With most everyone in her life, shemaintained a sense of formality, of distance. Maybe it was a resultof seeing him at his worst, but she felt she could say anything,and he wouldn’t judge her unfairly. Not many got to seecrazy-competitive Payson.
Even fewer laughed and encouraged her like hehad. Jen immediately admonished any such inappropriate behavior.Clive had been embarrassed by it and consequently ignored it, or,more often, avoided situations that could potentially bring it outin her. Thus, she didn’t let many people see that side of her.
Her parents were upstanding people. Well, hermother was downright uptight, but her father had always had anincredible sense of adventure. Jen, being the oldest, was thespitting image of her mother and just as overbearing. Maybe more soto compensate for the loss of her.
Whereas Payson battled the contradictoryinfluences. She enjoyed lovely things, much like her mother. Butwhen she let loose, she was purely her father’s daughter. As she’dbeen at the rec center.
Lost in thought, she almost didn’t noticethey had arrived. Parallel parking the truck as if it were a mini,Ronan slipped into the spot in front of the local toy store. A fewblocks away from Flotsam, Payson could have walked, but she’d beenlooking for an excuse to spend more time with Ronan. Fortunately,he hadn’t called her on it.
“For the record, you can take advantage of meanytime.” Ronan hopped out of the truck and dropped some coins inthe meter. When Payson caught up to him, he still had a flirtysmirk pasted on his face. Her hand slid easily into his as theywalked into the store. Whatever black cloud had come over him, hewas fighting it tooth and nail.
Brightly colored toys of every sort lined thewalls. Where did she even begin? The two stood and gaped at theoverwhelming selection. From outside, the shop looked no biggerthan hers. Inside was a different story; the place was a gigantictoy madhouse.
Speaking hesitantly, eyes wide as he scannedthe chaos, Ronan asked, “He’s seven, huh? What does he like?”
“I don’t see him as often as I’d like. But, Iknow he loves Legos.” Eyes equally wide, she shruggedhelplessly.
“Legos it is.” He dragged her towards themassive Lego section. Dropping her hand, he briefly forgot he was agrown-up. “This is awesome,” he grabbed a huge box with aMillennium Falcon kit inside. “I always wanted one of these. Nevercould afford it.” He eyed the price. “Maybe I’ll ask my parents forit for Christmas,” he sniggered.
“If you’re a good boy, maybe you’ll get abonus once you finish my storeroom,” she nudged him playfully.Putting down the box, he shook his head.
“Once I discovered girls, Legos sort of losttheir appeal. What does your nephew like? Superheroes? Minecraft?Star Wars?”
Brow scrunched in confusion, Payson couldn’tcover her surprise at the admission. “Your brother seems to thinkyou didn’t date much.”
Perusing the selection, he replied simply,“Not as much as he did anyway. And, not much in high school Iguess, I was too busy trying to be the perfect student and athlete.When I did date, I certainly didn’t bring her around Aiden; guy’s amenace.”
Nodding, Payson agreed. “He is at that. Whatabout after college?”
Subtly, briefly, Ronan’s gaze cast downwardin self-doubt. Payson wouldn’t have noticed if she weren’t caughtup in his every move. “Didn’t have much time to date. Nothingserious anyway.” He grabbed a Minecraft set and studied the back ofthe box, “How does he feel about Minecraft? I know almost nothingabout it, but I’ve heard kids like it. It looks fun; you canre-configure it in five different ways.”
Rolling with the subject change, she held theoffered set. “He loves Minecraft and can talk for hours on thesubject. If he hasn’t moved on by now. Want to grab some lunchbefore I go back to work? I could fix you something at myplace.”
Suddenly, he looked a bit… wary. Huh. Afterpaying for the set and making their way back out, they climbed intothe truck. For a moment, he paused, clearly deep in thought, as ifabout to say something but didn’t know how to say it. Finally, hefired up the noisy engine. “I have a lot of errands to run so I’lljust drop you back at the shop.”
Trying to not feel disappointed at therejection, she nodded. They’d made good progress; she was surprisedhe’d come out at all today. She just wasn’t ready to part ways whenthey pulled up to the alley behind Flotsam. Ronan hopped out anddashed around to open her door. Sliding out of the truck, she stoodnext to him, inches away as he remained in the doorway. Blockingher path.
“Thanks for a fun morning,” she smiled shyly,looking up into those intense glacier-blue eyes.
Rather than thanking her in return, his lookturned dark, dangerous. Eyes locked with hers, he sighed, fightingsomething. Biting her lower lip nervously, she couldn’t break theeye contact with him. Waiting for him to make a move. Hoping hewould. Fearing he wouldn’t.
She wasn’t disappointed. His hand gentlybrushed her hair out of her face, sweeping down to caress her chinand pull her toward him. Slowly, testing, he touched his lips tohers. His breath warm in contrast to the chill air, she melted intohim.
Tenderly, he ran his tongue along herslightly parted lips, ending with a soft kiss on her plump lowerlip. Her heart thundered in her chest, desire rising from deepwithin. Painfully familiar, as if she belonged here. With growingconfidence, she kissed him back, yearning, begging him tocontinue.
Too soon, he pulled away. Suddenly unsure ofhimself, doubt flashing across his face. Payson wasn’t finished,but the moment was. With a squeak and a groan, the storeroom doorswung open.
Before anyone stepped into view, Ronan wasalready miles away, climbing back into the driver’s seat. Resignedthat she wouldn’t know what that was all about for at least therest of the weekend, Payson closed the truck door and turned to seeMaddy taking out the trash.
With a quick wave to her friend and a “beright back,” she dashed upstairs to change into work clothes.Completely off-balance and more than a little smitten.
11
Pulling his truck into the garage, Ronan visuallymarked his position against the tool bench as a marker. Tight fit,but worth it to avoid brushing snow off the windshield in themornings. Sore from pushing his body past where it was used to,swinging the bat unlike he had in years despite his sore shoulder,adding a few duck-and-rolls to nail Payson at laser tag thatbruised his healing hip wound, he ached as he hobbled into thehouse.
He grinned at the image of her diving aroundthe course to avoid his shots. She didn’t hold back. What else wasshe so… enthusiastic at? His mind went straight for the gutter.
He was starting to make a habit of lettingloose. Enjoying himself. Laughing without reserve. Letting otherssee him for who he was, well, Payson at least. Felt fuckingamazing. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been able to let loose like hehad the last few days.
