Naked Love(59)

I help change the loads to the dryers, keeping my gaze on her and a smirk firmly planted to my face while she tries to ignore me.

“So what do you do in L.A.?”

Avery shuts the dryer door and stops, giving me two raised eyebrows. “I’m a massage therapist. Was a massage therapist.”

I shake my head. “When you’re not working or shopping or going to get your hair and nails done … what do you do?”

She blinks several times. Damn! That’s all she does. I swallow the reality in small doses so I don’t choke on it. Avery is a diva.

“Never mind. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot.” I shoulder past her to put money into the dryers.

“That’s not it,” she murmurs. “You didn’t put me on the spot. It’s just …”

“It’s fine, Ave. That’s a lot, and there’s only twenty-four hours in a day.” I continue to change clothes from the washers to the dryers, moving twice as fast as Avery.

“Don’t be a dick.”

I feed coins into the last dryer and turn around. Avery eases onto a clothes-folding table. Her wrinkled brow cast down with her gaze as her feet dangle in the air.

“I’m being a dick?”

She answers with silence.

“I’m just trying to get to know you.”

More silence.

I rub my forehead and blow out a slow breath. “I cook. It’s not just my profession, it’s my passion. When a shipment of fresh, local produce arrives, it gives me a ridiculous high. I can’t wait to create something pleasing to both the palate and the eye. When I’m not cooking, I’m reading food blogs. When I’m not doing that, I’m on my Harley or walking dogs from the animal shelter because I did it with Addy, and…” I shrug “…it’s just something I’ve continued to do.”

Avery lifts her head.

Without taking a breath, I continue. “I like space, the infinity I see through my telescope. It makes my troubles feel insignificant. I like old sayings, but not as much as I like new ideas.”

“What are your troubles?” Avery whispers. Worry shrouds her sunny blue eyes, turning them blue-gray like an impending storm.

“Memories.”

Her teeth brush her lower lip several times as the lines on her forehead intensify. “I like baseball and peanuts. I love peanuts. The saltier, the better. I mean … I want to tell you that I love to travel, watch Broadway shows, spend warm afternoons at vineyards sipping wine and eating bruschetta … but those are things I’ve done with men. Wealthy men. I’m not wealthy. In fact …” Avery frowns. “I’m dirt poor at the moment. I can usually snag tickets from friends at work to see a baseball game. Peanuts are in my budget. And when I’m by myself—alone—I like …”

I wait.

She stares at her feet swinging from the table in a slow rhythm.

“You like …”

Avery’s nose wrinkles. “These videos.”

“Videos?”

“Never mind. Forget it. It’s dumb.” Her cheeks flush as she glances around the laundromat, looking everywhere but directly at me.

“Ave, are you into porn?” I push off the wall of dryers and wedge my body between her dangling legs.

Giving me a quick headshake, she presses her lips into a firm line and continues to survey our surroundings.

My hands squeeze her legs, forcing her mouth into a tiny smile. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll be forced to think your favorite past time is watching porn.”

“What if that’s it?” She halts her wandering gaze, focused on mine. “What if all I enjoy is shopping and long afternoons at the salon? What if I’ve never stuck a dime in the red kettle at Christmastime or paid it forward? What if my favorite foreplay is watching other people have sex? Does that deflate your tree-loving heart? Does it take a little more effort to get an erection for me?”

I grin.

Her eyes narrow. “This isn’t funny. You need to find a sliver of goodness in me to justify what’s happening between us. And the truth is, you’re just like every other guy I’ve dated—you want my body, but you, Jake Matthews, have this nagging conscience. You have a reputation for being a nice guy who does the right thing. And nice guys doing the right thing don’t settle for someone like me.”

I can strip her down, take her apart. We can sort through the pieces. But she needs to decide how to put things back together where they belong and what she no longer needs. I can’t be part of what makes her whole again. People don’t fill voids, even if they create them.

Leaning forward, I ghost my mouth along her jaw to her ear. “Tell me about the videos. I know they’re not porn.” I kiss her earlobe. “I think it’s something very unsexy. Yet…” I kiss her neck “…something tells me it’s going to make my whole damn day.”

She shivers as her shaky hands lay claim to my arms. “Jake …” My name falls breathlessly from her lips.

My hands ascend another inch up her legs as my lips remain idle against her soft flesh. “Tell me, Ave …”

Her fingers curl into my biceps. “Documentaries. I like watching documentaries. Especially the True Facts series by Ze Frank. He shares crazy but mostly true facts about various animals in a Morgan Freeman-like narration. It’s hilarious and completely inappropriate because he often fixates on genital facts, but I laugh myself into a giggle-fit every time.”