“Settling my father’s estate. His law partner’s office is on the seventh floor.”
“Oh, I’m sor—”
“Don’t be. My father was a very unhappy man for a very long time. And we didn’t get along. He’s gotta be in a better place now. Anyway, I just had to sign some paperwork.”
He just barely heard Makenna’s soft “Oh.”
“So,” he said, wanting to move away from yet another depressing topic, “first times—who, when, where, how good.”
“What?” Makenna choked out an incredulous laugh. “Uh, I think not.”
“Why not? We’ve talked about just about everything else. I’ll even go first.”
Makenna was quiet for a minute and then started moving around. She sounded closer than she’d been.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m not entertaining the idea of talking about this until I’ve at least broken bread with you. And I’m starving over here.”
He’d been trying to ignore his stomach for the past…hell, he didn’t even know how long. But her mention of food had him salivating.
Makenna was muttering, “Come on, come on, where is it. Not that bag.” She nearly startled him with her triumphant “Ha! All right, Mr. Grayson, would you prefer a granola bar or a little bag of trail mix?”
He grinned, not expecting her to share with him, and he certainly had no intention of asking her to. “No, no. All yours.”
“Come on, you have to eat something. I’ve got two, so there’s one for each of us. Since this is my building, it’s kind of like you’re my guest. So you get to pick—granola bar or trail mix.” Caden could hear her shaking the bags as she continued to say in a sing-song voice, “Granola bar or trail mix, granola bar or trail mix.”
He smiled. “Okay, I’ll take the trail mix.”
“Done. Um, here?”
The package crinkled against the carpet as Makenna slid it in his direction. He reached his hand out in search of it. When they finally met somewhere in the darkened middle, Caden dragged his hand over hers. It was small and soft. He surprised himself by thinking he wanted to keep holding her hand more than he wanted the food. She didn’t pull away. They both laughed nervously.
“We’ll have to share the water, though. I only have one bottle.”
“How much stuff do you have in there?”
“Hey, don’t be knocking my bags. Without them, we wouldn’t be sharing this gourmet meal right now.”
“Agreed. Sorry,” he said as he threw back the first handful of nuts and raisins.
They ate in silence and the salt from the trail mix made him thirsty. He felt awkward asking, but the idea of the water tortured him. “Can I have a drink now?”
“Of course. Let me make sure the cap’s on tight so it doesn’t spill.” They executed the mid-elevator hand-off. Caden smiled as they once again paused with their fingers touching before pulling away.
He unscrewed the lid and tilted the bottle to his lips. “Oh, God. That’s good.”
“I know. I didn’t realize how thirsty I was until I took a sip.”
“Thanks for sharing your stuff with me.”
“Of course. What was I going to do? Sit here and eat in front of you? Come on, you know me better than that. Then again, maybe not.”
Caden thought he did know her…or at least he was starting to. Every story she’d shared with him revealed some part of her character—and everything he’d learned told of a person who was friendly and compassionate and giving. “No, you were right the first time,” he finally said. “I do.”
The trail mix was gone too soon, but at least it took the edge off. They passed the water back and forth until it was almost gone, then Caden insisted Makenna take the last drink.
They sat in the heat of the dark elevator for several minutes before Caden finally gazed in her direction and said, “Don’t think your little ploy with the snacks distracted me from the current question on the table.”
“Not at all. But you said you’d go first.”
Chapter Three
Makenna shifted onto her back and stared at the invisible ceiling. She had a big goofy grin on her face because Caden was about to tell her about his first time, while she had absolutely no intention of sharing hers.
“Okay. I’ll start then. I am, after all, a man of my word. My first time was with Mandy Marsden—”
“Mandy?” Makenna wrinkled her nose and smirked.
“Hey, telling a story over here. Keep the editorial comments to a minimum.”
“Oh, right, sorry. Please continue.” Her smile grew wider.
“As I was saying…my first time was with Mandy Marsden, on her parents’ living room couch while they were asleep upstairs. I was sixteen and had no idea what the hell I was doing. I remember it as being nice, but I imagine Mandy might have been…underwhelmed.”
Makenna found the chuckle in his voice at the end there so endearing. She liked a guy who could laugh at himself. He must be pretty confident in bed now to share a story like that—the thought made her even hotter than she already was. “Sounds very romantic,” she managed.
“Who knows from romance when you’re sixteen?”
“Well, that’s true, I suppose. Did you at least buy her dinner beforehand?”
“Does pizza count?”
She couldn’t help but laugh. Caden was adorable. “For a sixteen-year-old, sure. I’ll give you a pass.”
“How big of you. Okay, then, your turn, Red.”
She didn’t answer.
“Red?”
“Next question.”
She heard him roll over. His voice sounded closer. “No way. We had a deal.”
“Could the court reporter please read back the transcript to ascertain Miss James never agreed to tell this story?”
He scoffed. “Okay, I realize we’ve been in here for a while, but please tell me you’re not losing your mind already.”
“Not at all, just getting the facts straight.”
“Come on. What’s the big deal?”
She was almost glad she couldn’t see him—if his eyes were anywhere near as persuasive as his voice, she’d be a goner. “Just…no,” she said through a laugh at his pleading.
“It couldn’t be any worse than mine.”
“Nope.”
“Red.”
“No.”
“M.J.”
“Hey, that’s Makenna to you, mister. And the answer’s still no.” Even though her initials didn’t bother her in the rest of her life, there was something about the way her name rolled off his tongue she really liked. She didn’t want him to treat her just like everybody else did, just like one of the guys.
“This must be some story. You realize you’re building expectations here.”
She groaned. “No, no, no, no.”
“Tell me and I’ll take you out for pizza. You can even pick the toppings.” They were just joking around, but Caden found himself hoping she’d agree to the pizza, even if it didn’t get the story out of her. He wanted the hell out of this box, but he wasn’t at all looking forward to walking away from Makenna. Or, more likely, her walking away from him.