“Can I ask you a question?” Aaron said from behind her.
As if she would deny this fine man anything. She hesitated at the open garage door and nodded. “Okay.”
“What did you do with the paperclip?”
The slow smile that stretched across her face felt good. Alana dug in her pocket and lifted the rusty old paperclip in the air for him to see. “I kept it, of course. It’s my good luck charm.”
The smile lines on Aaron’s chiseled jaw deepened with his sexy grin. He crossed his arms over his chest, puffing up his bicep muscles, and rolled his eyes heavenward. He murmured, “I’m new to town…”
“Uh huh.” She waited, excited about where this was going.
“And I don’t know many people outside of my crew and the station…”
“Uh huuuh.”
He looked endearing as fuck as he bit the side of his lip and dragged it out. “So maybe I’ll stop by the coffee shop in the morning, and you can tell me how your date went with Doucheface.”
“Oh, you want to be friends.”
Aaron laughed and scanned the street, then leaned against the side of the garage and nodded. “Yeah, friends.”
“I will be the best friend you ever had on one condition.”
His eyes sparked like dancing blue flames as he lifted his gaze to hers. “Name it.”
Through a teasing grin, she murmured, “Don’t fall in love with me, Aaron Keller.”
His face went slack, and then he swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple dipping into his muscular neck. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Her bravado would only get her so far, and she would squeak an excited sound if she opened her mouth, so she offered him a small grin, turned, and made her way back toward the coffee shop. She forced herself not to look back. She would embarrass herself if she did.
Aaron Keller had just offered her friendship. The Aaron Keller. He was so different than she’d imagined as a little girl, but in a good way. In the type of way that gave her butterflies and made her feel like she was floating with each step she took on the cracked sidewalk.
When she reached her coffee shop, she couldn’t help herself. She had to peek back. Craning her neck, she looked around the trash cans and parked cars, and he was there, leaning on the side of the fire station, arms crossed and eyes on her. With an excited yelp, she waved her fingertips quickly and escaped inside.
And as she pressed her back against the closed door, Alana was a hundred percent sure her heartrate would never settle down.
Hang her date tonight—tomorrow morning couldn’t come fast enough.
Chapter Five
Alana had been tricked. Or catfished? Trey Langford was nothing like she’d expected. Online, he’d been polite, respectful, and wore a business suit in a professional looking picture. She wasn’t after a man’s money since she was perfectly capable of taking care of her own finances, but she was tired of dating boys instead of men. This was the trouble with dating at thirty. The good ones seemed to be taken, and the ones left in the dating pool were still single for a reason. And that reason, she’d found out over the last couple of years, was usually that they had the maturity of adolescent squids.
Trey belched and continued on about himself. “So then I decided I didn’t want to work for the man, you know? So I quit my job, bought my business, and now I don’t have to answer to anyone. I wake up when I want, work when I want, take days off when I want.”
Alana swallowed the bite of thin-crust pepperoni and mushroom pizza and feigned interest. “What do you do for your business?”
“I restock vending machines. Sodas, snacks, candy, you name it. There is a need out there, and I’m filling it. Hospitals, bowling alleys, professional buildings…are you going to finish that?” He pointed at a slice of bread on her appetizer plate she’d taken one bite of.
Alana tried to compose the disgust off her face but probably failed. Not that Trey noticed. He barely waited for her to nod her consent before he grabbed her bread and dunked it into the olive oil, herb, and vinegar mixture Dante’s Traditional Pizza Pies was known for.
From the cozy front patio of the restaurant, Alana sighed and looked down the street at the fire station for the tenth time since dinner had started. It was lit by street lights, and one of the hangers was open. She could see the fire engine but hadn’t caught a single glance of Aaron. She wished she was sitting with someone else at this cute little two-seater table under Dante’s pergola. Someone blond, mysterious, and covered in tattoos. She’d been so excited about this date with Trey a few days ago, but after meeting Aaron, she’d been dreading it.
Trey followed her gaze down the street, and Alana reminded herself there was just a little while left, and then she could go home and forget about this awkward night. She needed to at least give this guy a chance and anchor herself in the moment.
“So what do you do?” he asked.
She opened her mouth to answer, but he cut her off.
“Because I have to tell you, if this goes any further, I’m not really for supporting a woman who wants to stay at home with my kids. You’ll have to take care of them and work. And I mean you need to be bringing in a big income. I’m not into gold-diggers. I make good money, and I don’t want you thinking that’s all I’m about. I need a teammate. I have financial goals I want to reach and can’t do that on one income. I’m looking at early retirement, and if you think about it, settling down would put me even farther behind because we have to come up with retirement for both of us. Fifty-fifty sounds fair. Like tonight, I’m fine with paying for my meal, but you should have some pride and pay for your own.”