share stuff. But she’d never had that luxury in her life so why should she want to begin now? Especially with someone like him, who thought the best way to communicate was to poke fun at people.
He wiped his mouth on his napkin and pushed his empty plate away. His cell had remained uncharacteristically silent, which was slightly unnerving because he’d been away from home for hours, and his dad normally had a thing about that.
Julia sat back and sighed. “That was really good.”
“Room for dessert?” Kaiden asked.
“Could we share?” She looked at him inquiringly. She’d left her hair down, and wore a crisp striped shirt and well-ironed jeans. If there was such a thing as an executive look for a cowgirl then she’d nailed it.
“It depends, how much are you likely to eat?” Kaiden pretended to be suspicious. “Half? More than half?”
He was back to gently teasing her again since it somehow seemed safer when she was smiling at him like that. She wanted to keep things light, so did he—apart from that nagging feeling that he wanted to lean across the table and kiss her stupid.
“Are you okay, Kaiden?”
He blinked at her. “Yeah, I’m good.” He busied himself consulting the menu again. “What do you want to share?”
“The brownie and ice cream looks good.”
“Then let’s go for that. Do you want coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
He caught Bella’s eye, and she came over, and he gave her the order, which left them with way too much time to make conversation. Julia was leaving soon, and despite what everyone said, she was still way out of his league, and she wasn’t interested in him anyway.
Apart from the fact that she’d kissed him . . . more than once.
She reached across the table and took his hand. “I really do want to thank you for sticking by me today. I can’t imagine how I would’ve coped if I’d had to deal with Dad, Blaine, and the priest all at the same time by myself.”
“You would’ve managed.” Kaiden curled his fingers around hers. “You’re a smart cookie.”
“Maybe, but I’m not sure I would’ve kept my temper with Blaine, and being fired on the spot would not have helped matters at all.” She met his gaze. “You were really great.”
He shrugged. “Just helping out a neighbor.”
“You’d do that for anyone?”
“Only the pretty ones.” He held up a finger. “That was just a joke.”
“I know.” She sighed. “I feel like I should apologize to you.”
“Again? What for?” Kaiden frowned.
“Not believing you were sincere.”
“Why would you? I’m not exactly known for it,” Kaiden said. “I make a joke out of everything, which winds most people up the wrong way.”
She angled her head and considered him. “Why do you do that?”
He shrugged. “I’ve never really thought about it. I suppose it just came naturally to me.”
“I suspect it’s got something to do with your birth order.” Julia nodded. “It usually does.”
“Well, Adam’s a grump, Ben overanalyzes everything, Danny internalizes everything, Evan’s a wildcard, and Daisy’s a nerd, so I suppose I had to be something different,” Kaiden mused. “Comedy seemed to be my natural talent.”
“And you’re very good at it, but . . .” She hesitated.
“What?”
“I shouldn’t say anything, it wouldn’t be fair.”
“You might as well spit it out. We’re all friends here, right?” Kaiden said.
She fidgeted in her seat. “Okay, I always wondered even when we were kids whether you were using humor to hide something—like you were trying too hard to make everyone like you. It felt fake somehow.”
“Wow, that’s deep.” Kaiden eased his hand away from hers and sat back. “Maybe I just found it a good way to get what I wanted.”
“No, I don’t think it was that, because you’ve got enough natural charm for ten people.” She studied him intently. “Was it more as a means of protecting yourself? I can only imagine what it was like having to deal with your dad when you were a kid. Being the court jester might’ve deflected a lot of rage away from your siblings.”
“So, you’re saying I’m the rodeo clown of the family?” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Why does that make you angry?”
“Why do you think it does?”
She sighed. “Kaiden . . . for one, you’re glaring at me, and secondly, you’re not brushing it off by making a joke.”
He stood up. “Your lawyer is showing. For someone who hates anyone getting in their private business, you sure seem okay about diving into mine. Excuse me a minute, will you?” He dug out