Derailed (Clayton Falls #1)(21)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

“Jake Mathews was blabbing about it last night at Gill’s…”

“Oh. I didn’t realize Jake knew.” I could not believe this conversation was happening.

Gavin chuckled. “What does that kid have against you, anyway? The way he described it, you were some witch bewitching his brother into bed.”

I groaned. “You do realize I’m the same age as him, right?”

“Sure, but you’re more mature. By the way, I told him to go to hell. Besides, witch or not, I don’t know why a man would have to be bewitched to sleep with you.”

“So, you really don’t care? I just thought this whole friend-dinner thing was a pretense.”

“Oh, I didn’t say I didn’t care. I also didn’t say I liked it. But I get it. You’re using Ben as a rebound. He’s safe and familiar, it doesn’t take effort to be with him, and you aren’t making yourself vulnerable.” He placed his hand on my leg again, this time leaving it there. “This dinner might be as friends, but I have no intention of letting it remain that way. I just don’t plan on being your rebound.”

“Then what do you intend?” I hoped the question didn’t come across as flirty.

“You’ll get tired of Mathews, and I’ll be the one you come to. You don’t want familiar and safe—you want exciting and safe. I can give you that combination.”

“Exciting and safe? What makes you think I want that?”

He turned to look at me. “You’re a wild child playing dress up. There’s a reason you dropped out of law school, and it wasn’t the break up.”

“Is that so?”

“Uh huh, and you know what? I want that too. I want someone I can have fun with, but who is there for me at the end of the day. You can be that woman, I know that.”

His hand on my leg started to take on a whole new meaning, so I shifted in my seat trying to let him know I didn’t want it there. He got the hint, moving it to the back of my seat.

“Right now I’m just trying to figure out how to speed things up so you realize Mathews is only a distraction.”

“I wouldn’t spend too much time thinking about it.”

“Are you saying it’s more?” For the first time he looked a little worried. By then, we were on the interstate heading to Wilmington.

“No. It’s not more.” I couldn’t have more. I didn’t deserve more. “But I’m not looking for anything else right now.”

“Sure you aren’t.” He turned to give me a cocky smile before returning his attention to the bumpy road. The road was stripped down to gravel. They must have been getting ready to redo the blacktop.

“This is going to be an awkward dinner.”

“Why?” he asked, when we moved back onto smooth road.

“How can you have a non-awkward date after talking about this stuff?”

“So you’re calling it a date now. Interesting.”

“Oh, come on, you know what I mean.” I wrung my hands together, questioning whether to roll down my window. The atmosphere in the car felt a little suffocating.

“All right, so let’s talk about something else,” he suggested.

“What topic were you thinking?”

“So you’re a law school dropout. What made you think you wanted to do law school in the first place?”

Gavin wasn’t the first person to ask me that, but he was the first one I didn’t give a canned answer. “It seemed like a secure career path, money, respect, and it’s what Adam did.”

“Money? You don’t strike me as the type of girl to be that interested in money.”

I shrugged. “You don’t really know me, do you?”

“Maybe I haven’t known you long, but I don’t believe you’re that materialistic.”

“See, I’m not as much of a catch as you thought.”

“Oh, you’re a catch all right.” He moved his hand back to the steering wheel. “So your ex-fiancé was a lawyer then, or was he in school with you?”

“He was practicing. He was a senior when I met him freshman year.”

“Good to know you have a thing for older guys.”

I laughed lightly. “Not always.”

“Yeah, Ben’s almost the same age as you, but you dated him years ago.”

I decided not to point out that, considering Ben and I were sleeping together, I was still attracted to guys closer to my age. “How old are you, anyway?”

“How old do you think I am?” he challenged.

“Twenty-eight?”

“Wow, I’m not aging well, am I?” He laughed.

“Then how old are you?” I shifted in my seat to look at him.

“Twenty-six.” He smiled.

“I was really far off, huh?”

“You’re twenty-two, right?”

“Uh huh, I was young for my class.”

“Got to love robbing the cradle.”

“You aren’t robbing the cradle. You’re friends with the cradle, remember?”

“Hey, you slipped up and called it a date. I can try too.” He pulled off at our exit and drove through Wilmington. I looked out the window, barely recognizing the sights around us. For as close to the city as I grew up, we didn’t go often when I was a kid.

Gavin parallel parked and helped me down from the truck. He put a hand on the small of my back as we walked toward the restaurant. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t even had dinner yet. It was going to be a long night.

I decided to use dinner to ask Gavin questions, hoping that if the conversation wasn’t on me, it might be less awkward.

“So tell me more about you.”

“What do you want to know? I’m an open book.” He placed his hands palm up on the table to illustrate his point.

“Siblings?” I asked, looking for a safe topic.

He leaned back in his chair, seeming very relaxed. “Two brothers and a sister.”

“Where do you fit in?”

“I’m the second from youngest. What about you? I know you have a sister; is that it?” he asked.

“Yeah, just Shayna.”

“And she’s a doctor?”

Somehow the topic had moved back to me already. “Yup. She’s in her anesthesiology residency right now.”

“Is she married? Kids?”

“Yeah. Married to another doctor. Two kids.”

“Do you like being an aunt?” He sat up straighter, watching me carefully.