“Sorry, it’s my sister. I’ll be right back.”

“Sure.” I lift my chin then watch her get up and head outside.

She’s not gone long, only a few minutes, and when she comes back, she slides into the seat across from me once again. “Sorry about that.”

“Is everything okay?”

Studying me, she chews the inside of her cheek, and I can see the wheels in her head turning as she tries to figure out if she wants to answer my question and/or how. “I think I mentioned moving here to help out my sister.”

“You did.” I wait for her to continue, not wanting to ruin the progress we’ve made, since the last time I attempted to get her to open up didn’t go so well.

“She has three daughters and is separated from her husband.” She bites her lip then lets out a deep breath. “She umm… well, he moved out of the house they shared together, and he was living with his parents until recently.” She fiddles with her napkin, and my fingers twitch, wanting to reach across and hold her hand. “So he got a place of his own, which is good, but… well, last weekend, the girls stayed with him overnight, and tonight when my youngest niece was on the phone with him, my sister overheard her ask if his girlfriend is going to come to dinner on Saturday when they stay with him again.”

I flinch, knowing that had to be painful to hear. “Why’d they split?”

She looks away briefly then says quietly, “He admitted to her that he cheated.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.” She sighs. “The thing is, I think she thought they were going to work things out, but things are becoming clearer to her that’s not something he wants to do, and she’s having a hard time dealing with it.”

“Do you need to go home?” I ask, and her head jerks back as her eyes widen.

“I….” She licks her lips then shakes her head. “No, it’s okay.”

“I’m good if you want to be with her right now,” I tell her quietly, holding her gaze.

“You’re serious?” she whispers, studying me.

I lean across the table, grasp her hand, and run my thumb over her pulse. “I know we don’t know each other, but I understand that family comes first, especially when times are hard.” I let her go and lean back. “We can get our food to go, and if Saturday still works for you, we’ll have dinner then.”

“I don’t want to say yes, but she’s upset and—”

“You don’t have to explain, Mia. I get it. Your sister needs you right now, so that’s where you should be.”

“Thank you.”

I signal for our waitress when I catch her eye and ask her if they can box up our food as I hand over my card.

“Can I ask you something?” Mia says when the waitress walks off.

“Anything.”

“Are you real?”

Not sure what she’s asking I frown. “Pardon?”

“It’s just… I don’t know. I’ve never met a guy like you before, and I’m having a really hard time accepting that you’re real and this isn’t some kind of elaborate scheme to get in my pants.”

“Not to sound like a dick, Mia, but if I wanted to get laid, I’d go to any bar in town and find a chick willing to put out.” Her nose scrunches, and I reach across the table, grasping her hand once more. “What I want is to get to know you, and if at some point you feel like letting me in your pants, I’m down for that too.” I smirk, and she presses her lips together to keep from smiling.

Of course at that moment, the waitress shows up, so I grab the bag she hands me then take Mia out to my truck and drive her back to the dealership. When we hit the lot, she directs me to where she’s parked, and I get out with her and make sure she’s inside her car before I hand her the bag of food.

“Don’t you want your pancakes?”

“I think your sister’s gonna need chocolate chip pancakes more than I do.”

Her expression softens, and she licks her lips before asking, “Do you have your phone?”

I pull it out of my pocket, and she takes it from me, tapping on the screen, but then she starts to hand it back to me when it asks for my password. “The code’s 1-2-3-4.”

“Of course it is.” She laughs, typing it in before she clicks on the icon for my phone book. With one hand on the doorframe above her head, the other on the back of her seat, I watch her add her name and number to my contacts then hear her phone ring a moment later.

“Now you have my number and I have yours.” She smiles, handing me back my cell.

I shove it in my back pocket then touch my fingers to her chin, watching her eyes flare. “Call me anytime,” I tell her, and she nods as her eyes drop to my mouth. Fuck, I want to lean in and kiss her, but I hold myself in check. I know there’s chemistry between us. I know she feels it too, but I need her to understand there’s more than that, especially since she’s the one who’s been so gun-shy about even going on a date with me. As much as it kills me, I tap the roof of her car then step back, keeping hold of her door with my eyes locked on hers. “Get home safe, and let me know you got there okay.”

“S-sure,” she stutters, looking a mixture of surprised and disappointed.

“Night, sweetheart.” I shut her door and step back then wait until she pulls out of the lot before I get back in my truck. Once I’m behind the wheel, I smile. Despite the way the day started, it was a really fucking good day.

CHAPTER 5

Mia

I WAKE TO the smell of bacon, with my head pounding and my face being licked as heavy paws land on my chest and arm. Groaning, I grab hold of my girls to stop them both from attacking my face with good morning kisses and open my eyes, only to squeeze them shut a minute later to block out the light. With more strength than I seem to have, I sit up and rest my face in my hands, regretting my impulsive decision to drink last night.

When I got home, I found Cece in the kitchen with a bottle of vodka and decided to join her for shots, which was probably stupid, since I rarely drink anything other than a glass of wine every now and then. The only positive is Cece finally opened up to me over vodka and Talon’s chocolate chip pancakes about how she felt during her marriage, which had apparently been crumbling long before Mike decided to cheat on her.

She explained that they had been fighting for a couple years, each argument seeming to focus on how she wasn’t doing enough around the house or how she should be doing more with the girls. Then she told me that before he came out about his affair, they hadn’t been intimate in months, and before that, they would go weeks between any kind of physical contact. I tried to reassure her that, with kids and life, sometimes that’s normal, but she told me that even when he initiated sex, she would push him away, because she just wasn’t interested.

I didn’t want to tell her that she probably didn’t want to be intimate with him because of the way he was acting—like a douche—but I kept my mouth closed, because I knew that wouldn’t help. I did tell her that even if he was unhappy, he should have come out and told her that he wanted out before sleeping with someone else. I hated listening to her cry, and as much as it sucked that she was cutting open old wounds, I think it helped her to reflect and face the hard truth about her marriage and to realize that maybe things were not great before it ended.