Page 70 of Burning Love
She kept coming back to him so she had to be fine with it.
Why else ask if he could come to dinner today?
Not just to see her mother again, but meet Elias. Who was already here judging by the truck in the driveway.
He got out and walked to the front door, but it opened before he made it to the stairs.
“Oh, thank God you didn’t bring your motorcycle.”
He appreciated that she hadn’t asked him not to, but he remembered that she’d said before her mother would throw a fit if she knew Jace had one and that Talia might have ridden on it.
They went for a ride each weekend. He’d never dated a woman who actually enjoyed a quiet trip on country roads like Talia did.
If he expected Talia to be more like someone who wanted to hit the nightclubs, he’d been way off.
Not once had it come up to do that.
“It would have announced my arrival.”
She leaned up to give him a kiss. “It would have and I would have gotten even more lectures, so I appreciate that being saved for another time. Elias showed up with Phoebe.”
“His girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
He knew Phoebe Kelly was an attorney originally from Charlotte. What he’d been stunned to hear was that her brother,Ben, was the head brewmaster for Fierce. One of his go-to beers when he ran out of Fifth Kid.
“I should have asked this the other day. What does he know about me?”
“That you’re a fireman and also work construction with your father when you aren’t working on your house.”
He’d taken a break from the work on his house. He’d put in more money than he thought he would in the past six months and could use to build his savings back up.
What better way than work a few days a week with his father.
He nodded and followed her back into the house. “Do I get to see where you live while I’m here?”
“Sure. I didn’t know you wanted to.”
“You haven’t offered.”
He thought it was because her mother was home and she’d been hiding the fact they’d been dating.
Though her mother was aware for the past almost two weeks, it still hadn’t come up for him to stop over.
He wasn’t sure why that bothered him when in the past he would have welcomed it.
She worked during the day as he had too. They’d only seen each other Tuesday night for a few hours. Friday he was at the firehouse, then yesterday she came over in the afternoon once he was up and they went for a ride and had dinner.
It felt like all they did was that—fall into bed whenever they saw each other. He wanted to believe there was something more between them, something deeper. But part of him wondered why he even thought that, especially after being so clear he wasn’t looking for anything serious.
“I didn’t think you’d want to come here, but now you are. You can stop over any time you want. My mother will most likely extend that invitation. Don’t be surprised if it comes with a lot of questions you might not want to answer.”
“Ahhh.”
“She’s nosy that way. I told you that. Be prepared. You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to.”
“I don’t plan on it.” But he wouldn’t be rude.
