Ensenada Escapade: Destination: Desire, Book 6 (10 page)

And why did it matter so much to her that she get an answer to that question?

He couldn’t have handled that any worse. Maybe if he’d have slapped her too. That might have made it a more shocking delivery, but not by much.

At least he hadn’t confessed his love for her. Just admitting he’d never gotten over his tween crush had made her expression turn so horrified, he’d almost suspected he’d sprouted horns and a tail.

So much for his big plan for them to get along, and maybe convince her that their affair could last—should last—for longer than this trip.
Ha!
That wasn’t going to happen now. Because he was a gigantic idiot who’d spewed all over her with the same level of verbal diarrhea he’d exhibited in junior high. Yep, he was a grown up now.

It was a wonder he’d ever managed to win a court case.

After she left for her walk, he’d told himself to go find some lunch, but he hadn’t made it further than the front porch before he decided it wasn’t worth bothering. He couldn’t muster up the appetite to eat. He’d had ideas of taking Nora out to some of his favorite places in town, but…who knew if that would happen? He’d be lucky if she didn’t come back, collect her stuff, and insist on driving straight home. She wasn’t the type to strand him here, but it would be a ride that redefined awkward.

Shit.

He sat in the one of the wicker chairs on the porch and stared into space, dissecting every word he’d said, analyzing it as if it were evidence presented in a case. In the end, it didn’t matter what had come out of his mouth—it was how she’d taken it. That was something he wouldn’t know until she came back.

The squeak of hinges from the front gate brought him back to the present. He turned his head to watch her approach, but didn’t get up to greet her. She looked wary, climbing the porch steps and walking over to stand in front of him.

“I don’t hate you,” she said.

“What?” He shook his head. He hadn’t been expecting that to be her opening salvo.

She twisted the strap on her purse. “Of all the things you said, I thought that might be the one you wanted addressed first, if I hated you for antagonizing me all these years. I don’t hate you.”

“That’s good…right?”

“May I sit?” She nodded to the other chair.

“Of course.” He leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. Was she serious? There was courteous and then there was excruciating politeness. She was hitting the excruciating level.

She cleared her throat, set her bag on the footstool and sat. “Look, maybe I should hate you. You’ve been an ass many, many times. And having a crush on me isn’t really much of an excuse for your behavior.” She held up a palm when he opened his mouth. “Let me finish. The problem is, I don’t think I have it in me to hate you. You’ve never crossed the line from annoying to anything more sinister. You’ve pushed my buttons, sure, but if I’m honest, I’ve gotten my jabs in too. And you weren’t always the one who started a confrontation. I’m not entirely innocent here.”

“Thank you. For not hating me.” He forced his muscles to relax. “For the record, I don’t want our contentious relationship to continue when we get home.”

She flinched a little. “Ah.”

What did that mean? Jesus. He actually wished he were in court—the stress was easier to handle. He was less worried he’d put his foot in it. “It’s the conflict part I’d like to nix.”

“I see.” She nibbled her lower lip. “I think you’re living in fantasy land on that one, Ben. We come at every issue from different angles, and there’s probably never going to be a day when I don’t wish I could stick a sock in your big mouth at least once. You can be more than a little pushy.”

He nodded to concede the point. “Like blackmailing my way into your car.”

“For example,” she agreed. “But…I’m willing to admit I’ve come to value your no-bullshit attitude. The bluntness bordering on rudeness will probably always annoy me, but you don’t dither or complain when the chips are down. And seeing you go all charming lawyer with the Mexican authorities…it was a side of you I’d never witnessed, and I can appreciate that you’re not necessarily as forthright with everyone as you are with me. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I wanted you to know I’d noticed.”

“It’s a good thing,” he rushed to assure her. “At work, I have to be so careful about every syllable. There are very few people I’m as blunt with as I am with you. Maybe you never noticed because our mutual acquaintances are also in that very few people category. Those are the ones I trust.”

“Why would you trust me?” She threw up her hands. “I haven’t been kind to you either. You shouldn’t even like me anymore. God knows I did or said everything I could think of to push you away.”

