“I guess I am. But wine and pizza just goes so well together.”
“I do agree with that. So, about the man in black . . .”
There was a lot that I could tell Emily about my past, but I didn’t want to get into my Navy SEAL days. There was just too much history there, and I didn’t want to spend the rest of the evening talking about the things that I did or the things that I saw. That was another lifetime ago. But I could at least tell her about the man in black.
“That man is called Patriot,” I started.
“What? What do you mean?”
I chuckled. “My father runs a motorcycle shop in Arizona. Motorcycles are his life. I’m not kidding when I say he lives and breathes it. And other than the shop, he also runs the motorcycle club. It’s a pretty well-known club in the area. Anyway, I’m part of the club too, and when you’re part of the club, you get a nickname. I and my four brothers all have nicknames.”
“Whoa, you have four brothers? So does that mean Brady also has a nickname?”
“He sure does. He’s been Shotgun to me for as long as I can remember.”
She chuckled. “Shotgun. And you’re Patriot. I like that. Any reason for the names?”
“Oh, plenty reasons,” I said without saying much at all. “Ian, my other brother, is Gunner. He runs the bike shop and is heavily involved in the motorcycle business, too. But he’s the only brother that’s really that into it. The rest are all doing their own thing. Ryan is a professional MMA fighter, and his nickname is Knuckles. No explanation needed there. And Reed is a doctor who we call Moneymaker. Oh, and my father is known by everyone as Pop. I think Ian is the only one that doesn’t call him that. For some reason, he’s always just called him Dad. And my father refuses to call any of his sons by their nicknames.”
“You sound like the mafia. So you all wear black?”
He chuckled. “No, not all of us. I mean, not the other brothers. But when you’re part of the motorcycle club, you tend to stick to the same muted tones. And most of the time you’re in your leather jacket and on your bike. But it’s nice. They’re a cool bunch of dudes. And if you ever hear stories about the club, ignore it. The media likes to . . . sensationalize things.”
“Wait, I did actually hear something recently. I was scrolling through the news on the internet, and I came across some story about this guy who knocked some other guy out cold. I’m almost sure the motorcycle club was mentioned.”
I sighed. “Wow, news travels fast. I can’t believe you heard about that here.”
“So, it’s the same club?”
“It is. And the guy that punched the other guy was my brother Gunner, or Ian. But he was in the right. It’s a long story, but the media turned it against him.”
“That sounds like something a newspaper would do. Your poor brother, though. Not cool that he got put in a bad light like that. Hmm, so what did you do with your bike?”
I smiled. “I still have it. It’s in Arizona, though. I’m going to have to take a trip one of these days to get it. I left it at the bike shop with my brother. I didn’t want to bring it because I had no idea how long I was going to stay here for.”
“Oh yeah? And now, you think you’re going to stay?”
The wine arrived, and we both touched glasses and took a sip.
“Oh, this wine is really good,” I said. Then I smiled at her. “Yeah, I think I might stay for a while. I’m starting to really like it here.”
“I’m glad,” she said and smiled at me.
“So, how are you doing? You know, with everything that’s been going on. Are you okay?”
She sighed. “I’m okay right now. But . . . I have my ups and downs. I’ve had a good few crying sessions, but I’ll be okay. It’s not a very nice feeling to know that your home is gone, but Terra has been amazing to me. And now I’m out to dinner with a very nice man, drinking very nice wine, and about to eat what I’m sure will be very nice pizza. So it’s not all that bad.”
I smiled at her. She wasn’t all that bad either.
The rest of the night went by quickly. Too quickly. It had been a long time since I’d gone out with a girl that I could talk to that easily. There was something about her that intrigued me, and I wanted to know more. After dinner, I took her home and walked her up to the front door. I knew that the date was over since we both didn’t have our own home to stay in, but I still wanted to at least kiss her. We’d been standing at the front door for at least a full five minutes, and I’d been leading up to the kiss when the door suddenly opened up.
“Oh, hi. Sorry, I thought I heard voices. Hi, you must be Grant. I’m Terra.”
A small, pixie-looking girl stood in front of me. I shook her hand and was surprised that someone as small as her could have such a firm grip.
“Hi, Terra. It’s good to finally meet you. Thanks for helping Emily out with a place to stay.”
“And thanks for helping her out with the fire,” she said and beamed at me.
I wondered if she’d leave, but she just stood there waiting for Emily to go back in with her. I turned to Emily and smiled.
“Thank you for a wonderful evening. I had a great time. And I’d love to do it again.”
“I’d like that too,” she said shyly.
I thought again about kissing her but didn’t want to do with her friend around. So I smiled, waved, and walked back to the car. I was definitely going to ask her out again.
Chapter Twelve
Emily
I watched as Grant drove away and then turned to Terra.
“You bitch!” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“I am sure there would’ve been a kiss if you didn’t open the door,” I said. But I wasn’t angry, and Terra knew it. “Ever since I said I’d marry you if I didn’t find anyone by thirty, you’ve been all over me.”
