Page 287 of The First Time
He shrugsmaybe.
He is teasing me. And it makes me warm. But then it also makes me want him more. Wantthismore. His affection is real. A part of him cares about me. And that's confusing.
We're getting divorced in six months.
I can't fall in love with Blake.
I can't get confused.
"Are you telling me I should change?" I ask.
"Were you planning on wearing that?"
I'm in jeans and a sweater. Not exactly a nice outfit, but the kind of thing people wear to dinner at a parent's house. "Why? Does your mother have a problem with women who shop at H&M?"
"No. But Fiona will have a comment."
"I'll put on one of my dresses."
"It's up to you."
"Is it? You seem insistent."
"No." His fingers skim my leg. "I want to protect you from my sister, but I'm not sure it's possible."
"She hates me already?"
"She doesn't think you have good intentions."
"She's right."
"No. Your intentions are good. They just aren't love."
I guess that's true. "Maybe… well, I don't know anything about you. Not really." I move off the couch. There aren't many places to go in this enormous apartment, at least not in the way of furniture. I take a seat on a stool in the kitchen. "This would work better if we really did love each other. As friends." More than that is out of the question. And contemplating the possibility of it is confusing.
"What would you like to know?"
"Something important," I say. "Something your fiancée would know."
"You know everything important. The documents I sent over with Jordan—"
"That's all stuff anyone could find online. What about the Blake behind the suit and the steel expression?"
The steel expression softens. He slips out of his suit jacket, undoes the top two buttons of his shirt, and pulls it open. He points to a thin scar running across his chest. It's light. Faint. "See this?"
I nod.
"I tell people I fell out of a tree. You'll see at my mother's house. None of the trees are sturdy enough to climb."
"What happened?" I ask.
"My parents were fighting. I stepped in. My father hit me instead."
My stomach flip-flops. That's something a lot of people wouldn't know.
It's awful, but Blake's expression is still stone.
It's matter of fact.
