professional meant something different here.
What would happen if she decided to try to get on in New Orleans again? She definitely wouldn’t be able to take Daisy to work with her there. Was she being hasty?
“Hey, how about we consider you her foster mom for now?” Zep offered. “We’ll keep her at your place until your parents leave and then we’ll decide. Like I said, she can always come with me.”
“Shouldn’t you ask your mom?”
He sat up a little straighter. “I do not live with my mother.”
She stared at him.
“I live in an apartment above the garage, thank you very much.”
It was good to remember he was a manchild. He had no ambition beyond where he was going to grab his next beer and find a woman for the night. “Yeah, well, I still think you should probably ask your mom.”
“I’ve been keeping animals for a long time. My momma is used to it.” He stared at her for a moment, studying her. “Is that why you wouldn’t go out with me again? You think I live with my mother because I can’t afford anything else?”
“I didn’t go out with you in the first place. Drinking a lot and falling into bed together isn’t a date. Not in my world. Also, you didn’t actually ask me on a date. I believe you said, ‘Hey, Roxie, let’s do this again sometime,’” she replied simply.
It was likely what he said to every single woman he slept with. She often wondered if she’d told him, “Yeah, sure,” would he have spent the last year pursuing her? Or would he have drifted on to the next woman without another thought to her?
“Huh. I guess I did say that, but that wasn’t what I meant.” He sighed. “I haven’t spent a lot of time dating in the last couple of years. I know you think I’m living at home because I’m some kind of loser, but I did it because my sister needed help. Now I do it because my mother’s getting older. She hasn’t lived alone in fifty years, and the house is a lot to keep up. I stay over the garage because I need my space. It’s why I haven’t gotten serious about anyone. No one wants a boyfriend who has to drop everything because his sister needs someone to babysit for her.”
“I didn’t say you were a loser.” But she’d thought it. And of course, she had to think about what he considered helping. She could see a world where Zep put everything on hold so he could “help” out. If she was going to have any kind of relationship with him, she had to accept the fact that he wasn’t a man like the ones she’d known. He was unfocused, unambitious, and maybe unreliable.
Though she had to admit he was helping her out now, and he hadn’t drowned her in judgment. He’d accepted her explanation easily and done everything he could to help her out.
A wistful look came over his face and she wanted so badly to reach out and touch him. “You wouldn’t be the first.”
She unbuckled her belt, and despite all the alarm bells going off, she moved closer to him. “I didn’t want to date anyone at the time. And you said it yourself, you don’t date much at all, so let’s call it what it is. You wanted to know why I didn’t hook up with you again. As it so happens, I’ve been wondering that myself.”
She’d thought about it all day. Why shouldn’t she indulge herself every now and then? They could keep it quiet. It wasn’t anyone’s business but their own, and from what she could tell, Zep wasn’t bad at keeping secrets. She hadn’t heard about his conquests in a long time.
“Wondering what?” he asked.
“If we shouldn’t use this time to decide if we can make it work. I’m not seeing anyone. I assume you’re not seeing anyone.”
His smile went from wistful to wolfish in a heartbeat. “I’m not seeing anyone, Roxanne.”
She should run because just the way he said her name made her shiver. She wasn’t the type of woman who shivered with desire. Nope. Sex was a bodily function and it was good, but it shouldn’t make her go all gooey on the inside at the thought.
It had been too long. That was the problem. When she’d slept with him before, she’d been overly emotional. It had been the anniversary of her divorce, and that had colored her view. This time