Page 45 of Fierce-Michael

“Doesn’t need to be said to me,” he said. “I can’t balance one woman, let alone two.”

He was smiling when he said it so she was going to take it as a joke rather than be hurt over it. “Good. The other thing, are we telling anyone? I mean we know a lot of the same people. Do we want coworkers to know?”

“I’m not one for volunteering much about my personal life,” he said. “Did you want to tell coworkers?”

“No,” she said. “That is where I was going. I should tell you that I’ve asked Jolene to set me up in the past. She comes in and is always talking to me when she visits. But she’s never hinted that she had anyone for me. Has she said anything to you?”

“She’s always fishing, but I never bite,” he said. “And if you are worried she is trying to set us up, I don’t think so. I’m not going to say she hasn’t said your name in passing in the past several years, but it’s not anything like a red flag waving at a bull in an arena.”

“The same,” she said. “Your name has come up but nothing more than several other people in passing and nothing that would lead me to believe she was planning something out.”

Kelly wasn’t sure how she felt about that but told herself to let it go.

It was better if she found something on her own anyway.

“You don’t want her to know we are dating? Right?” he asked.

“Not right now. It’s early yet.”

“That means you can’t let Cade know,” he said. “He’s not good with secrets.”

She laughed. “No, he’s not. But he’s always the last to know or figure things out and I think he’s a little busy getting ready for Jordan’s birth, so no worries there.”

“Ella is pretty smart,” he said.

“She is. She’ll be the one I have to watch out for, but I’ll be fine. Even if she found out somehow, she wouldn’t say a word to her mother.”

Ella loved to keep her mother guessing. It seemed all the siblings did now.

“Alex wouldn’t say anything if she found out. I guess I need to know if you want this to be a secret for that reason or something else?”

It was the way he was looking at her. Uncertainty and she didn’t want him to have any doubts about them.

Talk about a great way to ruin something good that was just starting.

She moved closer and put her arms around his waist from behind and hugged him. “This isn’t a secret from anyone other than coworkers. I told my parents on Sunday that I’d been on a few dates with you. I hope that was okay.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “I guess that makes me feel a little better. I’m not normally someone who doesn’t trust easily.”

“But you might have wondered if I was trying to be secretive in case there was someone else?”

She hoped he didn’t think that. She wouldn’t have expected it of him. It’s not like she got the impression he was someonewho had been burned by a cheating ex. Just one that was irresponsible.

“Not really,” he said. “Everyone has secrets and it’s letting those people in.”

“Got it,” she said.

“What did you tell your parents?” he asked. “How did it come up?”

She laughed. “They asked me to dinner on Sunday. I told my mother I wanted a light meal since I went to the fair on Saturday. My parents know how I am about fair food and they just asked if I went alone or with friends. I told them it was a date.”

“You would actually go to the fair alone?” he asked.

“For the food,” she said. “I’d buy a bunch and leave after. It’d be worth the price of admission for that alone, but I haven’t done it in years.”

Talk about sounding pathetic.

“We all have things we like,” he said. “So your parents know about Ty?”

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