“Because you’re a good egg, Kirby. Always have been, always will be.” He let a small laugh escape. “You’re the type of woman who’d drop everything and rush to help someone she cares about. No questions asked, no trying to make them beg for the privilege of your assistance. From planning a baby shower to a rescue road trip to taking weeks off work to nurse a life-altering injury.”

A becoming blush pinked her cheeks. “I wasn’t like that to you.”

“But I saw it. I saw you.”

Her lips pursed. “If I’m honest, I saw you too. Not necessarily that you could be nice to anyone except your family, but…that there was chemistry between us, that you’d grown into an attractive man. I was uncomfortable with it, repressed it as much as I could, but it was there. Your voice, especially.”

“My voice?” All right, so he liked having his good qualities extolled as much as the next guy, but that one wasn’t usually on the list.

She raised her eyes heavenward, as if praying for patience. “You have the kind of voice that could make a girl come on command. Also, dimples. Those aren’t hurting your appeal. I noticed, even before this trip.”

“I feel like speaking or smiling is taking an unfair advantage somehow.” He had to suppress a guffaw, which surprised him considering how recently he’d been lambasting himself.

Tapping her lip, she winked. “We could invest in a ball gag. I gotta tell you, that would fulfill some serious fantasies of mine. Not the sexy kind, but I’m flexible.”

And that did it, he burst out laughing. “I like you, Kirby. A lot.”

That earned him another blush. “It’s going to take some time to adjust to that idea. Sex is a whole different beast than liking someone personally. I’ve always considered ours a mutual loathing.”

He folded his arms. “What, you thought this was a hate fuck?”

“Bam, bluntness.” She gave him A Look. “How am I supposed to answer that without coming across as an asshole? Did I think this was maybe you scoring
and
scoring a subtle putdown in our little war? No, not really. Have I assumed this was just chemistry gone wild that would burn out pretty quickly because we don’t get along, so what other option would there be? Well, yeah.”

He waved a hand between them. “This is chemistry that hasn’t managed to burn out in over a decade for me.”

Leaving it at that, he had to throttle down on the need to tell her they should continue exploring their mutual attraction for as long as it lasted—aka, the rest of their lives. It was better that she figure that part out herself. Pushing her now wouldn’t pay off in the end, and he needed to play this as a long game.

A buzzing noise came from her purse, and she dug into it for her cell phone. “A message from Hazel. She and Priya are still doing okay. They say to thank you again for the groceries.”

“Tell them you’re welcome from me.” If he wasn’t mistaken, he heard her stomach growling. Time to lighten the conversation. “Speaking of food. Are you up for a late lunch slash early dinner?”

“I am if you are.” She glanced up from returning her sister’s text. Some emotion flickered in her gaze, gone too quickly for him to discern what it was. She finished her reply and tossed her phone into her bag. “Where do you recommend?”

He rose from his seat, feeling like there’d been so much left hanging, so much unsaid, but she’d made it clear she needed adjustment time to this new phase of their relationship and he was going to give it to her. Going for all or nothing would end him up with nothing. They didn’t hate each other, and they shared an awesome chemistry when they weren’t arguing. That was a far better place than they’d been in a handful of days ago.

But no one enjoyed being patient, especially when it came to love. He locked the front door and led the way down the steps to the yard. “What are you in the mood for? Carpinteria has a number of options.”

“Mmm.” She slung her purse strap over her shoulder. “Nothing too spicy, but there’s no particular cuisine that’s calling to me. Okay, after yesterday, let’s just nix tacos for the next while. Fish too, now that I think of it.”

“No seafood, no Mexican. Got it.” In a coastal California town, that cut out quite a few choices, but he had something she’d probably enjoy. “Then we have to check out Tony’s Pizza & Ribs.”

“Pizza and ribs? That’s a weird combination.” They walked over a set of railroad tracks, and hit the main drag. “Unless it’s some sort of fusion place, barbeque pizza?”

“Nope, they just do good Italian and good ribs.” He shrugged. “The food is great. Trust me.”

“Isn’t that what Tweedle Dumber said about the
tacqueria
yesterday?” She shot him a mock-worried look.

He patted her back as he steered her toward the entrance to Tony’s. “I’ll hold your hair back, sweetheart.”

