Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
He shot me an annoyed scowl. “Do you go out with all the decent-looking men who are interested in you?”
“No. But I am seeing someone.”
“He’s not right for you.”
“And you know this based on one dinner where you disrespected him, and he was forced to remain polite to you because of his job?”
“No. I know it because he’s not me.”
We embarked on a long stare-off. I got the feeling that nothing I’d said on this trip had deterred him in the least. “I’ve moved on, Gray. You need to accept that if we’re going to be working together.”
“And if you weren’t seeing the Pencil Dick?”
“I thought his name was Pencil Neck?”
“I followed him to the men’s room. Trust me, the thin neck is representative of the entire anatomy.”
“You’re such a jerk.”
“You’re not defending his honor to say I’m wrong. Which means only one of us has had the unfortunate experience of seeing his little dick, or you know it’s true and the subject is indefensible.”
“I think you’ve lost your mind. I’m not discussing another man’s genitals with you.”
“That’s good. Because I’d much rather we discuss mine.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Seriously, Gray. How about we don’t discuss anyone’s dick, and instead you tell me what else I can do for you, other than draft the partnership agreement?”
“You can’t ask me that question—what else I want you to do for me—and expect a legitimate answer.”
“I’ll watch my phrasing in the future.”
Gray’s playful face morphed into something more serious. “There’s actually one thing you can do for me.”
“What’s that?”
“Let’s start clean. No bringing up the past or anything.”
Totally not what I had expected he would say. “Okay. I think that’s a great idea. We’ve rehashed it and put it to bed. I think moving forward with a clean slate, if we’re going to be working together, is a good thing to do.” I tilted my head. “Although, I’m a bit surprised you would suggest that since you’ve spent most of the last twenty-four hours trying to make me remember what happened between us in the past.”
My left hand had been sitting on the armrest between our seats. Gray covered it with his and looked up into my eyes. “I just wanted to explain myself. Clarify the facts. But I’m willing to start from scratch to win you back.”
“Gray…”
“I’ll give you a little space now. I know you need it.” He caught my gaze. “But there won’t be any more lies or even omitted facts. That being said, we’re not over. We’re just getting started. Because what we had was real, and real doesn’t go away, no matter how much you want it to.”
Chapter 9
* * *
Layla
2 years earlier
“Tell me something about you that no one else knows.”
Gray scratched at the scruff on his chin. We’d been sitting at the library table for hours, supposedly prepping for the class I had to teach in an hour, which is how we’d been getting away with spending so much time together on Saturdays for the last eight weeks.
“I don’t eat watermelon,” he said.
I squinted. “How is that top secret?”
“It’s not. But no one knows the reason I don’t eat it.”
I leaned my elbows on the table. “Go on…”
Gray pointed to me in warning. “No laughing.”
“I’m not sure I can make that promise.”
He shook his head with an easy smile. “In nursery school, my teacher read us Jack and the Beanstalk. I guess that somehow led me to think giant things could grow from seeds, if planted in the right place. At home, we’d had this round watermelon sitting on the kitchen counter for a while, and one day my mom decided to cut it open. She said it was seedless, and I didn’t see any of the regular black seeds, so I dug in. On my third piece, I told my mom I liked the round watermelons better than the oval ones she usually bought because they were crunchier.”
“It was crunchy? Your watermelon was bad?”
“No, there were little white seeds inside that were soft, but the edges had a crunch to them, I unknowingly chewed up the seeds. My mom pulled them out of a piece and showed me. She said they were harmless. But I had it stuck in my head that a giant watermelon was going to grow in my stomach, and I’d wind up exploding. Every night I went to bed and pushed out my stomach to see if it was growing. And I was so sure it was going to happen, I thought I saw my stomach getting bigger.”
I covered my mouth and laughed. “Oh my God. And you stopped eating watermelon after that?”
He nodded. “Going on twenty-five years watermelon-free now.”
“That’s crazy.”
He pointed. “And there’s the reason no one knows why I don’t eat watermelon.”
I watched as Gray’s eyes roamed my face, flickering to my lips, then climbing their way back up to meet my eyes. “You have freckles on your nose,” he said. “But you try to cover them up.”