I hated the thought that she’d been kind of alone in the past, but I reveled in the idea it was me she’d chosen to take a chance on.
That fact alone made me realize this wasn’t just a slow build to sex, it was the beginning of the kind of relationship I’d always wanted. One created from friendship. One that would hold stronger because of a solid foundation. I wanted to protect that.
It wasn’t the help or the input she provided anymore. It was the her she added to my space when she was in it. Because if the past week proved anything, it was different there when she was gone.
“I hope you have plenty of gas. No pretending to run out with me. I’m smarter than that,” she warned as she loaded the dishwasher.
“Full tank.”
“Good.”
She bent over again and my mouth went dry.
“Leslie?” I started throwing names out again. “Deanna? Gloria? Elizabeth? Katherine?”
“Sorry, Charlie … but Elizabeth was my grandma’s name.” She tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth, like she was debating with herself if that was close enough.
“But you weren’t named after her, huh?”
“It’s my middle name,” she admitted, her eyebrows rising hopefully. I liked knowing she wanted me to get it right as much as I did—or at least it felt that way. Still, Elizabeth wasn’t her first name and that’s what I was after.
It wasn’t too much to ask to know the name of the woman you were starting to fantasize about on a regular basis.
“My middle name is Conrad.”
“Vaughn Conrad Renfro. Sounds regal.” The way she repeated it was like she was announcing a king. Her hand did this little flourish thing out to her side before she curtsied.
“You do know that I’m a billionaire, right?”
She straightened, her eyes as wide as saucers.
“Are you fucking serious?” She was so fun to play with.
“No, but if I was I bet you’d tell me your name.”
I leaned on the island counter, facing her as she leaned against the sink.
“That’s not true. It has nothing to do with money.” She looked down, like I’d seen her do many times before when she was about to say something that made her a little uncomfortable. “And I’ll tell you my name whenever you want.” Her eyes lifted to mine, and inside of them swam curiosity and temptation and something else that I couldn’t put my finger on.
Before the moment got too heavy, and I broke down, we needed to keep moving. Otherwise, I’d kiss her. First names be damned, and I would be breaking my word.
“How about you hop that knockout body up in my passenger seat and introduce me to Wynne? That way I don’t have to ask gas station Donnie how to get to you.”
The seriousness in her face was replaced by a jovial smile.
Have I mentioned how nice her teeth were?
If I haven’t, I’ll let you know that her smile was almost flawless. Pretty white teeth, the perfect bite. To anyone else, it might just be a nice smile, but to me—a dentist—it was like mouth porn.
Well, mouth porn is something else, but you know what I mean.
“Okay, so here’s the school, if you go to the right it’ll take us out to a bunch of gravel roads and farms, if you go left we can either go out to the river or it’ll take us a different way out to the lake.”
I stopped at the sign and since I didn’t have a preference, I said, “You’re the co-pilot.”
“Okay, let’s go right and I can show you how it loops around back by my house.”
I loved hearing stories about the places we passed. There was O’Fallon family history everywhere. The area was beautiful, but it was the overwhelming sense of community I’d been craving all my life. Where everyone fit, and people helped one another. Where everyone belonged.
As she talked about one place or another, it was obvious I’d made the right decision about moving there. For a second, as I looked at her flipping through songs, I realized how lucky I’d been to meet her, too.
We listened to the music I had on my phone, and it was crazy how she hadn’t heard most of the songs I had. She seemed to like them. I saw her looking at the titles and the bands, and then saving some in her phone.
The Escalade handled the terrain well as she showed me where the creek sometimes washed out the road, mentioning for me to be careful if it’s raining—if I was ever out that way.
Most of the farms were squared off and it made a sort of grid that all led back to a road headed to her house, past mine, and back into town.
When we got near her house, and the wye it sat on, she said, “Turn left. This is how you get to the bluffs.” As she pointed, my hand instinctively reached out for hers and I laced our fingers together, placing them on the console between our seats.
“I like it when you do that.”
“Do what?” I asked, hoping it was the hand thing. I always wanted to touch her, and since this was all so new to both of us, I had been taking every opportunity that night to hold her hand when the occasion presented itself.