“What is your given name?”
He felt Rusty stiffen slightly at his side, then she mumbled, “Jane.”
Jesus. The name couldn’t be more wrong for her. The woman was no plain Jane, not at all.
Connie screwed up her face. “Okay, I’ll call you Rusty.”
Rusty made a little snorting sound and squeezed his hand. He could feel her body shaking against his. “I’d like that,” she said, laughter in her voice.
Connie headed across the restaurant, showing them to their table in the back. She took their order, brought them wine, and bustled to the kitchen.
He took a sip of the tart liquid, smooth on his tongue. He rarely drank, his introduction to alcohol, and more importantly what happened to some people when they drank it, had put him off the stuff for life. He only made an exception when there was a special occasion.
He looked across the table. Like tonight.
Rusty was playing with her napkin, smiling over at him. “This place is great.”
“I spent a lot of time here as a kid. The place is owned by Law’s family.”
“You’ve known him a long time?”
“Yeah. I guess you could say they’re like my family as well.”
She fidgeted with the napkin some more. “And your family. Where are they?”
“My folks split. I’m close with my mother. My father…we don’t talk.”
“Oh.” She looked a little surprised, but then nodded. “I know what that’s like. After my parents split, my mother vanished. She chose her new man over her kids.” She shrugged. “Some people just aren’t cut out to be parents, I guess.”
Wasn’t that the truth—or married in his father’s case. “That had to be hard, growing up without her.”
“I had Dad. I also had Piper and then Alex, and an overprotective big brother who watched over me. I did okay.”
“Your brother, he get in a lot of fights?”
She frowned. “Yeah, nearly every week. Why?”
“A wild guess.”
She snorted. “They usually started because he was protecting Alex’s honor.”
“Babe, I’m guessing he spent a lot of time protecting yours as well. What you’ve got going on didn’t happen overnight. You’re gorgeous. The boys at your school would’ve been following you around by their dicks as soon as they were old enough to notice.”
The humor making her eyes sparkle, dimmed. She seemed to close off before his eyes, then glanced down at her hands, shoulders stiff.
He reached over and took her hand. “What just happened, Rusty?”
She lifted her head, and goddammit, the wall was up. “There’s more to me than the way I look. I stupidly thought you already knew that.”
The pizza arrived, and he waited until their waiter left before he spoke. He’d worked out for himself she didn’t trust guys, that she got uncomfortable when they paid her too much attention. But he wasn’t just any guy. He didn’t know the reason for it, but he did plan on finding out what had caused it. “Foxy.” She was back to looking at her hands, posture stiff. He was sure she’d bolt any minute. “Look at me, Rusty.”
Finally, she lifted her head, no fire in her eyes, no light.
“I’m not stupid. I can see there’s an issue. Someone did you wrong, and it left a scar. But I’m not gonna bullshit you. You’re fucking stunning. I’m not gonna lie and say that isn’t one of the reasons I started chasing you. And I don’t chase women. Ever.”
She narrowed her eyes, dropped her napkin to the table, and started to stand, no doubt ready to storm from the restaurant. He kept hold of her hand, tightening his grip, not enough to hurt but enough to let her know she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Let me finish?”
She scowled but planted her ass on her chair, still not looking thrilled by his honesty.
“Like I said, I’m not stupid, so it took me zero-point-three-seconds to work out there’s a hell of a lot more to you than the way you look. I saw that the first time you aimed those eyes on me. You’ve got a head on your shoulders, and you’re extremely talented at what you do. You’ve also got good, loyal friends, and that says a lot about you, too. Beyond that? Well, I’m hoping you’ll give me a shot and show me.”
He meant every damn word. He didn’t know why it was important for him to give it to her straight. He just knew he needed her to know.
Eyes wide, she stared at him across the table, then blinked, making it a struggle to stay in his seat and not drag her around into his lap. “You want me to show you?”
“Yeah, more than anything.” And fuck, he meant that, too.
She tucked her hair behind her ear, the action vulnerable somehow, calling to all of his protective instincts. “I…I don’t know what you want, what you’re asking?”
“What I want? You, naked and in my bed.” He held her gaze. Not letting her shut him down this time. “What I’m asking? That you’ll trust me when I say that having you naked and in my bed isn’t all I want, and that you’ll give me a chance to prove it.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know…”
“I can’t make you any promises. I don’t know where this will lead, but I want to find out.” As he said the words, he knew as much as he’d tried to deny them, he meant them. Every damn word. He should get up and walk out, stop this now, but he couldn’t, couldn’t walk away from her. That scared the hell out of him. “You gonna give me that shot, Rusty?”
Chapter Ten
The man staring at her from across the table, eyes dark, the sincerity of his words shining through, was a man she wanted to spend time with. A lot more time. But there was also something else, a shadow. She’d seen it when he talked about his family, and she realized he had demons in his past, just like she did. They’d made him the man he is now. She desperately wanted to know what caused those demons, wanted to know everything.
He’d told her how it was, despite the fact he’d worked out she had an issue where men were concerned. The man was astute, knew she didn’t want to be seen as nothing but an object, yet he hadn’t given her some line about wanting her only for her mind. He’d laid it out straight. Yes, he thought she was attractive, but he wanted her to show him more, what lay underneath. No other guy had ever bothered to try to find out.
But most importantly, she wanted him. There was no point pretending otherwise. The man was on her mind constantly, had been since he walked into her workshop several weeks ago.
His fingers, still wrapped around hers, gave her a little squeeze. “What do you say?”
She searched his face, and he hid nothing, it was all there—heat, determination, curiosity. She released the breath she’d been holding and jumped off a cliff. “Yeah, I’ll give you that chance.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded, smiling because the guy did that to her. “I’d like to get to know you too, Reid.”
The smile he offered was wide and looked extremely good on him. “That’s good, baby.”
He’d been honest with her, and he deserved the same in return. Her tummy flipped at the prospect. She took a bite of her pizza to stall…and moaned. He was right. The pizza was delicious. Reid continued to watch her, making her heart beat a little faster.
She knew she came across a certain way, and it didn’t take a psychic to work out that Reid had been with more than his fair share of women. Pipe and Alex knew about her past, knew what had happened and why she didn’t date. Her experience where sex was concerned was limited, as in, born-again-virgin status. Maybe he wouldn’t care, but in the spirit of honesty, no matter how humiliating, she knew she had to open up, at least a little. It would be a hell of a lot more embarrassing if, when they finally got down to business, rather than burn up the sheets, she disappointed him.
It had been a long damn time since she’d wanted a man like she did Reid. She didn’t want to screw this up before it properly began.