“Yeah. Just doing some deep thinking,” I forced out a chuckle.
“We could go inside the cafe across the street and talk about it if you’d like.”
No way in hell was I talking to a hot guy about me debating on being a surrogate in order to pay for college and get my ass out of the small town of Almont, Oregon. He’d run for the hills not that he had any intentions of staying around anyways. I mean, we were total strangers.
“Kaylee,” Gerald whispered. “You’re thinking too hard, which means your decision has already been made.”
“Has it?” I asked with my eyes diverted to my shoes. A warm finger slipped under my chin and tilted my head up. Gerald’s bright smile greeted me.
“If you really wanted to be at your appointment, you would have already been on the elevator and waiting to be called in.”
“And, since I’m down here with you, you assume I want to bail on my appointment?” I cocked my head slightly. “Maybe it’s just your charm that has me enchanted into thinking being with you would be morefun.”
What in the hell is wrong with me?If my mother heard me now, she’d slap me in the back of the head and wash my mouth out with soap. I sounded like such a hussy.
“I am so s--” My words were cut off by a kiss. A kiss that ended too soon. I looked up at Gerald and he smiled.
“Don’t ever apologize for being yourself around me, Kaylee. Okay?” He sounded sincere. Or maybe this is how he acted with all women. I wasn’t sure, but deep down… I wanted to find out.
CHAPTER THREE
“Are you sure I’m not intruding on your day?” I asked as I settled into the back seat of the limousine next to Gerald.
A fucking limousine!I squealed in my head. I had never been inside a limousine. This one had cream-colored leather seats. The headrests were engraved withGMwritten, in a pretty script type font. Crystal glasses were placed in cupholders upside down. A crystal bottle filled with some brown liquid -- looked like whiskey -- capped with a crystal stopper. Everything about this limousine screamedmoney.
Who the hell are you, Gerald?
I looked up at Gerald in wonderment. He looked down at me and smiled.
“Breathe, Kaylee,” he smiled. “I wouldn’t have offered if I couldn’t reschedule or didn’t have plans.”
“So you do have plans?” I groaned and reached for the door handle. “I’m really sorry for intru--”
Gerald grabbed my hand with one hand and turned my head gently to face him.
“Kaylee, are you always so easily spooked and apologetic?” he sighed.
“I don’t know,” I said faintly. “Guess it’s one of my many flaws.” I shrugged to playoff my sudden self-consciousness.
My mother had a list a mile long on what my flaws were. In fact, if she was in the car with us, she’d add a gazillion more things to that list. My mother was a hard ass on me. One of the many reasons I wanted to escape Almont.
I turned my attention away from Gerald and back to the building. I looked up at the glass building that could answer all my prayers and get me the hell away from my mother. My stomach knotted at the thought of what I’d have to do to have those prayers answered. So much I’d have to sacrifice, but on the other hand, I’d be free. Free of Almont. Free of my mother. Free to go to the school that I’d been accepted into without having to worry about living in student debt.
“Kaylee, I’m really starting to think I’m a boring man.” Gerald’s words sliced through my thoughts. I snapped my head in his direction.
“What? No. You’re not boring at all. Why would you think that? I’m sorry if I made you feel that way. I--”
Gerald silenced me with a soft, much-desired kiss. He slowly pulled away and smiled.
“Ah. So that is how I get the great and mighty Kaylee to stop rambling and apologizing,” Gerald teased.
“So, it would seem,” I lowered my head and laughed to myself. “You must think I’m a crazy woman.”
Hell, I was a crazy woman. A crazy woman that could possibly end up on the back of a milk carton. I had freely gotten into a limousine with a complete stranger. A stranger who I had kissed. Simple kisses, but kisses nonetheless.
Just the thought of more kisses had my lips tingling and my thoughts running rampant.
“Not at all.” Once again, he was lifting my chin with his finger. “I think you’re a woman who has a lot on her plate.”
