Page 10 of When Love Is Unexpected

"You never asked," he says. "I asked you about Eric, but you never asked me about my love life."

"I didn't think it was any of my business," I say.

"But we talk about everything," he says. "I expected you to at least ask me if I was seeing anyone, but you never did."

Maybe because I didn't want to know.

I watch him load our cart with bananas, strawberries, eggs, milk, juice, water, coffee, and yogurt. I grab a couple of steaks, bacon, spices, salt, and pepper.

"What about bread?" I ask.

"I don't eat bread," he says, "unless it's pizza."

"Is that how you keep your svelte figure?" I ask, eyeing him from top to bottom.

"Are you checking me out?" he asks.

"Of course not!" I exclaim. "I'm not the least bit attracted to you."

"Oh, that's right," he begins. "you're only attracted to pretty boys."

"Ha, ha," I say. "Leave Eric out of this. But speaking of pretty boys, I thought Zoe was going to have to mop the floor after we left."

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"Yeah, she was drooling over you the entire time we were there. Don't tell me you didn't notice."

That makes him laugh out loud. God, I missed his laugh.

"I don't think I'm Zoe's type," he says.

"How do you know?" I ask.

"She likes men with tattoos."

"Oh?" I ask, "How do you know that?"

"Her ex-husband came into the studio one day to pick up their son. He has a full sleeve, and there's probably more."

"Well," I say, "if you weren't deathly afraid of needles, I'd recommend you get one."

He laughs, but it's a fake laugh.

"Wait," I say, stopping midway down the aisle and reaching for his arm. "Do you have one? Where?"

"I never said I have a tattoo," he says.

"Where is it?" I ask, knowing that he's lying to me.

His silence only confirms it.

"Do you still like pasta?" I ask, saving the tattoo conversation for later.

"Yeah, I love pasta."

"Good," I say, "I'm making spaghetti a la Carbonara for dinner, so let's grab some pancetta, cheese, a good olive oil, and a baguette because I love bread."

"How about some wine?" he asks.

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