She chuckled as we walked inside. “It’s true. I don’t want anyone to come and take you away from me.” Then she looked at me with suspicion. “Have you had a lot to drink? Because you look sober.”
“Just a glass of wine. And we ate pizza too, so I’m not drunk at all. Why?”
“Because I have a bottle of wine with our name on it. Too tired or do you want to join me?”
I laughed. There was no way that I could go to sleep just yet. I still felt wired from the date. “Wine with you sounds amazing. Hey, is this my second date for the night?”
“It sure is. He gave you a glass of wine. But I’m giving you a bottle.”
“Ah, you might be winning.”
“Take a seat. I’ll be back with the wine. And then I want to hear all about it.”
She came back moments later holding a glass of wine in each hand. The glass was huge. I took it from her and held it up. “This thing is like the size of my face,” I said. “How much is in here?”
“Half a bottle in yours, and half a bottle in mine.”
I burst out laughing. “Seriously? Wow, these glasses are impressive. If I ever ask you for just one glass of wine, you know what to give me.”
“Hey, listen, I’m sorry about opening up like that. I didn’t mean to ruin your night. Although, you might want to thank me for it.”
“First, you didn’t ruin my night. And second, why would I thank you for stopping a kiss?”
“Because you, Miss Emily Wessler, are the sweetest girl that I know.”
“What does that have to do with the kiss?”
“We don’t even know who this guy is. I mean, usually, with the other men in this town, we know what we’re getting. But this guy is not from around here. We don’t know if he’s one of the good guys or not yet. I think you should save the kiss for until you know more about him.”
I laughed. “You have a point. But since when did you get so protective? I thought you were all for dating and having fun.”
“I am. Trust me. But I guess I’m just protective over you.”
“You just want to marry me,” I said and laughed.
“This is
true. I mean, you do make the best mac and cheese. Also, what if you kissed and then you wanted to do something more? I mean, I like you staying here and all, but I don’t really want to listen to you having sex with the man. This house is small.”
I could feel the blush rising to my face. “Terra! I’m not going to have sex with him on the first date. And I’m certainly not going to have sex in your house.”
She chuckled. “I bet you thought about it.”
“I did not!” I lied.
“Sure, whatever. Hey, he’s really cute. I’ve got to say, Em, you have good taste.”
“He is cute,” I said. “It’s weird though; he’s super clean cut, and yet he comes across as a bad boy to me. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, he definitely comes across as a bad boy.”
“But then he speaks, and he’s so nice. He’s pretty confusing.”
“So, tell me about the date. First, where did he take you?”
I told Terra all about Wyo and she squealed with delight.
“I didn’t know they had reopened that place. Wow, it sounds like they did a good job at renovating it too. I need to go one of these days. If I don’t find a date, then you’re coming with me. Deal?”
“Deal. Trust me; it’s worth it. Their pizzas were so good. I stuffed my face.”
“You stuffed your face on a first date?”
“How else am I going to figure out if he’s the man for me?”
“That’s true. I like the way you think. I think I’m going to employ the same tactics on my future dates. The last thing I need is a man who thinks I’m going to eat salads all day.”
I pulled a face. “You and I are not salad girls.”
“We are mac and cheese girls,” she said and giggled.
“You seem drunk already. Whoa, how did you drink so quickly?” I said and looked at her glass, which was already missing half the wine.
“Oh, I’m a master at this. And anyway, it’s only one glass, what’s the big deal?”
“I really like living with you.”
“I must say, that was nice of Grant to thank me for taking you in. He’s quite the gentleman. And I like living with you too.”
“It won’t be for long, though. I’m waiting for the insurance to pay out, and then I’ll start looking for something else.” The last thing that I wanted to do was to overstay my welcome. Also, as much as I enjoyed living with Terra, I was used to living alone, and I needed my own space.
“You don’t have to leave so quickly, Em. I don’t want you to think that I don’t want you here.”
I smiled at her. “I know. You’ve made me feel nothing but welcome. Thank you. I’m honestly not sure what I would’ve done without you. I would’ve been a wreck.”
Just then we heard a sound outside, and we both looked at each other. Terra lived on a quiet road..
“Are you expecting someone?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No.”
We were about to go look through the window when we heard a knock at the door.
“That’s strange,” Terra said and went to open. I heard her talking to someone and then she came back into the living room and grinned at me.
“What?” I asked. “Who is it?”
“There’s someone at the door to see you.”
“Me? Who?”
“Go look,” she said. She was still grinning.
I walked over to the front door and saw Grant standing there smiling at me.
“Wow, that is one big glass of wine,” he said.
“I told you it was fun to live here at Terra’s place. What are you doing back here? Is everything okay?” I asked. I was surprised at how good it felt to see him again. How could I miss someone that I had only just met? How could I miss someone that I had seen not so long ago? It was the first time that I had ever felt that way, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
“I came to see you.”
“You did? I don’t understand.”
“I went all the way back to Brady’s house, and I started telling him about how the dinner had gone when I suddenly realized that I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight without kissing you goodbye.”
