Page 44 of Fierce-Hyde

He’d been told he was a smooth talker before and was going to put it into action now.

“Do you know why you do that?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “Which is worse.”

“Not really,” he said. “I do the same. Maybe not as much as you or don’t feel as strongly. You know why I acted that way at our first meeting and I know it’s hard to get that out of your mind, but I had a reason.”

“You did,” she said. “And knowing what that is, I don’t hold it against you.”

“That’s right. But I don’t know your reason and I’m not holding anything against you. But I’d like to know that reason.”

She laughed, but it wasn’t a funny sound. “I can’t give you a reason if I don’t know it myself.”

“Can I guess what it is?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said. “Humor me.”

He laughed. “I think you’re attracted to me.”

“Duh,” she said. “I’d be blind not to be, but looks aren’t everything.”

“I’m attracted to you,” he said.

“Duh,” she said again, smiling. “But I’ll be a broken record and say looks aren’t everything.”

“No,” he said. “They aren’t. You reacted and were upset over the text. You admitted it and it wasn’t just words but how you looked when you talked to me. For the few times we’ve spent together, you were deeply hurt when a lot of people would just move on.”

Her head went back and forth. “I was. It’s not like me to hurt someone else.”

“And you cared that you did,” he said. “Right?”

“I care about that with anyone,” she said. “Not just you.”

He paused. Not what he wanted to hear.

“Regardless,” he said. “I think that we could have something if we wanted to try one more time. Another date. If things don’t work out, then I’ll leave you alone. Or you can say no and I’ll understand and we can pretend this conversation didn’t happen anymore than the other ones.”

“It’s hard to pretend the rest didn’t happen,” she said. “I’m not into avoidance. It’s not healthy.”

Which could be part of why his life crashed and burned last year.

He’d tried to avoid and pretend and didn’t handle things well rather than address them head-on.

She was right. He wasn’t going to do that this time.

Which was part of why he was talking to her now.

Deal with it head-on.

“It’s not,” he said. “I can learn from that. Maybe you can teach me.”

She laughed. “That doesn’t sound like a date but more like a session.”

“No session,” he said. “I’d like a date if you’re available. Tonight, if you want.” So she didn’t change her mind after she thought about it. “I promise if an emergency happens again, which I hope to hell it doesn’t, that I will at least let you know. I won’t put my phone on silent this time. Ironically, the reason I did was in preparation for our date that night.”

He had to figure out a better way to just not answer it, or at least wait and put it on silent once they were together.

He’d done it early so he wasn’t sidetracked like he’d been accused of by Shana in the past.

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