When You're Ready (Ready #1)(16)

"Okay, try again."

"Are you close to your family?" After seeing all the pictures on the mantel in her family room, I knew the answer to this question, but I wanted to see her face light up when she spoke.

"Yes, my family is wonderful. Like I said, my Mom and Dad live nearby, which is a blessing because they help with Maddie quite a bit,” she explained as she fiddled with the jelly beans in the bowl. "My Dad had a stroke about 5 years ago. He recovered well, but is unable to help with these kinds of things anymore, which is why I was out braving the hardware store myself this morning."

"Brave woman."

“More like stupid woman, but at least I found you.” she said before continuing. "I have a younger brother, Garrett. He recently graduated from college and started working. He's spending most of his time on the road and loving every minute of it. We catch up when he's in town, but he's young and trying to move up in the professional world. Seeing him so grown up blows my mind on a daily basis." She laughed and it was the kind of laugh that seemed to have a memory attached to it. It must have been a happy memory because the small smile she had now lit up her entire face.

I had no idea what it was like to have a family that brought that kind of smile to your face, let alone any kind of smile. My family was all about appearance and how much you could gain from each other. As soon as you made a mistake, you were shunned and an outcast. Ever since my divorce, when I finally realized I’d never make the man proud, I stopped caring what my father thought.

"So, what about you? What's your family like?" she asked as I finished drilling the last hole of the bracket securing Maddie’s barre into place.

"Pass me those jelly beans."

~Clare~

"Okay, so no family questions," I said, raising my hands in defeat as he began stuffing a hand full of jelly beans in his mouth all at the same time.

"Now that is just wrong. You just committed the ultimate Jelly Belly sin.”

He looked at me, his mouth full of candy, like I was crazy.

"You're supposed to eat them one at a time, unless you're creating a combo."

"A combo? What is a jelly bean combo?"

"Seriously, what rock did you grow up under? I thought every child knew a few Jelly Belly combos."

I motioned for him to come closer and he complied, putting down his tools and taking a seat next to me on the floor. Seeing all six plus feet of full grown male, wrapped in faded jeans and gray t-shirt, sitting on my daughters pink rug was quite a sight.

"Prepare to be amazed. What's your favorite dessert?" I asked him.

"Besides jelly beans?" he asked jokingly.

I nodded, giving him a pointed look.

"Okay, fine. Root Beer Float." he answered.

"And you gave me crap for liking jelly beans? Who's the kid now?"

"Well, root beer and ice cream weren’t allowed in our house or boarding school. The desserts we had were so pretentious, I'm pretty sure I couldn't pronounce them until I was in my teens," he explained in an amused sort of way, but there was a shadow of something dark there. Before I could figure out what it was, it was gone and replaced by his award winning smile.

"Okay, well...root beer float coming up."

I dug through the bowl, looking for the jelly beans I needed. He watched skeptically, but leaned in closer, brushing his shoulder against mine. I could smell the aftershave on his neck, and I wanted so badly to pull him closer to me.

"You're very dedicated to jelly beans, aren't you?"

"You have no idea. Just wait until you see me with chocolate." That brought on another laugh. He had a great laugh.

I finally found the winning combination of jelly beans and handed them over for him to try. He popped the three jelly beans in his mouth and chewed, and I became mesmerized with his mouth, suddenly wondering what he tasted like.

Yum.

"That’s actually pretty amazing! It really does taste like a root beer float. What's your favorite?" he asked as he finished off his jelly beans, pulling me out of my edible Logan fantasy.

"Oh. Um. Tiramisu,” I answered quickly. “Chocolate and Coffee. It’s heavenly.”

Realizing I completely derailed out little game, I asked another question.

“So, how did a son of a stuffy billionaire learn to be so handy?”

He looked down at his hands, much too worn for his social status, and explained, “I don’t know. I guess I’ve always liked to work with my hands. When I was in college, I lived in a shit apartment, and was always having to make repairs, so I kind of just learned on the go.”

I was curious why a rich kid was living in the low rent apartments, but before I could ask, he gave me a smirk and fired back with a question for me.

“The other day, when I walked into the exam room, were you and your friend talking about me?”

Damn fair skin always gave me away. Before I could even open my mouth to respond, I was blushing, so instead I just stuffed it full of jelly beans, bypassing the entire question and committing candy treason at the same time.

“I knew it!”

“That was incredibly embarrassing,” I admitted, after I swallowed my handful of jelly beans.

“I can safely say I was not embarrassed in the least. Made my night, in fact,” he taunted.