“You . . . what . . . kiss,” my words came out staggered as if I’d just suddenly lost the ability to speak.
“I had a wonderful time with you, Emily. One of the best nights I’ve had in a very long time, actually. And I’d love to kiss you goodnight if you’d let me.”
I just nodded. The words had now left me.
He smiled at me, leaned in and with one hand on my cheek he kissed me. The kiss was gentle, and sweet, and moved quickly from soft to passionate. When he pulled away, I had to lean against the door for support.
“Even better than I thought it would be. Well, Emily, thank you for a wonderful evening. I’ll call you tomorrow. Goodnight.”
I smiled at him. “Goodnight,” I managed to whisper and bit my lip.
I watched him go and then turned to go back inside. Terra came flying around the corner, and I almost dropped my glass of wine.
“He came all the way back to kiss you? Did that really just happen?”
I stared at her, still speechless, and just nodded.
“Have you lost your words?”
I nodded again.
She chuckled. “Well find them already. Tell me what the kiss was like.”
I grinned, walked over to the living room and fell to the sofa. “Amazing.”
“By the look on your face, I’d say it was even more than amazing.”
I nodded. Took a sip of my wine and sighed happily. I still couldn’t believe that he’d come back for the kiss. For a while, I’d almost forgotten that my house had burned down. That’s how good the kiss had been. I thought about telling Terra how Grant’s other name was Patriot and how he was part of a motorcycle club that always wore black. But I felt like keeping that information to myself that night. I liked that there were other facets to Grant’s personality. I liked that he had a past. I could feel it in his kiss, which was part sweet and soft, and part hard and rough. I found him fascinating.
“You know,” Terra was saying. “You should’ve just invited him in. You could’ve gone to your room, and I would’ve put some headphones in or something.”
I burst out laughing. “And this from the girl that tried to stop us from kissing earlier.”
She put her hands in the air in surrender. “I take back what I said. He’s super-hot.”
I chuckled and remembered his lips on mine. “He sure is.”
Chapter Thirteen
Grant
The kiss was incredible. It was worth going all the way back to Terra’s house for it. And from the look on her face, I think it was the right move. The whole thing had taken me by surprise. That sort of confidence with a woman wasn’t like me. I looked like a confident man. I’d been told many times before that I had a way about me that made people sit up and listen. But I’d never felt the confidence that people believed I had. And I’d never acted on an impulse with someone like that before. But when I got home and started to tell Brady about the night, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I’d wanted to kiss her. I didn’t even think about how the whole thing could’ve backfired on me. She could’ve easily had just laughed me away, or told me not to be so forward. But I’d gone in laser focused without even an inkling that she might say no. And I’d been right. She’d kissed me back.
But I hadn’t been able to sleep as well as I’d thought I would. At least I hadn’t stayed up wondering why I hadn’t made the first move. That would’ve been worse. Instead, I stayed up thinking about the kiss.
When I made my way down to the kitchen, the sun wasn’t even up yet. I’d started to get used to waking up early now, and the morning was fast becoming one of my favorite times. Brady was always up early, but I hadn’t expected him to be up yet. But there he was, making himself a cup of coffee and whistling to himself.
“You’re up early,” he said when he saw me. “Cof
fee?”
I smiled. “You’re up early too. Coffee would be great.”
“Yeah, I usually try and get some extra sleep on a Sunday, but I think my body is just so wired to getting up at this time that I can’t help myself. Anyway, there’s something nice about enjoying a cup of coffee before the sun comes up, don’t you think?”
“There’s nothing quite like it. Especially out here. I’m sure if I had gotten up early in my old place, it would’ve still been noisy.”
“What’s happening with that place by the way? I’ve been meaning to ask you. Because you just up and left so quickly.”
“I’m renting it out on the condition that I can come back at any moment. I’m renting it pretty cheap, though, so they can’t complain.”
“Wow, you found people so quickly?”
“Oh yeah. People are always on the search for new places in the city. And when I put word out that I was renting mine out for such a little bit of money, it got snapped up.”
“You thinking of going back soon?”
I grinned. “Honestly? I don’t think so. I like it here.”
“It suits you,” he said, not for the first time. Then he chuckled. “Also, you have another reason to stay now.”
“What do you mean?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, come on. You know what I mean. So, you still need to tell me about last night. Let’s start with the fact that you run off mid conversation to go and kiss her goodnight. How did that turn out for you? Sorry I wasn’t up when you got back. I was exhausted.”
“She kissed me back,” I said and then took the coffee from him. I took a grateful sip and thanked him for it.
“She did, huh? Nice. So she didn’t mind you coming back for it?”
“She seemed happy.”
“And the date went well? How about my restaurant suggestion?”
“That was one of the best restaurants I’ve been to in a long time. Great atmosphere, great food, great wine. It also didn’t hurt that I had such great company. Emily is such a nice girl. We got along well. I haven’t been able to talk to someone like that in a very long time.”
“Oh yeah?” he said. “That’s probably why you usually don’t talk to girls.”
Dirty Daddy (A Single Dad Romance) (The Maxwell Family) Page 52