Page 48 of Give Me a Shot

“Yeah,” he said. “But she was with Khalil, one of my brothers, this morning. I didn’t want to be the third wheel; that’s why I agreed to take Rick’s class.” He thought she might have met Rick, but he wasn’t sure.

“I’m certainly glad you did,” she said.

His shyness surged, his face heating both at her words and at the change in her voice. It was warmer and rich, the way it might sound if they were lying in bed together.

“Me too.”

“You know,” she began, “something’s been bothering me since the smithy.”

“What’s that?”

“You said, ‘I guess maybe’ when I asked you if you couldn’t tell I wanted you.”

His shyness back twofold, his face burned. He ran a hand down it. While yes, he had understood that she was attracted to him when they’d kissed, he was accustomed to that changing the more a woman got to know him. Attraction to him always seemed temporary.

So he’d taught himself not to rely on his initial read.

“Why would you doubt that?” she asked.

“I…” He stood, taking a few steps to gather the courage to explain. Then he remembered what Khalil had said. A little humor would make it easier to talk about. He cleared his throat. “According to my brother, I am simply clueless when it comes to understanding that a woman is really interested in me.”

“Your brother Khalil?”

“Yes.” He nudged an errant pebble back into Maddie’s rock garden. “I…uh…asked him for some advice about you, and he understood that there was more interest on your side than I thought.”

“Well, he was right,” she said. “And if it makes you feel any better, I needed advice, too. I haven’t dated in forever, like I said. So I needed help from Alice and Stephanie, my two best friends.”

“You talked to your friends about me?” he asked.

She laughed.

“Why do you say it like that? Do you think I wouldn’t talk to someone about you?”

The thought hadn’t occurred to him, and he kind of liked the fact that they both sought out advice. His curiosity kept him from fully registering one of Mrs. Sargysan’s curtains moving back into place.

“What did they say?” he asked.

“Essentially that I need to get my head out of my ass,” Jess said.

Mo chuckled. “That’s what Khalil told me, too,” he said.

They were both quiet for a moment, but Mo didn’t feel like she was waiting for him to say something. That’s how it felt with most people, but with Jess, he felt comfortable, not like she was expecting anything from him.

“I don’t want to push you out of your comfort zone,” she said eventually. “And since it’s been a long time for us both, maybe we should take things slowly.”

He appreciated her concern for his comfort. Most people didn’t get him like she seemed to. But he didn’t want her to feel like she needed to tiptoe around him.

“Thanks for thinking of me, but I don’t want you to do anything that’s difficult or uncomfortable for you, either. I don’t want you to feel like you have to treat me with kid gloves,” Mo said. “I’m a sturdy guy, I won’t break.”

Her breathy chuckle sent tingles down his spine.

“Oh, I know that,” she said.

There was something about her voice. Mo would have been hard-pressed to explain everything it was doing to him, but the sudden weakness in his legs forced him back to the stairs to sit down.

“Uh…what do you mean?” His tongue felt heavy; his throat was dry.

“Um…have you…” She let out another one of those breathy chuckles. “Probably not, but have you ever seen yourself while you’re working? Like maybe in a video?”

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