“And now I’m disappointed that I don’t. Must be a good story. Did he do something improper, and your brothers disposed of him where the authorities will never find his body?”
She laughed at the idea. “Of course not. He was a billionaire. I broke up with him because I love harvesting too much to leave it for a penthouse with servants.”
“My three weeks of harvesting make me think that’s a lie.”
“What about you?” she asked. “What was your last girlfriend like?”
She felt his posture stiffen. “That was a long time ago.” Instead of elaborating, he sent her out to do a twirl. Probably trying to change the subject.
She was too curious to let the topic go. “How long ago?”
“Five years. We started dating our senior year of high school, but it ended badly. After that, I decided concentrating on my career was for the best.”
He’d been single for five years? Should she worry or rejoice that she didn’t have a long string of ex-girlfriends’ memories to compete with? What sort of breakup had hurt him so badly he’d given up on women? She couldn’t ask him such a personal question, but she wanted to heal that wound, to comfort him. “You’ve got a new job now. Perhaps it’s time to have a new attitude about women too. Maybe you just haven’t found the right one.”
In the low evening light, his eyes looked shadowed. Deep and dark and oh-so-handsome. He was watching her with those eyes, and it was enough to send tingles through her body.
“Maybe,” he said.
She already stood so close to him, their heads leaning together. Time to do as Zia suggested and up her girlfriend vibe. Time to be fearless. She closed the last sliver of distance between them and pressed her mouth to his.
His lips were soft, warm, and startled.
His feet immediately stopped moving to the rhythm. For a second, his reaction was unclear. The kiss hung in the balance. Was this a good idea or one she’d always regret?
Then his hand tightened on her waist, pulling her to him. His mouth moved against hers, gently, caressingly, tasting her lips. Her whole body hummed. This had been a good idea. A very good idea.
His hand climbed her spine and the kiss intensified. Shivers skittered across her skin. For a man who hadn’t had a girlfriend in five years, he wasn’t out of practice at all.
Her mother had warned Charity once that kissing wasn’t like the romance novels made it out to be. A guy’s lips didn’t ignite rockets inside a woman.
Turned out, her mother was wrong.
The feel of Enzo’s mouth on hers ignited all sorts of rockets. Every romance scene she’d read—all of it was true, and she felt dizzy with happiness.
Without warning, Enzo pulled away. “We shouldn’t be doing this.” He took a step away from her and raked his hand through his hair. “You don’t know anything about me.”
His withdrawal was so sudden that she just stood there blinking, trying to process what he’d said. Then his words hit her with their full impact. He thought she kissed guys she barely knew, probably a lot of them. “I know plenty about you,” she said.
“Do you?” His eyebrows raised in challenge. “Such as…”
She didn’t know what to do with her hands and so clasped them together, exchanging Enzo’s touch for her own. “I know you’re smart, funny, brave, and principled. You’re even-tempered but feel things deeply, and you want to make the world a better place.”
He didn’t respond, and in fact, looked doubtful, so she went on. “You care more about people than you let on, and you’ve got a soft spot for children and animals you wouldn’t admit to. You have your pride—perhaps too much, but overall, you’re a good person.”
His eyes narrowed. Instead of being flattered, he was suspicious or at least disbelieving. “How did you come to those conclusions?”
Was he worried she’d researched him? She smiled to set him at ease. “I know you’re smart because you worked in data entry. You’re brave, principled, and care about people because you wanted to free Callum without knowing anything about him. You’re even-tempered because you never got mad at Milo and Gregor for making you chase chickens. I know you have your pride because when you got into trouble as a data entry clerk,instead of asking any friends for help, you struck out on your own.”
His lips pressed together in aggravation, as though he’d been trying to remain a closed book and wasn’t happy about being so easily read. He cocked his head. “You said more. What about my soft spot for animals and children?”
“You didn’t want to hurt the chickens, and I’ve seen you talking to some of the workers’ children. Most strangers would ignore them.”
He made a rolling motion with his hand. “And my feeling things deeply and wanting to make the world a better place?”
“You gave up on women after a bad experience. That’s feeling things perhaps too deeply.”
He folded his arms, unwilling to admit she was right. “What about me wanting to make the world a better place?”