“Bryce? Are you kidding me? Not even Sam. Ryder is the only one that willingly talks to you about his dates. The other two have always been tight-lipped.”

  “Damn. I forgot about that,” she said, frowning.

  “What’s wrong with you? You never forget about things like that. Are you sick?” he asked, walking over and putting his hand to her forehead, then leaning down to kiss her when she pinched his arm.

  “No. I think I’m just so excited that it worked out and I lost track of which one of my boys talks to me more.”

  “Don’t get too excited. It’s early yet and, like you said, they seem like opposites.”

  “And opposites attract. I knew he wanted to bring it up, but he was fighting it back himself.”

  “I agree, I think he did, but he didn’t. And that should tell you enough to mind your own business and let it play out.”

  “Fine. I’ll keep quiet...for now.”

  Putting On Display

  Payton knocked on Bryce’s front door and looked around the hallway of the old warehouse that had been converted to apartments. The place was nothing at all like her taste.

  Sure, she was surrounded by parking lots and other brick buildings, but this was both not her style and out of the league of anything she could afford.

  Bryce opened the door, standing there in shorts and a T-shirt that fit his body well enough that it should be illegal for any man to look that drool worthy. On top of that, he was barefoot. Good lord she might just lose it before she got in the door.

  How the heck could he be a professor and look like that? Kelly was right—no one in academia that she knew of was blessed with the tall, dark and handsome genes that he was proudly putting on display.

  “No problem finding the place?” he said.

  “It was pretty easy.”

  “What’s that?” he asked, nodding to the bag in her hand.

  “Cookies. I set a few aside for us to have later tonight. I know you’ve got a sweet tooth.”

  “I do. Thanks for thinking of me.” He pulled the bag out of her hand and rather than offer her to come in, yanked her forward, wrapped his arm around her back and bent her over giving her a kiss meant for the movies. One where the leading man made the helpless woman fan herself, then swoon.

  “I like that welcome,” she said, her hands running up and down his back, then over his biceps. “I never expected this much muscle on you. You said you don’t do much more than work, but you obviously do.”

  He smirked at her, then nodded his head. She saw a treadmill in the far corner of the loft. “If I don’t get up and move, my body gets stiff from sitting all the time.”

  “That keeps you lean, but not muscular,” she said, her finger trailing on his arm.

  “Pushups, sit-ups, pull-ups. I don’t have a lot of equipment. No place for it and going to the gym never appealed to me. Call me old school.”

  “Old school looks pretty spectacular on you.”

  “So what do you do to stay so thin? Especially since you’re around food nonstop.”

  “Good genes,” she said. Just another thing she was hated for in school. If she wasn’t being called dumb then the guys wanted her for her body and her looks. Not many really wanted to get to know her as a person.

  “Many have said that about our family.”

  “You mean you all look this good?” she asked, then took a few steps back to check his place out. If she didn’t, she was afraid he was going to think she was more forward than she was used to being.

  “Every single one of us looks good,” he said, laughing.

  She liked this cocky side of him she hadn’t seen before and didn’t expect.

  “Bet you are all popular with the ladies.” Which brought her back to wondering what he saw in her other than her looks. Was that all it was to him? She’d like to think it wasn’t but really wasn’t sure.

  “We’ve been told it a time or two. Like I said, up until the last two years we were all single. My cousins in Charlotte all took the plunge. Then my older brother, Sam, got engaged a few weeks ago. Do you want to see my place?” he asked.

  She obviously wasn’t doing that good of a job hiding her curiosity. “I didn’t expect this to be your style or taste.”

  “It’s a good location,” he said. “It’s simple. I guess I never considered myself as having a style, but this place kind of drew me in.”

  “It’s nice. Different.” There was exposed brick on one wall, old ducting hanging from the high ceilings. “Can I see your kitchen that you probably never use?”

  He laughed and walked to the back of the apartment. It was a galley style but had all the necessities. She could get some work done in here, but it was actually smaller than her own kitchen even though his apartment was almost twice as big.

  “I don’t use it very often as I’m sure you can figure out.”

  “I like that you’re neat like me.”

  “I thought the same thing when I saw you work and then your place. Not everyone is as neat, or as my brother Ryder says, anal as me.”

  “It’s not a bad trait to have.”

  “Are you hungry?” He pulled out a few takeout menus. “I normally order pizza from these few places and they deliver fairly quickly.”

  She looked them over and pulled one out she’d had before. “This place is great. So what do you like on your pizza?”

  “I’m flexible. I’ll eat anything.”

  “I like meat,” she said and saw him gulp. She hadn’t meant to say it the way she did, like she wanted a piece of him, but now that she thought of it, it wasn’t that bad of an idea.

  “They’ve got a great meat lovers pizza if you’re in the mood.”

  “Always in the mood,” she said going with it some more. Why not at this point?

  ***

  Bryce was positive Payton was just playing with him.

  Yes, he liked how confident she’d been before, but this time it was different. Not so much confidence as much as take charge.

