Page 25 of Fumbled Beginning

“Who is to say you haven’t met him yet?” He winked.

“Speaking of dates, why were you so agitated with me the night I babysat Zander?”

The muscle in his jaw ticked. “Because I assumed you set it up.”

That’s exactly what I thought. “Well, I told you I didn’t, and that doesn’t explain your attitude toward me that night.”

He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Because, Rylee, you’ve been shooting me down left and right and it felt like you were shoving someone else in my face.”

Oh, I sat back in my seat. His blunt honesty threw me off, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Where are we going?” I asked, noticing we were headed in the opposite direction of my condo.

“Seeing that your date didn’t feed you, I’m going to rectify that situation.”

I folded my arms and twisted in my seat. “Is that so?”

“Yep. His loss is my gain.”

* * *

“You didn’t get anything?” I asked, opening the cardboard box. The pizza looked amazing, and I noticed he got me exactly what I liked without even asking.

“I already ate.”

“Do you mind if I eat in your truck, because I’m starving?”

He reached over to the glove box and pulled out a pile of napkins. “Dig in.”

I placed the pizza in my mouth and moaned when the flavors hit my tongue. It was a huge slice, so I folded it in half and ate it like I hadn’t had a carb in years. I was so hungry that I didn’t even care that I was eating like a starved animal in front of him.

JP handed me a napkin once I was finished with my second piece.

“That hit the spot. Thank you.”

He glanced at me and back to the road. “Did you save room for dessert?”

I patted my stomach and let out a long sigh. “I always have room for dessert.”

“Good, because there is a food truck that serves the best apple fritter donuts and cider you’ll ever have.”

“You had me at donut.”

He winked and pulled off the highway. He kept one hand on the steering wheel and the other rested along the center console between our two seats. I couldn’t help but notice how muscular his forearms were. He had a sleeve of black tattoos along each arm. I’ve seen enough pictures of him to know that the tattoos covered the top half of his chest. They were beautiful works of art, and all seemed to have some type of spiritual meaning.

I was so caught up in trying to decipher what they meant that I didn’t notice where we were until we pulled into a little park overlooking a small lake. There was a block with food trucks shutting down for the night.

He turned off the engine and looked across the parking lot. “Do you want me to get the desserts to go or eat here?”

There were heat lamps lining the picnic area, and it was a nice night out. I also wasn’t ready to have him bring me home yet. “I wouldn’t mind eating here.”

JP nodded his head, seeming pleased with that answer. He hurried out of the truck and tried to race around to my side to help me out, but I beat him to it.

We walked side by side as I followed him up to a pink truck with pictures of sprinkled donuts across the front. It had a big sign over the top that said, Glazed & Confused.

After placing our order, we walked along the pier to a small bench at the end. JP handed me my cider and unwrapped my donut for me.

“Thank you,” I said, taking a bite. It was hot and tasted absolutely delicious.

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