He didn’t say anything for so long I slid a look at him.
But when I did, his pinched eyes and equally pinched mouth were the first things that I focused on. Followed by that was the fact that his shoulders and upper body were shaking just a little, just a little, little, little, so little that I hadn’t been able to sense it sitting next to him. After a moment, his right hand reached up toward his face and he slapped the palm of his hand over his eyes as he said very, very slowly, “What did the instructions say?”
Blushing for the fifty-first time, I admitted it. “That if I go missing to try and contact you first. I put your name and number on there, and your dad’s PO box. I also wrote where they can find your social and Max’s address,” I muttered, feeling so ashamed with myself but also proud that I expected the worst and that’s what a smart girl would do. “Then I wrote that no one better take my things until I’ve been missing at least two years, after that they’re allowed to give up hope finding me.”
He said nothing. Not a single thing, and it only made me want to go searching for my black hole again.
“I’m sorry. It wasn’t like I was expecting you to be a serial killer or a sex trafficker or anything, but you can’t be too careful, you know what I mean? Imagine—” I had to clear my throat again before I could get the words out “—imagine if I was your sister. You’d tell me to do the same thing, wouldn’t you?”
One deep brown eye opened and looked at me, his beautiful, handsome face slightly pink. Aaron nodded, just a little, just enough to notice. But it was his dimple that caught my eye. “I’m not giving you shit over it. That’s good you did that,” he managed to get out with that cute dent still out and about.
“Okay,” I mumbled back at him, still embarrassed that I’d practically admitted that I didn’t trust him enough, like those wives who thought their husbands were going to kill them and left letters behind pointing fingers at them. “I do trust you though. I think if someone tried to take me, you’d at least fight them for me a little…” I watched his face for a moment before narrowing my eyes. “Wouldn’t you?”
That had his other eye popping open, his cheeks still slightly pink, but everything else about him completely alert. “You know I would.”
Why that pleased me so much, I wasn’t going to overanalyze.
“If someone tried to take you, I know aikido, some jiu-jitsu, and kickboxing,” I offered him up. “But my dentist says I have really strong teeth, so I’d be better off trying to bite someone’s finger or ear off instead.”
Aaron’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead almost comically. “Like a little Chihuahua,” he suggested, the spoon going into his mouth with a sly grin.
I winked at him, immediately regretting it. I didn’t want it to come across like I was flirting. “I was thinking more of a piranha. I’ve only had one filling in my entire life,” I told him, wishing each word coming out of my mouth wasn’t coming out of it.
If he thought I was being awkward or a flirt, he didn’t make it known. “Or a raptor.”
“A lion.”
“A tiger.”
“Did you know a jaguar has twice the strength in its bite than a tiger does?”
Aaron frowned as he took another bite of his oatmeal. “No shit?”
“No. Two thousand pounds per square inch. They’re the only big cat that kills their prey by biting its head, through bone and everything. A tiger bites the neck of whatever animal they’re eating to cut their air and blood flow off. Crazy, huh?”
He looked impressed. “I had no idea.”
I nodded. “Not a lot of people do.”
“Is there anything that bites harder than they do?”
“Crocodiles. The really big ones. I’m pretty sure they have about 4000 or 5000 psi bites.” For the fifty-second time, I shrugged. “I like watching the Animal Channel and Discovery,” I said, making it sound like an apology.
Aaron gave me that soft smile that made me feel like my insides were on fire. Then he winked. “I don’t know much about crocodiles, but I know all about alligators,” he offered. “Did you know there are only two species left in the world?”
“There are?”
“American alligator and the Asian alligator. More than a fifth of all of them live in Florida.”
“We have some gators in Texas. There’s a state park by Houston where you can go and you can usually see a bunch. I went camping there one time.”
One corner of his mouth tilted up as he chewed. “Look at you, Rebel Without a Cause.”
With anyone else, I’d probably think they were picking on me, but I could see the affection on Aaron’s face. I could feel the kindness that just came off him in waves, so I winked back at him. “I live life on the edge. I should start teaching a class on how to be bad.”
“Right? Quitting your job, coming to Florida even though you were worried….” He trailed off with a grin and a look out of the corner of his eye.
“I pretty much have my masters and license to practice. I’ll teach people everything I know.”
I didn’t miss the other quick look he shot my way. “As long as they don’t ask about boyfriends.”
I shoved at his shoulder before I realized what I was doing and laughed, loud, so much louder than I had so far. “I’m just waiting for the right one. I thought you were on board with me waiting now?”
Those deep brown eyes met mine, and he flashed those white teeth at me. “I am. What are you rushing for?”
That was pretty much the complete opposite of what he’d been drilling into my head since he’d found out about my lack of relationships, but he was right. What was the rush? It wasn’t like any other guy I’d meet any time soon—or ever—would or could compare to this one. I could feel it. Clearing my throat, I looked down at my bowl of oatmeal again as I said, “The good thing is, now I can quit going to church trying to pick up all the divorced and widowed dads.”
His snicker had me glancing at him out of the corner of my eye. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“Nope.” I smirked, taking in that handsome face that had me sighing on the inside. “Is that okay?”
The spoon was on the way to his mouth when he said, “I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.” Then he winked again. “Eat your food so we can go,” he ordered right before taking another bite, his eyes on me, his cheeks showing he was smiling even as he chewed.
Why? What had I done in another lifetime to deserve this?
I did what he said and managed to get about three bites in before his words really clicked. “Where are we going?” I asked him the second I’d swallowed my food.
“Fishing,” he said casually.
I said the words slowly to make sure I’d heard him correctly. “Did you say fishing or swimming?”
That time he did slide me a sneaky look. “Fishing,” he enunciated.
“Swimming?”
Aaron finally turned to look at me with a smile on his beautifully sculpted face. “F-i-s-h-i-n-g.”
I hummed in my throat and ate two bites before I said, just low enough for him to barely hear me, “I don’t really want to.”
He had the nerve to wink at me again. “I figured. That’s why we should go.”
“I don’t have a rod.”
“There are some here you can borrow.”
Setting the plate on my lap, I started to reach for my left wrist with my right hand, “My wrist is a little sore….”
He snorted, seeing straight through my crap.
I’d asked for this, hadn’t I? It didn’t mean I had to be graceful about it the entire time. With a groan, I pretty much made a crying face and slowly nodded. Basically whining out a “Fine” that had him grinning in triumph. “I’m not touching it while it’s still alive though.”
Aaron had a big grin on his face when he agreed, “Deal.”