Her shoulder lifted in a shrug. "Being committed to one woman for more than a few weeks?"
"Not since you." He deliberately held her wide-eyed stare, wanting to make sure she knew what she'd meant to him. That seeing her again, being with her, made him realize why no other girl had ever compared, and that was because none had given him that complete sense of acceptance he'd felt with her or the certainty that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with them-as he had with Ella.
She ducked her head and laughed a bit self-consciously as her fingers played with the stem of her wineglass. "I certainly hadn't expected that answer."
"Don't get me wrong. I haven't been a monk," he clarified, because he'd had his share of hookups, just not long-term relationships. "But right after leaving Woodmont, I came to the city and got a job working for a small construction company as an apprentice making minimum wage. I needed the money to help pay for the college and living expenses that my scholarship and tuition didn't cover. Honestly, between working my ass off nearly every day and on the weekends, going to school, and studying for exams, the last thing I had time for was a steady girlfriend."
"And once you graduated?" she asked, still fishing to know more.
He shrugged. "There just hasn't been anyone who's made me want to settle down for the long haul." He allowed a faint smile to appear. "I think maybe I've set my expectations too high."
More questions swirled in her gaze, intimate and personal, but before she could voice any of them, their server arrived with their pizza. She placed it on a rack in the middle of the table and set a large plate in front of each of them.
"Would either of you care for another drink?" the young woman asked.
Ella shook her head, obviously keeping a clear head for the drive home. "I'm good with just this one glass."
"I'm fine, too," Kyle said.
The waitress moved on to another table, and Kyle went ahead and served them both a slice of the fragrant pizza, loaded with the simple and classic ingredients they liked-pepperoni, mushrooms, and extra mozzarella.
He took a big bite of his and wiped his napkin across his mouth. "So, turnabout in our conversation and all that, since I just gave up my romantic history, or lack thereof, is this where I now get to ask about you and Tucker?"
She blanched at the mention of the other man's name and set her half-eaten slice back on her plate. "I'd rather you didn't ask. I'm actually having a really nice evening, and I don't want to think about Tucker right now."
Alrighty then. So much for finding out what had happened between the two of them and why they'd never made it to the altar. "Fair enough," he said, respecting her wishes.
She finished her Moscato and resumed eating her dinner. "What I'd rather know is how you become a residential and commercial redeveloper. I thought you'd planned on majoring in agricultural business management."
Yes, that had been his original intention, back when the two of them had talked about returning to Woodmont after college. The areas around the small town would have given him the opportunity to find a decent-paying job in the agricultural market, dealing with commodity, food marketing, and environmental conservation. But when he'd realized that there wasn't anything to go back to Woodmont for, and certainly not to live there again, he'd revised his plans and gone for a degree in civil engineering.
"When I started at the construction company while going to college, I had zero experience in building anything," he said as he finished with his second piece of pizza and reached for a third. "I basically started out as the gopher and a grunt, taking on all the shit jobs nobody else wanted to do."
He gave her a wry small. "I had to start somewhere, but I worked hard, I never complained, and I learned every aspect of construction that I could during those four years while I was in school. I was also fortunate enough that the owner took a liking to me and moved me up to an apprentice pretty quickly, then full-time laborer. Two years ago, he offered me a position as a supervisor with a great salary and full benefits that would lead to being a project manager, but that was right around the time that three of my friends were talking about starting up their own business, and they wanted me to come in as the fourth partner."
"Premier Realty?" she guessed, putting her crumpled napkin on her empty plate and pushing the dish aside.
"Yes. There's a luxury real estate side to the company that Wes and Max manage as brokers, and a redevelopment side to the business, which I and my good friend, Connor-the guy you sort of met in my office today-oversee," he explained. "Wes and Max usually come across the run-down houses and buildings as soon as they go on the market. Connor and I assess them to make sure that the resale value after the renovations and improvements are completed is worth the time and effort."