Page 85 of Pucking Tangled
Mia laughed.
Fuck he loved the sound of her laugh.
“We’ll see.” She took another sip of her milkshake. “Okay. My turn to ask you a question.”
“Go for it.” Tonight, he was an open book.
“Do you still have all of your teeth?”
Waylon smiled wide then laughed, telling her the story of how he lost his front tooth in a scuffle with a pissed off goalie the year before he got drafted.
“Knock on wood,” he tapped the tabletop, “that’s the only tooth I’ve lost. My parents paid for me to have an implant put in so I wouldn’t go walking around looking like Stu fromThe Hangover.”
Mia covered her mouth and giggled.
“And your tattoos?” she said after she’d finished laughing at him.
“What about them?” He glanced at the ones visible on his arms.
“I assume they all mean something.”
His skin prickled as she reached out and traced over clock on the inside of his forearm.
“Not gonna lie, I got the first one to the minute I turned 18. Just to piss off my parents,” he chuckled. “But they all mean something. They’re a part of my story, if you will. It helped that each one only made Mom and Dad madder.”
He didn’t tell her that several had been hand drawn by him, too.
Mia made that adorable little face, the one where she scrunched up her nose when she was trying to figure something out. “Are you not close with your parents?”
“Yes and no. It’s a long story. One for another day.”
Because the last thing he wanted to do was dive into the complex relationship he had with DeeAnna and Tristan Ryan.
Mia nodded and have his hand a squeeze.
They finished their meals—burgers and fries and milkshakes—of course, and Waylon ordered a slice of apple pie for them to share as they laughed together some more.
And for the first time since Mia moved in, Waylon didn’t feel like he was falling behind.
Struggling to breathe.
He felt alive and present.
They were getting to know each other beyond the tension and chemistry. Opening up to one another on a deeper level and building a foundation. Something he should have done all along, instead of treating her like another conquest. Especially since she was anything but.
Eventually, they closed the diner down.
Waylon left the waitress a hefty tip and signed a paper menu for a keepsake.
Then he walked Mia out to his truck and helped her inside.
“Are you in a hurry to get back?” he asked as he fired the truck up.
“Not at all. What did you have in mind?”
He reached across the center and took her hand in his. “It’s a surprise.”
He drove out to Overlook Park and they sat on the tailgate of his truck, staring out over the city lights and taking in the night sky.
