Page 76 of Up All Night

I hadn’t made it a secret I wasn’t a fan of running. “Okay, so we won’t be doing somethingthatcrazy. Why anyone chooses to do that is beyond me.”

“Some people enjoy running.”

“Yeah, and those same people enjoy waking up at six every morning.” I made a disgusted face even though he couldn’t see it through the phone. “See? Crazy.”

He laughed louder. “So I don’t need to wear my running shoes. Good to know.”

I pulled out some fruit and put it out on the counter. “I’ll finish getting ready and work on putting our brunch together. I should be down in about thirty minutes. Ish.”

“Ish?”

“Yep,” I said, popping the p. “See you soon.” I ended the call before he could get me to nail down a more specific time.

Today was going to be doubly fun. Getting to be with Westandgetting him out of his comfort zone would be extremely enjoyable.

West laid out the blanket I’d brought, and I placed the small cooler I’d brought on it. It was a beautiful morning, a rare day with no fog hiding our perfect view of the Golden Gate Bridge. We sat down, and I opened the cooler to show West what I’d packed, setting out fruit, mini bagels, flavored cream cheese, and yogurt.

“GoGurt?” he asked with a smile as he held up the yogurt-filled tube.

“What’s wrong with GoGurt?”

“Nothing,” he chuckled. “I just haven’t had it since I was a kid.”

I grabbed the other GoGurt. “Then you’re missing out. Who doesn’t like yogurt on the go? It’s great for busy people like us.” I opened the top and took a slurp of the mixed-berry flavored yogurt.

He opened his GoGurt and tentatively put it in his mouth.

As I watched him, I couldn’t help noticing again how good he looked in casual clothing. When he’d opened his door this morning wearing a slate-blue Henley paired with jeans, I’d had to work to keep my face neutral. His six a.m. workouts were definitely not a waste of his time. Even now as he held up the yogurt to his mouth, I could see the way his biceps flexed.

A look of surprise crossed his face. “I forgot how good these are.”

“Have you ever tried them frozen?” I froze them so I could take them with me to work, and they’d be all slushie goodness by the time I ate them.

He shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”

“They’re really good that way.”

Okay, so I was officially the worst at making lively conversation. Were we really sitting here talking about yogurt? If I had any hope of making my day better than West’s, I’d have to step up my conversation game.

Last Saturday had made it apparent I was rusty at this whole spending time with a guy thing, but I had definitely gotten worse in the past week if GoGurts were our main topic of conversation.

“So, how was work this week?” I asked, hoping that was a better topic choice.

“It was really good.” He grabbed a mini bagel and opened the cream cheese. “My sister surprised me at work yesterday and made me take a lunch break with her, which was good for me since I never leave the office unless it’s for a working lunch.”

“I thought she already worked there.” I’d assumed dear daddy Vanderhall had his kids working at his company as soon as they graduated from high school, doing some sort of internship at least.

“Demi decided to take a couple years off before starting her MBA. My dad hated it, but she insisted she wanted to go explore and live her life before having to commit to getting her MBA from Stanford, which my dad requires before he will hire one of his kids at Vanderall Capital, and then work forever at the family business.”

Wow. A masters from Stanford was a prerequisite? “So you didn’t choose to go to Stanford on your own?”

“Nope.” He popped a blackberry into his mouth.

I grabbed a blackberry as well. “I mean, I knew business school was a must, but I didn’t realize Stanford was a requirement.”

He looked out at the water, the bridge in the distance. “My dad went to Stanford, and his dad went to Stanford. What college I would attend was never a question.”

“And you were fine with that?”

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