“Oh.” She was always quick to assume that someone teasing her was doing so because she was weird and different. But Beck kept showing her that teasing could be affectionate.
He bent his head and touched his lips to hers. “Like the night you were tasting tequila for the first time.”
“It wasn’t the first time I’d had tequila.”
He chuckled. “Babe. You know what I mean. Really tasting it.”
“Okay, yeah.”
“You were so sexy, letting your senses take over.” He kissed her again. “That day at the beach. Tonight. And just now…” This time his mouth lingered. “Feeling warmer?”
She hugged out a laugh. “Oh yeah.”
“Good. I think I owe you dinner. I was going to take you for something to eat after. Do you want to get dressed and go out somewhere? Or order something in?”
“Ordering in sounds nice.”
“Great. Because I’d rather you stay naked.” He gave her ass a squeeze.
“I’m not staying naked. Especially if there’s a delivery guy coming.”
Beck grinned. “Okay, but wear as little as possible.”
Eesh. She didn’t have a drawer full of sexy lingerie. As little as possible was going to have to be a pair of shorts and a tank top. Yeah, that was sexy.
While Beck got rid of the condom and dressed in his board shorts and shirt, she found clothes and dressed too. He wandered into the bedroom as she pulled the tank top down over her middle. His gaze immediately went to her braless breasts and his smile was appreciative. “Nice.”
Okay, maybe she could be a little sexy.
They debated food choices, her ruling out sub sandwiches and him raising a hand to veto veggie burgers from EVO. He pulled up an app on his phone and read some other choices until they finally agreed on rice bowls from Lucky Delight, his with steak, hers with shrimp.
She started a playlist on her iPod and they sat on her couch, her sideways and cross-legged with a soft beige throw over her legs.
“Your couch surprises me,” Beck said, lounging back with one long leg crossed over the other.
“Why?”
“You don’t seem like a red leather girl.”
“Basic and boring, right?”
“I never said that. But you’re very…practical.”
“Yes, I am. This couch is practical. Leather is very easy to keep clean and it will last a long time.”
He smiled. “I guess it being bright red doesn’t change that.”
“No. Okay, truthfully, I really hesitated when I was buying this. I loved it but I did think it was going to be difficult to decorate around it. Carrie convinced me it wouldn’t be that hard. Not that I’m much into decorating.”
“I like your place. Who took the photographs?”
“Carrie.”
Beck’s eyebrows shot up and he studied them again. “Really? They’re fantastic.”
“I know. She’s very talented. She earns her living in front of the camera, but she really prefers to be behind it.” She paused. “And a few of the pictures are ones my parents took. They loved to travel and we used to go somewhere every summer vacation. Until my dad got sick.”
The corners of his mouth turned down and his eyes softened. “I’m sorry.”
Her smile was probably glum, but she tried anyway. “Thanks. I was sixteen. He died of pancreatic cancer.”
“Christ.” He reached for her one of hands. “Is that why you want to find a cure for cancer?”
“I was interested in medicine even before he died, but…yeah. I was sort of thinking about being a doctor, but I discovered I love doing research, and that seemed like a way I could help a lot of people instead of just one at a time.”
He rubbed his chest and dropped his gaze. “Yeah. I guess that’s true.”
“It was really awful,” she continued. “By the time they diagnosed him, the cancer had grown too big to be able to treat, which is often the case with pancreatic cancer. They gave him six months, but it turned into eight. We wanted to keep him at home as long as we could, but eventually I had to convince my mom that he should be in palliative care. She hated that but she was exhausted. We both were.”
“That must have been so difficult.”
“Yes.” She swallowed. “And then about six months after he died, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.”
His gaze shot back up to meet hers. “Jesus! No!”
“Yeah. And we went through it all over again. She had treatment but she ended up dying two years later. I think she just didn’t have the strength to fight it, after losing Dad.”
He stared at her. “No shit.”