“Gee, thanks,” she drawled.

They entered the restaurant, which was lined with dark wood booths, and a waitress took them to a table by the window. A woman with rainbow colored hair walked by and Nora grinned. “Good people watching, at least.”

“I like it here,” he agreed. They both chuckled as a tiny sprite of a girl ran by with balloons dancing wildly from strings tied to each wrist.

Nora nodded when the server brought them water, then turned back to Ben. “So, how do you know this town even exists?”

“An old college friend is from the area. She decided a bunch of us should get together for a reunion, and she managed to snag a weeklong reservation at Linden House. It apparently books up six months or more in advance. She sold Carpinteria as a cute ’burb with nice restaurants and a couple of good breweries, plus a short walk to an uncrowded beach.”

Her mouth formed a moue. “All things to recommend a town.”

“I think so.” He flicked his fingers to indicate the street outside. “I hope you’ll enjoy it.”

“Are you really in doubt?”

He gave her a crooked grin. “I just wasn’t sure how you’d react when you woke up and found I’d unilaterally changed the plans.”

Squeezing a lemon into her water, she seemed to consider that. “Well, we are still headed home, so it’s not a total change in plans.”

He leaned back in his chair. “No, I suppose not, but you know what I mean.”

“I’m not upset about the detour. I love a nice beach town—I live in HMB for a reason.”

“Exactly. Me too.” He resisted the urge to point out something else they had in common that had nothing to do with sex or their family connection.

They paused the conversation long enough to order dinner. He went for the meatball sub and she got a calzone. The waitress took their menus and disappeared. He watched Nora grin at a guy riding a unicycle down the street. She seemed relaxed, and he figured it couldn’t hurt to see if she wanted to do more than dinner tonight. As much as he liked the sex, it would make it far too easy for her to dismiss the possibility of a relationship if they never got out of bed.

Running a finger around the rim of his water glass, he asked, “How do you feel about beer?”

She arched a brow. “I have generally positive feelings about it, as long as I’m not drinking too much or driving at all.”

“Okay, I think we can manage that.” He waved away those concerns. They weren’t driving and he didn’t really want to get her hammered. “Let me treat you to dinner and then take you to the tasting room of a microbrewery that has the best hefeweizen made on this continent.”

That brow rose higher. “Not in the world?”

Shaking his head, he chuckled. “I think Julie’s husband would kill me if I said Americans outdid Germans on a German-style beer.”

“Ha, that’s right.” Her expression softened with fondness. “He is from Germany, isn’t he? I didn’t know he was a beer snob.”

“He’s German. Enough said.”

The food arrived and the spicy aroma of the marinara sauce on his sandwich made his stomach gurgle. It smelled great, but it always did here. They dove into the food for a few minutes, and it wasn’t until he started eating that he realized just how hungry he was.

Nora picked up the conversation where they’d left off. “Beer snobbery is genetic in Germany?”

He finished chewing a bite of his sub and wiped the corners of his mouth. “No question.”

Narrowing her eyes, she smiled after a moment. “I’ll have to make sure to offer him a Coors Light at the baby shower.”

He snorted. “Nice! Make sure I’m there when you do, so I can get a picture of the look on his face.”

“Deal.” She winked.

“I like your sadistic streak.”

She frowned. “I’m a very nice person.”

“With a slight sadistic streak,” he concurred with a caveat. Leaning forward, he lowered his voice. “How else do you explain making a guy beat off while staring at him like you’re starving and he’s your personal banquet?”

Her face turned redder than her hair. “You weren’t complaining this morning. And it’s not like I had no follow through on…banqueting, or whatever metaphor you want to use for sex.”

“I would never, ever complain about getting to have sex with you. I merely mentioned that you have a sadistic streak and very explicitly noted that I like it. How is that a complaint?”

She harrumphed and didn’t say anything else, focusing on her meal.

He loved that she could handle almost anything without flinching—likely a side effect of her profession—but when he brought up specific things she’d done, she went pink in the cheeks. It didn’t seem to matter if it was flattering or sexual, anything that implied she was extremely nice or extremely naughty could get a blush.