Page 90 of Pinch of Love
“It’s all for you.”
“I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but thank you.”
“There is so much I want to tell you.” I glanced toward the water and raked my fingers through my hair before turning my eyes back to her. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and since we slept together, I knew I had to tell you something.”
Her expression dropped, and worry filled her gaze. “Should I sit down for this?”
We both took a seat, and I could see the worry etching her expression. “It’s... listen, meeting you three weeks ago has changed my life in a lot of unexpected ways.”
Maya nodded. “I can only imagine. You’ve got a high-maintenance guest with a crazy ex. I can’t walk in a straight line without tripping over my own feet, which, might I add, is a new thing. And then I beg you to keep me distracted from the real issues going on in my life. You’re definitely not getting paid enough.”
I smiled, laughing. “That’s not exactly how I see it.”
She chuckled. “That’s good, I suppose.”
“What I see is a woman who has somehow managed to crack my stone exterior. You’ve been crumbling away the walls I built since everything happened. I haven’t smiled this much or felt this good in years.”
Maya looked nervous, but I kept going.
“I know I promised to be your distraction.” I drew a breath and didn’t let it out. “But I want to start over with you.”
Her brows furrowed as she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I remember when you talked about all the romance books you read and romcoms you’ve watched and how there’s always this special moment between the love interests when they first meet. We never had that.”
She cocked her head slightly.
“I want to be the one who shows you some sweet meet,” I explained.
Maya’s eyes widened, and the loudest snort startled Chewie right off her blanket.
“Sweet meat? What the heck are you talking about?” Maya grinned and shook her head.
“You know, the sweet meet from your romance books?” I tried again. “I can do that for you. That’s what this is. I want this to be what you remember for how we met. I don’t just want to be a distraction for your vacation. I want to see if there’s something between us.”
A few seconds of silence sat between us.
“So, let me have this moment with you. Let me give you the sweet meet you’ve always wanted,” I tried again, wondering why this wasn’t going as planned.
A funny look flashed across Maya’s features before she finally said something. “That has to be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“It was your idea,” I explained.
A cocky smile grew on Maya’s beautiful mouth. “I never asked for your sweet meat, Cash. I said a meet-cute. Not your sweet meat.”
Realizing what I’d just said to her over and over again, I groaned as she tried to stifle her laughter until she just couldn’t.
I smacked the picnic table and shook my head. “Dang it. I knew I should have looked it up. The meet-cute. I wanted to give you the meet-cute to remember me by.”
Maya couldn’t stop laughing even though she kept trying to regain composure, wiping tears from her face in between.
She stood and hobbled to the other side of the picnic table and sat on my lap, looping her arms over my neck.
“Cash, you are just full of surprises.” She smiled, making me feel like the luckiest man in the world. “The good kind of surprises.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Maya