Page 41 of Burning for Alexander
The way he threw my own words back at me almost made me smile. But I wasn’t interested in complicated. And I sure as shit wasn’t up for another rejection after last night.
“No problem! I’m not looking for complicated, so don’t worry about it.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “What are you looking for, exactly?”
“Someone to kiss,” I said like a school marm with a secret stash of Harlequin romances under her twin bed.
The edge of his lip quirked up, and his eyes brightened with curiosity and amusement. “To kiss?”
I nodded. “And believe it or not, that’s hard to find in this town. Everyone just wanted me to suck…” I glanced around guiltily. “Stuff,” I finished lamely.
His smile disappeared. “I thought you hadn’t done that before.”
“I haven’t. Which is why I wasn’t interested. But the guy I actually want to kiss blew me off. And not in the way you’re thinking.”
“Who?”
I rolled my eyes and reached for a big box of dog biscuits. My cousin Tommy’s boyfriend had the most amazing hound dog. Chickie would probably love me forever if I brought her ten pounds of excess calories.
“If you’re asking me that question, Chief, you definitely haven’t been paying attention.”
“Wait. What did you mean when you asked if I was doing aCostco run? Is that code for something?”
I flapped a hand in the air. “You’re too old to get it. Don’t worry about it.”
He grunted.
“I’m thinking of letting Ella set me up with a guy she knows from work. She was going to set me up with Monroe, but I guess you beat me to the punch there.”
“Hey. I didn’t do anything with Monroe. Remember? I droveyouhome that night, not him.”
“Yes, Chief,” I murmured. “I remember.” In fact, I had his fleece in my car. Thank god he hadn’t caught me in it.
He threw a giant vat of olive oil into the cart before reaching for the spaghetti sauce. “It’s complicated because I’m older than you are.”
“Ah, yes. You’re in your fifties, yes?”
“Shut the hell up. You know I’m forty.”
“I only know it because you were trying to tell me how not-old you were,” I reminded him.
“And you’re part of a current permit suspension,” he continued.
I nodded. “Practically a hardened criminal. Bad for your reputation. I get it.” I pointed to the cart. “You probably want the spaghetti noodles to go with all that sauce.”
He grunted again and grabbed for the noodle boxes. “And I…” He closed his mouth, clenched his jaw, and admitted, “I still have feelings for my ex.”
This was news to me. “You have an ex?” What was I saying? Of course he had an ex. The man was forty years old. “Who? Why’d you break up? What happened?”
He didn’t answer the questions I peppered at him. Instead, he said, “So maybe that explains a few things, okay?”
Not okay. I wanted all of the details. “Was it Kaidee?”
“No. I already told you we’re just friends.”
“Was it a woman?”
His eyes were stormy, not with annoyance butsadness, his jaw still clenched so tight I felt a moment of genuine concern for his molars. “I’m not talking about it with you.”