  He’d never had a fondness for women who were like that before. Not ones that wanted to control everything, but he knew that wasn’t Payton at all. Especially not when she said she liked meat and a light tint of pink covered her cheeks.

  He placed the order for their pizza, got an antipasto and some wings. “Best Friday night dinner there is.”

  “For a single guy,” she said.

  “Am I single?” he asked. “I mean, never mind.”

  She giggled at him, then tilted her head. “Good question. I never know how to answer this. I mean this is just our second date and I’d like to have more than just these two, but I’m exclusive when I date someone. I don’t like to play games and can’t keep up even if I tried.”

  “Same here,” he said. “One woman at a time. If I tried to balance more than that I’d land on my head more times than not and then get a swift kick in the ass from my mother on how it’s disrespectful to women in general to do that.”

  As much of a player as his brothers were, he’d never known them to date more than one person at a time either.

  “So then I’d say we are dating,” she said. “Is that your bedroom over there?”

  He laughed when her face turned red again. “Curious or more than that?”

  “Just nosy I guess.”

  “It is my bedroom. Not much to see in there other than my bed. Actually it’s a hallway, bathroom is first, then bedroom and closet.”

  “This is nice,” she said when she walked in behind him. “This actually suits your style more.”

  He looked around at the blue walls and tan bedspread. It looked boring to him. “Yeah, I’m dull.”

  “I don’t think you’re dull at all,” she said, turning him and putting her arms around his waist, then giving him a hug and a kiss. He’d love to walk her back toward the bed, but something told him that she might not be game for it even if she was a bit more aggressive than the last time they’d been out.

  Of course she did make the first move at Millie’s the Monday after their date, leaning in and kissing him. Maybe she was hinting and he was too clueless to realize it.

  “I like how confident you are,” he said, lifting his head.

  “Am I being too pushy?” she asked.

  “Not pushy at all. I think a man likes it when a woman makes some moves.”

  “I just find myself wanting to touch you, but that doesn’t mean I want to dive on your bed. And now I think that probably makes me out like a tease, doesn’t it?” she asked, frowning.

  “Not at all. I didn’t think you were one. I find it sexy you keep reaching for me. It’s a nice shot of adrenaline to my ego. I’m also a man that can take a no and understand the meaning behind it.”

  “That’s good. I’m really not trying to give mixed messages,” she said seriously.

  “I don’t believe that you are.”

  “So what movie did you want to watch tonight?” she asked and started to move out of his room. It was probably better to not tempt fate and stay in there any longer.

  “I’ve got a few ideas, but then I got thinking, have you ever seen the show Travelers on Netflix?”

  “No,” she said. “I’ve heard about it. Heard people talking about it, but I never seem to have time to sit and watch TV.”

  “How about we start it? We can binge watch some of it tonight and maybe it can be our thing on the weekends?” He hoped that didn’t come off as cheesy. “They’ve got three seasons and like nine or ten episodes each.”

  “I think that’s a great idea!”

  The two of them were just chatting about her work and it wasn’t long before their dinner arrived. They sat at his table and filled up on salad and wings, almost not leaving room for the pizza, but he still managed to eat two pieces.

  “I’m stuffed, but I’m dying for a slice of this,” she said, helping herself to just one.

  They watched two episodes of Travelers, her eyes glued to the screen. “I like the possibilities of this. How people body hop into time and go back in the past to try to save the future. It just seems so real.”

  “I think that is why so many people are talking about it. It’s sci-fi but not over the top cheesy either.”

  “Speaking of over the top,” she said, crawling into his lap. “Sorry, but sitting next to you is driving me insane. I hope you don’t think I’m too forward, but I’d like another kiss.”

  “No man would think this was forward.”

  That was a lie. He might have thought it if she’d done it their first date and they hadn’t spent other times talking. But at this point in their relationship—which he was considering it—he had no problem at all.

  To show her that, he put his hands under her ass and held her in place while she put her lips on his.

  His mouth opened, hers followed suit, and they started with a duel that would be one for the ages. Chasing and catching, sucking and nipping. Yeah, he was growing pretty thick and hard under her hips, part of the reason he was holding her up.

  A few minutes went by, maybe it was longer. He wasn’t sure and wasn’t keeping track either. “Sorry. I guess that was a little over the top,” she said. Then she giggled. “I was going for that, though, wasn’t I?”

  “No reason to apologize. Not when I want to do it again.” He threaded his hand through her hair and yanked her mouth back to his.

  Motivation For Her

  “I forgot to tell you that I met with your student on Thursday,” Payton said to Bryce when he picked her up the next morning. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had two dates in a row. Or one that was a day date.

  But last night they’d decided to go hiking for today. She loved being outdoors and rarely got to enjoy nature since she worked so much. Even on the weekends, she was working, plus she just didn’t like doing things alone.

  She thought for sure when she suggested they go to Eno River State Park to walk some of the trails he might say no, but instead he’d said he’d love to.

