~Maura~
“I dare you to go on a date with me.”
I roll my eyes and take a sip of my wine. “I’m on a date with you. We had dinner, dessert, and we haven’t had sex yet. That’s pretty much the description of a date. Try again.”
He smirks and rubs his long fingers over his lips, thinking. In the firelight, his hair shimmers with pieces of gold and his jaw is even more rugged.
It’s a sight to behold.
“I dare you to take your hair down,” he says, gesturing to the messy bun I have it pulled into.
“That’s pretty easy.” I reach up and shake it out, letting my hair spill over my shoulders. His eyes widen, just a bit.
“It’s not easy to sit here and watch you do that and not pull you under me so I can fuck you blind.”
“So, you like my hair?”
“I do.”
I nod. “Okay, your turn. Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Hmm.” I tilt my head, watching him. “Why did you keep asking me out, even after I turned you down more than once?”
A slow grin slides over his lips. “Have you looked in a mirror, sweetheart?”
“I don’t buy it,” I say, shaking my head. “Pretty girls are a dime a dozen. That doesn’t make a guy come back for more rejection.”
“I liked the way your eyes lit up when I talked about the wines,” he says. “You are beautiful, but when you’re talking about something you’re passionate about, you just light up, and maybe I wanted that to last just a bit longer.”
“That’s sweet,” I murmur.
“Truth or Dare?” he asks.
“Okay, I’ll cave. Truth.”
“Tell me more about your family.”
“My mom is great,” I begin and pluck at a loose thread on one of his pillows. “She’s still in Texas, and she has a knitting shop that she co-owns with my aunt.”
“And your dad?”
“The man who raised me owns a hardware store. He’s a good man and makes my mom happy. But my biological father? Never knew him,” I reply with a shrug. “He died in a drowning accident before I was born.”
“That had to be tough for your mom.”
“Broke her heart,” I agree. “She always talked about him, even after she married Bruce. Made sure to have photos of him about, but he was never a real person for me, you know? It’s like seeing a movie star in a movie. You can see that they exist, but you don’t actually have a relationship with that person.”
“I get it.”
“That’s my dad. From what I’ve been told, he was a good guy. Young, at only twenty-two when he died. But you can’t really mourn for a person you never knew.”
“Can we keep going with the truth for a bit?” he asks, and I grin.
“Sure.”
“I told you why I kept asking you out. Now I want to know why you kept shooting me down.”
I take a deep breath and he switches feet, massaging the other one, and I want to purr. The warmth of the room, the fire, the wine… It all relaxes me, and I feel safe in this place, with this man.
So, I do what I rarely ever do… I talk.
“A few reasons, really. First, because I’d always assumed that you were a bit of a man-slut. I know it’s not fair to label someone without knowing the whole story, but I knew you weren’t married, you’re in your thirties, and you flirt easily with just about any woman who looks your way. And let’s be honest, it’s mostly women at a wine tour.” I tilt my head to the side and watch the firelight bounce off his face. “And I’m not saying that I was looking for anything permanent, but I also don’t want to ever be just a notch in a bedpost.”
“And the other reasons?”
“Dating doesn’t ever really work out for me.”
“Why do you say that?”
You’re not going to marry this guy. Just spill it.
“I’m not really much of a catch. And trust me when I say, I’m not a martyr. It’s just the truth, because that’s one of our rules.”
“I think that should be a rule all the time, not just tonight.”
I nod and bite my lip, thinking.
“You see, I don’t want children. Ever. I won’t apologize for the way I feel about it, and I most likely will never change my mind. It just is. I love being a teacher, and I love my students, but I don’t want to spend all day with them, then come home and have to continue parenting.”
He switches back to my other foot, continuing to massage me, and it’s like a truth serum. I can’t make the words stop now.
“It’s sad, but it feels like parents put a lot of the parenting responsibility on teachers these days. Maybe it’s always been that way, but I don’t remember it being quite like this when I was a kid. There are children who show up to school hungry, dirty, sad. Scared. They don’t have school supplies. Or lunch.”
“And you give them all of those things.”
“Of course I do. I can’t believe that their parents don’t provide the basic necessities for their children to learn. When they’re hungry and dirty, they’re distracted. They can’t learn, Chase, and it makes me so angry and sad, all at the same time. I love my job and I’m dedicated to it. And that’s good enough for me.
“So, I’ve dated a couple of men, one was a long-term relationship of a couple of years. I was honest from the beginning. I don’t want kids. It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be open to a relationship, and even marriage, if the right person came along.
“So, two years into this thing, he says, ‘Maybe we should consider kids.’” I shake my head and take a sip of the fresh glass of wine that Chase just poured us both. “I said no. I hadn’t changed my mind in the least and asked him if he had wanted kids all along.”
“Let me guess. He thought that as time passed, you’d change your mind.”
“Bingo.” I shrug one shoulder and remember the hurt, the sense of betrayal that came with that. “I never lied to him. I never led him on. And he’s not the only one to do something like that. It’s almost like when I say in the beginning that I don’t want children, they think to themselves how cute, and expect me to come around eventually.”
“I totally get it,” he says with a nod.
“It’s just a waste of time,” I murmur. “So, yeah, I have a bit of a player reputation because I don’t commit to one guy and I do as I please. I’m a grown woman, and I’m not going to sulk at home just because I’ve made the decision to not have children. I’m not damaged or weird.”
“Not at all,” he says with a smile. “You’re quite wonderful, really.”
“Thanks. Okay, your turn. Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Tell me about your family. I know Mac, but I don’t think I know much about your parents.”
He takes a deep breath, chugs his wine, and gathers his thoughts.
“They’re still married,” he begins. “And this is going to be a long story because it’ll inevitably lead to other questions, so I’ll just dump it all out at once.”
“Wow, a truth dump. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t ever bared my soul like this before.”
“No, this isn’t typical for me either. Maybe it’s the fire?”
“The wine?” I add.
“Maybe it’s just you,” he says softly. “And for the record, Maura, I’m glad you turned me down so much. It was a bruise to my ego, but you saying no made you that much more intriguing. It made me want to know more about you.”
“I really wasn’t playing hard to get.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. If I thought for a moment that you were playing a game, I would have washed my hands of you long ago. No, I was just so damn interested to learn more, and I’m glad because now that I’ve learned more about you, both physically and emotionally, I think you are a catch. I think you’re pretty great.”
“Now you’re just making my head big, and I won’t be able to get out the front door in the morning if you keep it up.”
“You don’t have an ego,” he says and squeezes my foot before lifting it to his lips and kissing the pad of my big toe.
“Do you have a foot fetish?”
“Do you want the answer to that or the question about my family?”
“Both. Start with the foot fetish.”
“I don’t have a foot fetish, but I’m also not repulsed by feet. Yours are sexy as fuck.”
“It’s because Tommy and I get pedicures every week. It’s our splurge.”
He nods and kisses my toe again, and I practically melt right here on his couch.
“Your lips should come with a warning label.”