Page 19 of Inevitable

“Sounds like my gran,” Claire replied, running her hand over the patio table. Sweet memories floated up of the woman who had loved and cared for her.

“So, your gran raised you after your parents passed?” he asked as he shut the lid of the barbecue.

“Yes, she took me in and raised me through my teens. Not everyone wants to take on a teenager, but she did and seemed to relish having me with her. I think who I am today has a lot to do with her.”

“Only if you’re lucky do you get someone like that in your life.”

“That sure is the truth. I was very lucky to have someone so loving and strong. The woman passed on her love of flowered dresses, Jell-O, and chicken-fried steak, and I embraced it completely. I also developed my programming skills due to her failing health during my senior year in high school, and I ended up with a career.”

“Now, there is a story that I want to hear.” He checked his watch, then pulled the steaks off the grill and plated them. “Let me get my T-shirt back on and we can go into the kitchen and get everything together.”

Standing, she put her hand on his and shook her head. “It’s hot. You might as well be comfortable.” When he gave her a blazing, sexy smile, she figured that she’d somehow shown her hand. So what if she wanted to enjoy a beautiful view at dinner? It didn’t make her a bad person for thinking that Brady was the beautiful view she wanted to enjoy. “It’s your home. You should be comfortable.”

“Same goes for you, Claire. You want to take anything off to cool down…feel free.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I like my guests to be comfortable.”

Clearing her throat, she looked down at the very interesting concrete and prayed her face wasn’t the color of a tomato. “You’re an excellent host.”

“You have no idea, Claire, how excellent I can be.” He took her hand, lifted the plate filled with steaks, and led her into the house.

Breathing deeply, she tried to get herself calmed down. Being around Brady felt both familiar and exciting. Like she’d known him for a long time but had the hots for him just the same. Two of the best feelings in the world rolled into one. She’d never thought the two went together for some reason, but being around Brady let her know she’d been wrong.

Very wrong.

Once they were in the house, they worked side by side in the kitchen with complete ease. No bumping into one another or fussing. It was like a dance they’d done a thousand times before. Once they had their plates made and glasses filled, they walked into the sunroom and sat down. Just as they were about to start eating, Claire popped up. “I almost forgot. I made a playlist. Let me get it and we can see how our tastes collide.”

“We collide just fine,” Brady commented as she pulled her bag off the counter and got her phone and wireless speaker out. Once she had it set up, she hit Play, and the sound of Johnnyswim filled the room. “I hope you like this. I just discovered this duo and I love them. They marry a Nashville vibe with some LA cool.”

Brady listened for a moment and grinned. “I like it. What’s the name of this song?”

“Summertime Romance,” she said quietly. When he covered her hand with his and lifted an eyebrow, she knew he was going to read into it more than there was.

“Our romance is going to last about a hundred summers, so it seems fitting.”

Bingo, she thought. Definitely making more of her song choice than there was. When he didn’t say anything else, she moved her shaking hand away and set it into her lap. Maybe just leave it alone and hope he let it go.

Brady lifted his fork and pointed at her plate. “Let’s eat so we can get to the Jell-O.”

Laughing, she decided not to worry about one summer or a hundred and just tried to enjoy the evening. “So, how do you like being back home and working in the private sector?”

“I like how you start out with the easy questions. What happened to ‘What’s your favorite movie?’ or ‘What do you like to do in your free time?’”

“I already know that because you filled out the questionnaire and I read all your answers.”

“And…”

“You were really honest when you answered all the questions.”

“Kind of thought that was the point. Show who you are and see if it’s going to work?”

“In theory, yes.”

“Let me guess. You polished up your answers for your online dating profile and expected that everyone else did the same.”

“Well…if you want an honest answer, yes, I polished myself up so that I might appeal to someone. Let’s face it, admitting that you don’t much care for wild nights and prefer watching a movie at home is not going to get many men interested.”

“I’m interested. I like what we did this weekend. Minus the trip to the crappy bar across town, the weekend was about perfect. We had ice cream sundaes on Friday night, breakfast and a walk on Saturday. Plus, dinner at my brother’s house with friends. Then we had a late lunch and an afternoon in a park looking at dogs. Granted, we didn’t find one yet, but we can keep looking, and I expect by the end of summer, we’ll find the one meant for us.” Leaning over, he kissed her gently. “If we add a couple more thousand of those kisses, then I’d say we have a formula for a weekend that we’ll both enjoy.”

When he put it that way, he was exactly right. It was the perfect weekend. And the things he wanted to add were real interesting to her, despite the fake protests she was trying to conjure up. She was attracted to Brady. Hell, she’d have to be deaf and blind not to be. And since she wasn’t either of those things, she didn’t think that resisting him was going to last much longer. “I can’t disagree with you.”

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