Page 28 of The Keeper and I
She gaped at him. “You’ve…you’ve never seenTitanic?”
“I don’t like sad films, and that title isn’t exactly promising.”
“But it’s a masterpiece!”
“So you’ve said.”
“It’s one of the greatest love stories of all time!”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
She set down her chopsticks. “One of these days, I’ll get you to watch it.”
“We can watch it right now if that’s what you want.”
She blinked and her shoulders relaxed. She had braced herself for pushback or resistance, but lo and behold, he’d readily agreed to her wishes.
“Really?” she asked quietly.
“Sure, if it means that much to you.” He held her gaze and shot her a crooked smile. “What kind of fake boyfriend would I be if I didn’t indulge you a little?”
“True.” She chuckled and returned to her sushi.
“Can I ask you something?” he said after a beat.
She nodded.
“Was it true what you said about never having had a boyfriend before?” he asked.
She sucked in a sharp breath, which brought several grains of rice into her windpipe. Coughing, she pounded on her chest to try and clear it. Jordan swore and jumped up to pat her back. Eyes watering, she looked at him.
“You…” She wheezed. “You heard that?”
“Aye. And once I did, I hardly heard anything after.”
She gulped some water, searching her muddied mind for something to say. It wasn’t easy to explain that, at twenty-six, she’d never been seriously involved with anyone. She’d never even come close. It was embarrassing and confusing, and the one thing she remained insecure about in her life.
“Well, to answer your question, yes, it’s true,” she said. “I’ve been on dates but nothing ever happened past one or two. And I know it’s difficult with my schedule and everything, but there’s just…I dunno, never been the right person.”
Her eyes found his, and she half expected to find amusement there or some kind of judgment, but all she saw was genuine interest.
“I can’t say I understand,” he said. “But it’s not like it’s terribly unusual.”
“Feels like it is,” she muttered. “Everyone around me is meeting someone or getting engaged or having a baby. And I’m just…alone.”
“That, I understand. One of my teammates has got a five-month-old son. Another just got married. A third got engaged. And Ethan Knight, while not my teammate anymore, he’s engaged, and I’ve got an invite to that wedding already.”
“Ugh, wedding invites. That plus one is the worst reminder of loneliness, isn’t it?”
His face shifted into an expression she couldn’t read. His mouth turned down, and he dropped his gaze as his brows knit together over his eyes. He drummed his fingers on the countertop.
“It’s not so bad, being alone,” he said. “I have been for a long time. I get hurt a lot less.”
“But if you isolate yourself, you shut out any chance of real intimacy.”
He raised his brows at her, but she didn’t regret what she said. The chance of being loved as well as desired was the reason she kept putting herself out there, which admittedly had to stop since she was in this pretend relationship with Jordan.
“Intimacy, eh?” he said.