  No other guy she dated before wanted to do anything like this. Most times the guys she dated just wanted to go out to eat, have a drink, then go back to her place and have sex.

  She didn’t put out on the first date. Never. Not even the second. She had a few times on the third and tonight was going to be one of those times.

  Not because it was expected or that she thought Bryce wanted it. But because she really liked him and wanted him. She felt something for him more than she had for another man.

  She wanted a relationship with him and was pretty sure he felt the same way. They even talked about being exclusive when most men wouldn’t even look her in the eye if the conversation came up before, let alone after they’d had sex the first time.

  That was probably why she hadn’t had sex in over a year. Hadn’t even dated in over six months.

  She was sick of being used or treated like she was candy on a guy’s arm.

  Bryce was different though and she was going to try to treat this differently too.

  “That’s great. He’s a good kid,” Bryce said. Another thing she liked about him. He seemed to think of others and help them out.

  “I thought so. I hired him on the spot. I can give him about thirty hours a week to start, maybe more when Kelly is off. He was really excited over it and the bonus is he has fast food experience.”

  He smiled at her. “He told me he did. He’ll work hard for you. He’s not a top student of mine by any means, but he’s ambitious and will give you his best. He comes to me if he is struggling so that he can figure it out before he does the work. I can appreciate someone who doesn’t want to have to do things a few times but will stop and ask questions when he has them.”

  She held her smile in place when it wanted to drop over his “not a top student” comment. She shouldn’t take offense to that. Not everyone can be good at school.

  “So he struggles in school?” she asked.

  “No. He’s not a science major, but everyone has to take a science course or two for their degree. He’s there on a scholarship and trying to maintain his GPA, and is terrified some of his classes that are mandatory will bring it down. He’ll probably pull a B out, maybe a B+. He tries and that is more important to me.”

  “So you’d bump him up a bit because he tries?” she asked.

  She’d been there before. Teachers passing her to just get her out of the class. Or maybe it was a favor to her mother. Who knows? She graduated and that was all that mattered.

  “Not always. Depends on his final grade. I don’t give out grades or pass people for the heck of it. If he’s close to the next grade by a point, I’ve been known to bump it if it’s someone who I knew put a lot of effort into things to get there.”

  “That’s nice. I told you school wasn’t my thing. I tried though. I always did, but it didn’t come naturally to me.”

  “Like I said, we are all good at something. And I can’t see you not putting more than a hundred percent into everything you do.”

  She just smiled at him. No use saying she stopped trying so hard for years. The threat of not graduating on time and spending more time with people she couldn’t stand was motivation for her. And maybe she only got out because people felt sorry for her, but she did try. She wanted to learn, she just didn’t often.

  “It looks like the weather is going to be perfect today,” she said, changing the subject.

  “It is. Not a far drive either.”

  They got in his car and made the short drive there, then parked. “What trails do you want to walk on?”

  “I don’t care. I’ve been here before when I was a kid. Our family would have picnics and such. Since the Cole Mill Trail starts off at the parking lot, we can do that first.”

  “It had to be fun here as a kid,” she said, following alongside of him. There were a lot of cars around, but the people were pretty spread out that she could see.

  “We had a blast. My brothers and cousins and I would run all through these trails and then meet back with our parents to eat lunch and then take off again.”

  “No family fun days like that for me,” she said without thought and then wished she hadn’t.

  “It had to be hard losing your father. I couldn’t imagine.”

  “It was. I mean he wasn’t the same person at that point. The pain, the pills and such. They change you. I like to think he’s in a better place.”

  At least that was what she told herself enough in life. And what she’d told her mother too when she’d be cursing and crying at times that it was going to be hard alone. Then she’d remind her mom how hard it was caring for her father when he was drunk too.

  It was probably wrong to say those things, but there were a few years that were just tough to be in the house.

  And when her mother talked about no romance, she understood that. What she didn’t understand was how her mother could say it was companionship. That wasn’t anything Payton was willing to accept to not be alone.

  That was probably why her mother was alone now.

  “Still, no one should have to go through that.”

  If only he knew. “We can’t all have the Brady Bunch experience.”

  He laughed at her. “That’s putting it mildly. The stories I could tell you.”

  “So tell me,” she said as they walked along. She reached for his hand and threaded their fingers together. Would he pull away, or hang on? He held on.

  “It will probably bore you.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “My father and my Uncle Garrett are twins. I told you that my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Garrett have two sets of twins. The youngest set, Wyatt and Jade. Well, Wyatt is the prankster of the group. And he was always terrorizing Jade.”

  “Who was outnumbered in the family by the sounds of it.”

  “She was. The only time I think she was ever at peace was when Ella was around.”

  “I bet your cousin Ella got the brunt of it from her four brothers too.”

  “She did and she didn’t. Believe it or not, she was the calm one of the group, so not much got under her skin. But not Jade. Jade has a quick trigger and Wyatt was always wanting to try to see how fast he could set her off.”