“Gen has my numbers. Get them from her and see if you can find it in you to invite me. I’d like to see Gen shoot, and would like to spend more time with all of you.”
Frisco nodded. “We eat at two, shoot after dinner. Normal range rules, so bring what you need.”
“Thanks. Would you like to come sit down? Get a beer? Something stronger? I’d like to introduce you to some people.”
Frisco looked to Isaac and said, “We should be going. I’d like to get Gen home. She’s tired.”
Duke looked down, saw her face, and wrapped his arms around her. “Yeah Beautiful, I can see you’re tired. I’d like to take you home, though. See to you. Can you give me that?”
“You shouldn’t have to leave your party,” she said. “I relieved our limo driver once Tyler and Ethan were both here, as they said they could get us all home. Frisco can take me home; it isn’t far out of their way.”
Ethan took a half step forward. “Let’s move this back to our table if we’re figuring out who’s driving who.”
Chapter Ten
Gen wasn’t sure what she’d expected when Keith said he could bring her home in a club vehicle, but it hadn’t been a newer model, shiny, Ford Expedition. He put her in, closed her door, and walked around to his side. He didn’t start the engine until she was buckled in, and once they were on the way, he held her hand.
“You’re being nice.”
“I’m a nice guy.”
“Did you break the other guy’s hand?”
“I did. I took pity and broke his left one, though.”
Gen’s heart somersaulted. Did she really want to spend time with someone who could hurt someone so casually? And then just… admit to it?
“Gen, something you and I gotta be clear on, is I’m either gonna be honest with you or tell you I can’t answer your question. I’m not gonna lie. If you can’t handle an answer, don’t ask. You’re gonna have to accept me for who I am, same as I’ll have to accept you for who you are. I don’t want to change you, and I hope you aren’t expecting to change who I am, either.”
“You’re a lot to handle, Keith.” Talk about an understatement.
He chuckled. “You have no idea, but I’ll give you a little time to get used to me. I’ll handle you with care, try not to…” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, lifted it to his mouth, kissed it. “Damn, woman. You have to be twenty-eight or twenty-nine, right? I’m driving you to one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the city, and you’ve put yourself there. I know where you came from, and I know there were no trust funds. How’ve you managed to get where you are and stay so innocent?”
“I’m twenty-nine. I worked in my mother’s restaurant until my real estate career took off. I bought an apartment complex and moved out of mom’s house when I was twenty-three. Six units, so I could rent five of them out and live in the other. Over the next couple of years I purchased more rental property, but stayed in the little two bedroom apartment. I moved into the house I’m in now at twenty-six.”
“Okay, and I want to see your first apartment, want to know where your rental properties are, but the biggest question on my mind right now is when you lost your virginity.”
“Keith! That’s... personal.”
“Yeah, and you’re still tipsy, and tired. I’m hoping we’re going to get very personal with each other in the coming weeks, and this is one of those things I’m gonna want to know about you.”
Gen closed her eyes and leaned back, decided that was a bad idea and opened them to watch where they were going. She should be stumbling drunk, but she wasn’t. She was drunk, no doubt about it, but the circumstances must have kicked in her brain enough to think. Talking about it now, in the dark, with her drunk while he drove, might be the easiest way to say it.
“While I was still working in mom’s restaurant, before my real estate career was even off the ground, I was engaged. I thought I loved him, thought he loved me. I had a ring on my finger and we were planning for a June wedding. We’d put our deposit down to hold the church, I’d picked out a gown, was researching florists and caterers.”
“This must’ve been after I left, and you were nineteen when I left, right?”
“Probably. Maybe. I’m not sure exactly when you left. There’s three or four years between us though, so do the math.”
“I left at twenty, just before I turned twenty-one.”
Gen laughed. “And I lost my virginity two weeks before I turned twenty-one.”