“I’m getting lots of advice from friends that I should ditch them again.”
“Again? You don’t always wear glasses?”
“I hadn’t since jr. high, but since taking the job here in Marietta, I started wearing them exclusively, thinking that people would take me more seriously if I looked more academic.”
“You shouldn’t have to dress to impress others.”
“I shouldn’t, no, but it seems as if I do.” She shrugged, smiled. “And let’s not talk about that tonight. I’m sick of me. I want to know all about you.”
“I think between Jane and McKenna, you’ve heard plenty.”
Taylor laughed. “Kara’s told me a few juicy tidbits as well.”
“See? You know everything already.”
“I don’t know anything about your life in San Francisco, or the girlfriend you just broke up with,” Taylor said, leaning back as the servers placed the salad course before them. The salad of woodland greens, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts and feta cheese made her mouth water, but she was far more interested in hearing Troy’s answer than eating.
“I like San Francisco. It’s a great city. I hope to always have a home there.”
“How long have you lived there?”
“I’ve been in California since I left for college at eighteen. I went to Stanford University in Palo Alto.”
“You studied?”
“Electrical engineering and computer science.”
“So computer science was your minor?”
“I was a double major, and then a graduate degree in the same.”
She eyed him with new respect. “You are smart.”
He grinned. “I am more than just a pretty face.”
She laughed. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
“It was a calculated move on my part. I wanted to make you laugh, and I succeeded.” He reached for a candied walnut and popped it in his mouth. “So what do you like better? My brains or my beauty?”
Taylor loved the glint in his eye and the hint of mischief in his smile. “Your sense of humor.” She sipped her champagne, enjoying the cold tart fizz in her mouth and the way the bubbles warmed her going down. “Tell me about the girlfriend.”
“Which one? There have been many.”
“The last. And why have there been so many?”
“So many questions.”
“I’m curious about you. And the women you love.” She took another quick sip of champagne. “And leave.”
One of his black brows lifted. “I’m not out to break hearts. I’m just not going to settle.”
“So what was wrong with the last one?”
“There’s not much to say. She was a lovely woman. We dated for a number of months, but it wasn’t a forever relationship. It couldn’t go the distance.”
“Why not?”
“We had different values and goals, as well as a different vision for the future.” He saw her expression and shrugged. “She couldn’t understand my love affair with The Graff. She came from money. Her family is old money in San Francisco, and big philanthropists, but she doesn’t believe in rescuing decrepit buildings in the middle of nowhere. She believed my money would have been better spent funding a museum or donating to the San Francisco arts.”
“That’s why you broke up?”
“There were other issues, fundamental issues about identity, integrity, and loyalty, and I appreciate that her family is a well known family, and I appreciate that she is an heiress in her own right, but I’m not jumping through hoops for anybody. I am who I am, and that’s a Sheenan, from Marietta, Montana. I don’t come from big money, and I don’t care what others think of me. I don’t want a woman that cares more about society’s opinion than mine. I want a woman who is herself and has a strong sense of self, because our relationship has to be based on mutual respect, not status or public adulation.”
“Was she beautiful?”
Troy suddenly closed the distance between them, kissing her lightly on the lips. “You are more beautiful.” He kissed her again. “And smarter.” His fingers brushed her cheek, his thumb stroking over the sweep of her cheekbone before kissing her a third time. “And one hundred times more intriguing. Any more questions?”
She stared into his deep blue eyes, lost. In the back of her mind she was sure there were more questions, dozens of them, but her head was spinning and her heart was racing and she just wanted to go somewhere private and kiss some more. “No,” she murmured. “At least, no more right now.”
The night just got better from there.