“Yes, but the pain, hurt and humiliation she felt finding her fiancé in bed with another woman just months before her wedding was still painful for her, Bree.”
“I know.”
“You can’t fear what could happen if you were to ever fall in love again.”
“And I will fall in love again. But why waste the emotion on someone who can’t make me a part of his future?”
“And you know this how? Because he’s going to move to Tampa in a year? That doesn’t mean a thing. What makes you think he can’t include you in those plans?”
Sebrina didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. Because she didn’t have an answer to Victoria’s question. And she refused to let her cousin put ideas in her head. “I’m pulling into the hospital parking lot now, Vic. We will have to finish this conversation at another time.”
Actually, she hoped Victoria forgot all about it, but that was probably too much to hope for.
“Okay. And Bree?”
“Yes?”
“I honestly think you like Parker more than you want to admit.”
Unfortunately, Sebrina was thinking that very same thing.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
PARKER GLANCED ACROSS THE dinner table at his date Gabby, short for Gabriella. The name Gabby suited her better though, because his first impression of her was right on—the woman liked to talk. And she spent most of the evening telling him what she liked—whether it was food, movies, books or even make-up. Like he gave a royal flip about the different types of make-up and which ones better suited her skin. In the beginning, he had given her his undivided attention, listening as she talked. But he couldn’t do it anymore.
He felt nothing. Not even the slightest tinge of desire and that bothered him. He should have felt something. She was an attractive woman and when he’d picked her up for their date, he thought she looked really nice. He was certain that any other man would have been immediately turned on, seeing the way her dress fit, especially the split up the side showing quite a bit of thigh. But even that did nothing for him.
A part of him wished that he could keep his concentration on what she was saying, instead of what he was noticing most—the lack of chemistry between them. He’d been attracted to her, and in a way, he still was. But as he had explained to Sebrina that day, an attraction was physical, whereas chemistry was more complex, more emotional.
Sebrina…
Here he was on a date with another woman, yet he was thinking about her instead. She was growing on him and he wasn’t sure he could do anything about it. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to.
So while Gabby - the gabber - was rambling on about something he wasn’t the least bit interested in, his thoughts were on the conversation he and Sebrina had had in her kitchen before she left for work last night. He’d actually felt all that sexual chemistry pushing them together. So it hadn’t lessened any. He figured she had picked up on it as well, given the way she’d hightailed it out of the house once their conversation had been over.
Before he’d left tonight, he had heard music playing upstairs and figured she was getting ready for her date, as well. He didn’t know when she was leaving and what time she would be home, but then, it really wasn’t any of his business.
She had the day off tomorrow, like he did, and he couldn’t help wondering if she would even be home tonight. Hell, for all he knew, she might be staying overnight with this Bob guy since they had history. But again, it wasn’t any of his business.
“So, what kind of things do you like, Parker?”
He blinked. Was Gabby actually giving him an opportunity to speak after a good hour of her nonstop chatter? He wondered what she would think if he said, ‘women who didn’t talk a lot’.
Parker decided to pick up the conversation and run with it while he had the chance. “I like strawberry cheesecake.” Saying that made him remember the time he and Sebrina and gone out after the movies for dessert. He had enjoyed his time with her.
“That’s it? The only thing you like is strawberry cheesecake?”
He shook his head. “No. I like all sports—especially football and basketball. And I love sports cars. Fast ones. A Corvette is my dream car.”
“Now isn’t that something. That’s my dream car, as well.”
Then she highjacked the conversation again, telling him about her brother who had a Corvette and who was a member of a Corvette club. That led her into telling him all about her brothers—she had two—and she obviously admired them both.
Parker sipped his wine while she talked, wishing he was somewhere else. He definitely wouldn’t be going out with her again.
He leaned back in his chair, getting comfortable—after all, he was obviously going to be here a while. Gabby actually paused for a moment to give the waitress her dessert order, but then launched into a discussion about her favorite sweets. He nodded, although he really didn’t give a damn. Hopefully, after she ate the chocolate cake she’d ordered, he’d be able to take her home.
Suddenly, every male hormone in his body went on full alert. He knew it wasn’t Gabby who’d caused the reaction, so he glanced around the crowded restaurant. Was his libido signaling that there was another woman—a better woman for him—in the restaurant?
Yes, it was.
He watched as Sebrina and her date were escorted to a table across the room. Her beauty tonight left him speechless. Of course, Gabby wouldn’t notice, since he hadn’t been able to talk much tonight anyway.
But his date might notice that he was suddenly mesmerized by Sebrina. She had looked good when they’d gone out to the movies together but seeing her now, wearing a red dress that perfectly draped her curves, he couldn’t contain his excitement.
He shifted his gaze from Sebrina to the man at her side. The guy was tall and nicely dressed. The suave and sophisticated type. What had Sebrina told him the guy’s name was? Barry, Ben, Bob? Yes, it had been Bob and they had dated before for a while. Parker had remembered that much. She was smiling at the man, and it looked like she was hanging on to his every word. Or was she simply pretending, the way he was doing with his own date?
She hadn’t looked across the room, so she hadn’t seen him yet. He shook his head. What were the odds that they would end up at the same restaurant? Her table was within view of his, so he kept stealing looks at her, only breaking eye contact to glance at Gabby and nod on occasion. His date was so into what she was saying that she hadn’t even noticed she had lost his attention a while ago.
But then, maybe she had. She broke into his thoughts to ask, “So what do you think, Parker?”
About what? He figured it would be rude to ask her to enlighten him as to what the conversation had been about. That would make it obvious he hadn’t been listening, so instead, he said, “I honestly don’t know what to think.”
That must have been an okay answer because she smiled and continued talking. “I didn’t know what to think, either. But then like I told Harry...”
Harry? Who the hell was Harry? he wondered. He dared not ask…
She continued her chattering, only pausing when her dessert was delivered. At first, he had declined dessert, but had changed his mind before the waitress had walked off. He’d worried that taking the time to eat a slice of chocolate cake would keep him at the restaurant longer. But now, there was no need to rush—not when the object of his desire was sitting across the room looking sexier than any woman had a right to look.