He had a point, so I got down on the floor next to him to help. In no time at all the old dried out wood lit, providing the room with ambience. “I’m glad you’re here.” My confession shocked me, but what surprised me more was what he did right after I said it. He took my hand and brought it up to his lips. I didn’t feel threatened, which was alarming since I was usually so careful.
“That’s funny considering that when you came to the door you looked at me like I was a criminal.” I would have felt awful had it not been for his smile. “I can tell you’ve changed your mind. Obviously I h
ave no interest in causing you harm. If anything it’s the opposite.”
He had my attention.
I raised my brow, still trying to not pay close attention to the boxer briefs that fit him tightly everywhere. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He shrugged and sat back down on the couch. “I shouldn’t say. It’s probably a bad idea anyway.”
Of course, now I wanted to know what he was thinking. I pointed toward the outside window, where rain was pounding down. “We’re going to be here for a while, so I’ve got plenty of time for you to figure out how to say what you were going to.”
He chuckled. “It’s not what I was going to say that’s making me keep quiet.”
I placed my hands on my hips. “Do you think I can’t handle it?”
“Erica, you and I come from different worlds. What I mean as a compliment may come off as offensive. I’d rather not take the risk, as we’re stuck in this house together for at least the night.”
I couldn’t let it go. For some reason I was adamant about finding out what it was he felt I couldn’t handle. I knew I wasn’t in his league, but certainly I could take any type of comment he had to make. I wasn’t made of glass.
The room was quiet for a while. We both sat there watching the fire crackle. The wind whipped outside, but we were nice and warm. Soon his shorts would be dry and I wouldn’t have to keep avoiding making eye contact with his groin. The fact that I was doing it in the first place was appalling to me. It was extremely out of character.
Reed broke the silence with his next question, and I don’t think either of us was prepared for what it would provoke.
“So, how come your boyfriend isn’t here with you?” He took a sip of his water and sat the bottle down, seemingly unaffected by his curiosity in my private life.
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
His dark eyebrow raised, and I got this hint of intrigue. “That’s surprising.”
“Why is that?”
He leaned forward and cleared his throat before continuing. “It means that someone as beautiful as you are should have a man chasing her around.”
I giggled. “I’ve never been chased, Reed, but thanks for the compliment. Besides, I’m too bossy for a relationship.”
“That’s a damn shame. Life’s too short to focus on one thing. You’ve got to be willing to have fun sometimes.”
“I have fun.” I defended. “I have plenty of fun.” He didn’t know me, or my hobbies.
“Name one thing you like to do that’s fun, and it can’t be part of your job.”
I sighed and prepared to answer with something surprisingly witty. My lips parted, but the response wouldn’t come, because I didn’t have one. There were no hobbies, and I couldn’t even remember the last time that I’d gone out and done something with people I would call friends. “I don’t have to explain myself to you, or anyone else. I happen to enjoy my life the way it is, and I most definitely don’t need a man to make me happy.”
Reed shook his head as if he didn’t believe me at all. For some reason it made me fume. He didn’t know anything about me, yet he was going to have an opinion about the way I chose to live my life.
Since I didn’t want to continue with the conversation, I got up and headed into the kitchen. In the back of the pantry was a hidden cabinet. My aunt had kept it a secret so that her customers wouldn’t be able to find it when she wasn’t around. Inside she kept a full stock of wines, red and white. I pulled out a bottle of red and located a glass in the cabinet. The corkscrew was tough to locate in the dark drawer, but I managed to find it.
The house was quiet when I popped open the cork and poured myself a glass of something that would relax me. His voice startled me, and from the dim light of the fire in the other room, I could see the form of his body leaning against the doorframe that separated the two rooms. “Can I have a glass of that?”
“Sure,” I said as I turned to grab another one out of the cabinet. Reed waited and watched me pouring it, before lifting it off the counter and up to his lips. I downed my whole glass and poured some more. “I figured now was as good of a time as ever to break into the good stuff.”
“I agree, but I also think you were avoiding our conversation.”
I leaned against the counter toward him. “So what if I was? I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t have to explain the reasoning behind the way I do things in my life.”
“True. I’ve just been alone for a long time, and I wonder why someone would choose that kind of life.”