he tensed. If this were the part of the night where she dug into his past, he wouldn’t be sticking around for dinner.

“Alec.”

“Hm,” he answered, stirring the pasta in the boiling water.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“Where’s your colander?”

She sighed, then placed the colander in the sink. “I’m not going to pry if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m not worried, but I’m not interested in sharing. I don’t talk about my family…ever.” He tried to moderate the irritation in his voice, but his words came out harsher than he intended.

“Someday it might help to talk about it.” She placed a hand on his shoulder and he flinched before he could stop himself.

“Not today.”

“Got it. No sharing required. We can talk about the weather, cars, hiking, biking, chess, or music. I don’t think there’s a shortage of superficial topics. We should be able converse over dinner without too many awkward silences. Ten or twenty minutes without talking on a first date isn’t so bad. I went on one date where we hardly exchanged a word.”

“And you stayed for the entire date?” He frowned. “That must have been painful.”

“It was, but he’d been in a car accident and his jaw was wired shut.” She sucked her lower lip into her mouth and looked away. He saw her shoulders shaking.

“You’re lying.”

When she turned to face him, she had a huge smile on her face. “You’re right, but I didn’t want you to feel bad if we had nothing left to talk about when you add more subjects to the no sharing category.”

“Don’t be a smart ass.”

Her eyes danced with mischief as she twirled a piece of her hair around her finger. “I’m not trying to be.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

She shrugged and took a sip of wine. A few stray drops of the white wine dotted her completely f*ckable pink lips and all he could think about was licking every last drop and then nibbling on her lower lip until she opened and let him explore every inch of her. Her lips felt amazing against his this morning and it had taken him a good hour to erase her taste from his mind before he could concentrate. Tonight, he wanted to sample more than just her lips.

“I don’t have a clue,” she said, interrupting his thoughts, her smooth, pale cheeks noticeably blushing. Obviously, he didn’t do a good job of hiding the direction of his thoughts.

“Sit down, I’ll fix our plates.”

She sat in one of the white chairs at the kitchen table.

When he finished assembling their plates, he placed one in front of her. He leaned down, brushing her hair to the side and pressed a soft, lingering kiss against the delicate skin of her neck, making it clear where he wanted this date to go. “Do you want another glass of wine?” he asked, inhaling her clean scent, letting it fill his lungs. She was so wholesome and happy, unlike him or any of the women he’d dabbled with in the past, but that wouldn’t stop him from pursuing her. Maybe that made him a bastard because anyone with eyes could see that he wasn’t good enough for her. He craved being with someone untainted by the evils of life and Little Violet was as untainted as anyone he’d ever met. If he were lucky, some of her goodness would rub off on him.

She shook her head and he slipped into the chair across from her, waiting for her to try the food he made.

When she lifted the first bite to her mouth, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. The way her pretty little cupid’s bow closed around her fork made him think all kinds of thoughts that were better left unsaid. He cleared his throat. “Do you like it?”

“It’s good. Really good.” She took a few more bites then set her fork down on her plate, studying him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just realized you cheated me out of the embarrassing story you promised in exchange for the popcorn debacle.”

A trace of an amused smile grazed his lips. “I didn’t promise to tell you anything.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Nope. I promised to try to think of something. I tried and I failed. Sorry.” He shrugged.

“You jerk!” She tossed her napkin at him. “I can’t believe you tricked me.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ll think about it tonight and if I come up with something, I’ll share it.”

“And if you don’t?”

He sucked his lip ring into his mouth, taking pleasure in the fact that her eyes tracked every nibble, suck and swipe of his tongue. “I’ll make something up.”

“It better be good.”

He chuckled and shot her a wicked smile. “Little Violet, it’ll be good. I aim to please and I really want to please you…in every way possible.”

Correctly interpreting his sexual reference, her eyes went wide. Maybe it was a little too much a little too fast, but if she wasn’t interested, she needed to say so now because he planned to get as much of Violet as he could over the next few weeks before he went back to his real life. The real Alec didn’t deserve someone like Violet, but that didn’t mean the Alec he was pretending to be for now couldn’t have her. As long as she understood that this would be a short fling and she had no expectations for the future, everything would be fine.