Page 38 of Rugged Fox

I wiggled down until I was resting on my side with my head propped on my hand, and my elbow bent. "Now I'm curious who helped."

It couldn't have been Lyla. She would've bragged about knowing what I was doing on my date. That was just the kind of friend she was. That left his friends.

"Aaron is the one who told me about this place, and while I'm not a horrible cook, I'm nowhere near your level of cooking from scratch, so I called in reinforcements." He paused, wrestling with what to say next, and I was beginning to think he wasn't going to tell me who helped him when he blurted out, "Mrs. Hill made everything except what I purchased from the bakery."

I rolled onto my back and let the laughter consume me. Easton said the words so quickly like I would judge him for seeking help. He had no idea just how wrong he was.

When I was finally able to get my laughter under control, I sat up and crossed my legs so that my dress tucked nicely and didn't flash him. "Mrs. Hill is an amazing cook. I'm honored to eat anything she's made and the fact that she was willing to help is great. I'm excited to see what she sent."

"I can promise you it's a mystery to me as well. Her exact words when I asked were 'leave it to me. I'll take care of everything.' There was no way I could say no to that, but I heard Maisie's crumb cake was your favorite, so I made sure to pick that up."

If Easton was aiming to steal my heart, then he was doing a damn good job. I was ready to throw it at him and pray he didn't destroy it. The logical part of my brain said that wasn't a good idea, but I wasn't paying attention to that part of me at the moment.

With each container Easton opened, my mouth watered more. Mrs. Hill's famous shredded lemon chicken was first up, followed by her potato salad and seasoned green beans. There were fresh rolls with cinnamon butter and strawberry pecan salad to start. Mrs. Hill had gone all out.

Easton’s eyes grew wide. "I'm ashamed to admit I was expecting grilled chicken and maybe one side. Holy shit, Aaron's mom went all out. She spoiled us when we deployed, but this is insane."

I couldn't remember the last time I laughed so much.

"This is par for the course with her. She's of the mindset of going big or going home. I don't think she has ever chosen the go-home option. It's always go big with her."

"Remind me at Christmas that she deserves a big present."

Christmas was more than seven months away. That fact rolled around in my head as I filled up my fancy plastic plate with the amazing food, and accepted the bottle of water and plastic glass of wine. It wasn't until we were settled and ready to eat that I asked.

"Does that mean we’ll still be spending time together come Christmas? I would sure hope things were resolved long before then."

I wanted to kick myself for the uncertainty in my tone. This was our first date and already I was asking questions about the future.

Smooth. Real fucking smooth.

I waved my hand like I could wipe away the words. "Please, forget I asked that."

Easton set his plate down and then reached for mine and did the same. "No, I won't forget it. I wasn't going to bring it up tonight because I didn't want you running away scared. I'm attracted to you, Kati. I think that's been obvious since the first time we met. But this is all new to me. I don't date, and believe me.” He huffed out a laugh. “I know how crazy that sounds considering my age, but it's the truth. I was married to the Marines. That was the only future I saw for myself. A wife and kids, that wasn't in the cards and I was okay with that. Honestly, I always considered marriage a piece of paper and I still do."

I took a deep breath and held it, waiting for a shoe to drop. I wasn't pro-marriage and I wasn't anti-marriage. It was never something I thought about before, but the way Easton was talking, it was something he didn't ever want.

"I'm screwing this all up." He shook his head. "I'm attracted to you. I have feelings for you. Is it love? Fuck if I know. I've never been in love before, and I didn't exactly have a good example of it growing up, but I know I want to find out. I know I want to spend as much time with you and Lucien as possible. But am I going to drop down to my knee and ask you to marry me tomorrow? Probably not because that's just not the kind of guy I am. You having my last name doesn't change anything. How I feel in my heart at the end of the day is what matters to me more. I'm also turning fifty soon and the thought of having a baby scares the shit out of me. Would I do it for someone I love? I mean maybe, but I'm also happy with how things are now."

Easton let out a loud exhale, exhausted from his monologue. "I guess what I'm trying to say, albeit very badly, is would you still consider dating me knowing that marriage might not be on the table and Lucien would be your only child?"

Talk about a heavy topic on a first date. When I asked about Christmas, I hadn't thought things would escalate so quickly. On the other hand, I was glad it did. It was important to me that we were on the same page before we got too far into things. Especially when I had Lucien to think about. I had been very careful over the years to keep men out of his life because I refused to be one of those mothers who rotated through them.

A flash of panic rolled across Easton’s face. "You're awfully quiet. I screwed this up already, didn't I? I warned you, I didn't date very well."

I reached for his hand and smiled. "You didn't screw anything up. I certainly didn't expect such a deep conversation so early on but I appreciate it." I let out my own loud exhale. "Was there a time in my life where I wished to give Lucien a sibling? Sure, but I don't feel the same way anymore. I have a teenage son and I'm not eager to start back at the baby stage. I know a lot of people talk about baby fever, but I'm not one of them. I'm thrilled with just Lucien."

"And the whole marriage thing?"

I played with his fingers. "I have no strong feelings either way. Like you, I never saw it in my future. Now, ask me that again after we've spent more time together."

With that, the heavy conversations were put away for the night. We ate and laughed. We enjoyed looking at the stars. We dipped our toes in the lake. With every passing second, we were drawn closer and closer to each other. The touches got hotter. The kisses were more frequent, and just like Easton promised, I was begging him to take me back to his place.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Easton

I was holding on by a thread. No, fuck that, I was holding on by much less. Every touch, every tease had sent me closer to the edge. Why the hell had I chosen a location that was so far away from my apartment, knowing where we would end up?

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