Chapter 40
He glanced at the quiet woman sitting in the passenger seat of his truck. She hadn’t said more than two words to him since they’d left the diner and he wished like hell that they didn’t have to have this conversation. They only had a few weeks left before he had to leave and he didn’t want to waste them talking about this, but the look on her face when she’d figured out why so many people knew his name made him realize that he couldn’t put this off any longer.
Wishing that he’d never met the deceitful bitch, he parked his newly fixed truck in the large grocery store parking lot and stared ahead, wondering how he was going to explain the biggest fuck up of his life. He considered everything that happened and knew that when it came down to it, it was really just one thing that had caused this mess.
“I settled,” he admitted as they sat there.
“Did you love her?”
“No,” he answered truthfully.
“But, you asked her to marry you,” she said softly with a curious frown as she shifted in her seat to look at him.
“Yes, yes I did,” he admitted with a strained chuckle, still wondering how he’d managed to convince himself that was a good idea.
“Why?”
“Because I was a twenty-eight-year-old virgin and terrified that I was never going to actually find what my brothers and cousins had.”
“So, you settled,” she said with a nod of understanding, repeating his admission.
“Yes, I did. I found someone who needed me and didn’t seem to care that I was a virgin, but even then I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t convince myself that I was happy or that she was what I really wanted,” he said, absently tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.
“I read the letter,” she admitted, making him chuckle.
“The letter that started it all,” he mused with a sigh.
“Did you know about her and your friend?” she asked, shooting him a questioning look.
“I didn’t really care,” he said with a shrug.
“Would you have married her if you hadn’t found out?” she asked, not really sounding like she wanted him to answer.
“Honestly? I don’t know. She wasn’t the one, wasn’t someone I even liked, but…”
“But?”
“But, it would have been so easy to marry her and pretend that at least that part of my life was figured out,” he said, grabbing his keys out of the ignition.
“And what exactly is wrong with your life?” she asked, moving closer so that she could trace his jaw with her fingertips.
“It’s not mine.”
*-*-*-*
When he didn’t follow up on that vague and somewhat depressing announcement, she decided to take matters into her own hands, because he clearly needed her help. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she shoved it aside and before he could protest, she was climbing onto his lap so that they could continue this conversation in a more amicable manner.
“How is this not your life, Yummy?” she asked, as she settled on his lap and wrapped her arms loosely around his shoulders.
Shifting beneath her, he cupped her hips and rubbed his hands down her thighs. “I never really knew what I wanted before.”
Nodding, she reached up and ran her fingers through that short military haircut that looked so damn good on him. “Your twin?”
Chuckling, he leaned in to brush his lips against hers. “Who else?”
“And if you could do things differently?” she asked, moving closer so that she could kiss him again.
“I honestly don’t know,” he said, moving his hands to cup her bottom and pulled her closer so that she was pressed up against that large bulge pressing against his zipper.
“What do you know then?” she asked absently with a moan as he kissed his way around her neck as one sneaky hand slid beneath her shirt so that he was cupping her breast.
“Just this,” he said, kissing his way back up to her mouth as he reached for the fly of her shorts and-
Stopped with a chuckle.
Frowning, she pulled back to find him smiling at something next to them. Curious, she followed his gaze and-
“Oh, crap!” she gasped, diving onto the seat so that she could curl up out of sight.
As she wrestled with her fly to return it to its proper position, she debated the pros and cons of taking that one last roll that would bring her to the floor of his truck where she could wait until she was safely in her driveway and away from the little old lady that had been watching them with a huge smile and a thumb’s up.
“Is she still there?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip as she looked up to find Reese winking back at the little old lady and making her want to kick him.
“Yes,” he said, chuckling as he gave her bottom a gentle pat. “Come on.”
“No,” she said, stubbornly shaking her head, because there was no way in hell that she was getting out of this truck.
In fact, she was never coming to this grocery store again. She didn’t care that she had two hundred and ninety-seven unused gas points or that they automatically applied coupons. She was going to find another grocery store, somewhere far, far away where she wouldn’t have to risk crossing paths with the little old lady that had Reese grinning, ever again.
End. Of. Story.
“Come on, sweetheart.”
“No.”
“I thought you wanted me to cook you dinner and serve you in the manner that you’re determined to become accustomed to?” he asked, blinking and making her scowl at the mimicking bastard!
“Are you going to drive?”
“Are you ashamed of our love?” he countered.
“Yes!” she hissed with a glare when he gave her ass another squeeze that was going to get him killed.
“Are you trying to tell me that you don’t want to go food shopping?” he asked, doing his best to piss her off and it was working, because she was never going to let him touch her again!
“Yes!”
“Oh,” he said, letting his shoulders sag.
“Can we please just go now?” she damn near begged as she leaned up and risked another glance to find the little old lady gone, which meant that she was in the store and now was the time to haul ass and get out of here while they had a chance.
“I guess,” he said with a shrug and a heavy sigh as he put the key back in the ignition and-
“It’s just that I thought you would want to go shopping.”
“I did!” she snapped, wondering why he wasn’t already throwing the truck in reverse and getting them out of there while he still could.
“I just thought that you’d want to go food shopping now that your kitchen was done and all,” he said with another shrug as he threw the truck in reverse and-
She gasped, reached over and threw her door open as she scrambled to sit up. She was out the door a split second later, making a mad dash to the grocery store where she fully planned on putting those automatic coupons to good use.