“What makes you think we can do this?” she asked, taking him by surprise.
“Do what?” he asked, teasing her. At her eye rolling, he continued. “I’m not going to make this easy, Louisa May.”
“How utterly surprising,” she murmured, smiling. “What makes you think we can make this work?” At his raised eyebrow, she added, “You and me, together.”
“Ah, that wasn’t so hard.”
The waiter arrived with Lu’s drink and the check. Signing the slip and putting her credit card away allowed her to avoid his gaze. But zip-ping up her purse, she stored it on the back of her chair and turned to face him. “We don’t even know each other. You’re suggesting we just pick up and do what, date? What happens when we decide we don’t want to date anymore? It’s not just you and me in this anymore. It would affect Nina.”
Part of him was disappointed. This was the same argument they’d already had. He’d offered assurances, but she wasn’t buying it, which meant that even though she showed up tonight, she wasn’t any closer to capitulating.
“What do you want to know, Lu?”
Her eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“You said we don’t even know each other. What don’t you know?”
At her surprised expression, he sighed. “You want to know how much money I make?” he asked. He knew this would piss her off, but they had to start somewhere.
“No! I don’t care about your money.”
“I know. See, I know that about you because you haven’t cashed one fucking check that I’ve sent for child support. But just so we’re clear, and in the name of full disclosure, I make a lot of money. My last three-year contract was worth about twenty million dollars. I don’t expect that my new one, which will be negotiated soon, will be any less. I also make some money for endorsements, but since I’m picky about that, I have only ever put my name on one product. I always felt that the more I endorsed, the cheaper the endorsement. I give approximately twenty percent of what I make to a secret trust”—he winked at her—“which you now know about. About thirty-five percent of it I give to charity—Doctors Without Borders is my favorite, but I also give to a number of schools for pregnant teenagers in the U.S.” When her eyes welled up, he chased it away with his next statement. “I haven’t been with another woman since I was with you in May. Absolutely no interest.” On the heels of that statement, he continued. “I still love to play soccer and would play for free if they stopped paying me. When I’m done, though, or when my level of play starts to drop off, I will stop. I won’t stick around. I definitely want to follow in Malcolm Helms’s footsteps, because he’s done everything right. Which means I’d like to stay here, but if it wasn’t working for you or Nina, I’d go wherever we needed to go.”
Lu sat stunned. Not really knowing what to say.
“Here’s the other thing, Lu: I do know you. I know that you finished undergrad at twenty, even with a break for childbirth. You did a joint master’s and doctorate program, which you finished in record time. You wrote a proposal to the athletic department regarding your research, and they allowed you to work with their football team. During that time, you also approached the NFL with your results at the collegiate level, and they requested that you work with their teams. So by the time you were twenty-five, you were making money consulting, which you used to support you and Nina, so you could stop taking money from your parents. I know that you still embarrass rather easily, which is a fucking blast for me, and that when I see you mothering Nina, it stops my heart. I’ve loved you since I was eight. It’s never waned. It was buried for a while, but when you walked back into my life, it all was there, waiting for you. Now we can keep arguing and you can keep running away from me, but when you finally start to trust me you will have wasted more time.”
Sitting back in his chair, Lex studied her. She didn’t say anything while she finished her drink. Then she stood up and held out her hand.
He eyed her warily, raising his eyebrow, expecting something.
“Let’s go.”
He stayed in his chair. “Where are we going?”
“Home,” she said, matter-of-factly, as if he hadn’t just monologued for her.
“That’s it?” he asked. “You have nothing for me?”
She smiled tentatively. “I hope I wasn’t too presumptuous, but I asked Mrs. Auberly to watch Nina tonight.”
He shot her the death glare, at which she laughed, the Lu laugh, which made his heart clench.