“Not you. Apparently you’re the sort who likes to dive right into the middle of them.” I snorted.
“Can I help it you distracted me when you held this little number up in front of you?”
Snatching the nightgown from him, I felt my ears grow warm but made no move to put it back as I headed to the register. I was buying it because I liked it, not because he did. Really. “I have one more stop. You’re welcome to join me, since you keep running into me anyway.”
“Yeah? Dinner, dancing, a movie, what? Where are we going, Mac?” He fell into step beside me as we exited the store.
“Toys-R-Us.”
“What for?”
“I need some toys.”
He stopped. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
I turned around and laughed at his puckered-up expression. “No, I don’t have kids.” Then I marched back and grabbed his hand. “Come on. I told Gloria I’d pick out a gift for her soon-to-be niece or nephew. She’s so busy these days with her gig, but I’m glad to help. She seems happy.”
He let me pull him along, but when I tried to let go of his hand, he kept his firmly closed around mine. I bit my lip, but went with it and tightened my grip around his. He glanced at me and then looked straight ahead, but his smile reached all the way to his electric-blue eyes. Being friends was turning out to be a whole lot more fun than I’d thought it would be.
It sure as heck beat spending another Friday night alone.
CHAPTER TEN
“Wow, that’s huge.” I stared in awe.
“Bigger than you thought, huh?” Dylan asked.
“This has to be the biggest Toys-R-Us I’ve ever seen.”
“Oh, you meant the store.”
“What did you think I was talking about?”
He held up his hands. “Hey, with you, I never know.”
“You’re a regular riot.” I smirked.
He grinned. “I try.” Then he grabbed my hand. “C’mon. We’ve got a lot of territory to cover.”
“You’re telling me. I don’t know a thing about babies.” As an only child, I didn’t have any nieces or nephews to buy for. And I only had a few distant cousins that I didn’t keep in touch with.
“Don’t worry. I have six older sisters and a ton of nieces and nephews. We’ll be fine.”
“Six sisters? Well, that explains a lot.” With his looks, I bet his sister’s friends had paraded around in front of him, giving him a little more attention than the average Joe. Between that and his zucchini, the guy was destined to be addicted to sex.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you have a way with the opposite sex.”
“You can’t grow up like I did and not learn a few things about women. Especially in an Italian family. Once I learned when to shut my trap and that I’d never win anyway, I got along just fine.” He winked. “Seriously, my sisters are great. Just stubborn and always right. It would never occur to them that they could be wrong about something once in a while.” He stared at me, and his eyes softened. “Kind of like someone else I know.”
My heart gave a little lurch. Could I be wrong about him? I swallowed hard and reminded myself I’d been burned one too many times, and I’d seen the evidence first hand. Evidence didn’t lie. But I still couldn’t bring myself to confront him about it. “We’d better get going. The store will close soon.”
He blew out a breath and shook his head. “Let’s go, then.”
I wandered up and down every aisle on both levels, circled the Ferris wheel, and even took a spin on the Lego ride to no avail. I was totally clueless when it came to kids. Dylan, on the other hand, was amazing. He stopped down one aisle to tie a little boy’s shoe then ruffled the boy’s hair and sent him scurrying after his mother.
I tried to fight the tender feelings flooding me, reasoning I was simply growing closer to him. Same as I had with Gloria after spending time with her. Okay, not quite the same, but close. I couldn’t wipe the silly grin from my face.
Scanning the signs, I once again tried to figure out what to get for the baby, dragging Dylan along with me at a quick pace. My arm jerked and I fell back, bouncing off his chest.
“Whoa there, Mario. What’s the hurry? You’d think this was a race, or something,” he said.
I faced him. “It is a race. It’s getting late, and we’re not getting anywhere. We have to get serious and shop.”
His eyes twinkled and he took several steps back. “You said we had to shop, but you didn’t say we couldn’t play.” He whipped out a toy dart gun and fired off a round, smacking the center of my forehead with a rubber dart.