just in it for a good time.”
“Easy for both of you, then, I guess.”
“It was.”
“I suppose that’s how you like it.”
“Like what?”
“Your dating life. Easy, with no emotional investment.”
He took a sip of wine and set the glass down on the table. “Makes it uncomplicated that way. No one gets hurt.”
“But you don’t get to fall in love that way.”
They were interrupted by their server, who came over to take their order. Carmen ordered the Fra Diavolo, and Rafe ordered Osso Buco D’Angello, along with salads.
After their server left, Rafe slanted a smile at her.
“Is that what you’re looking for?” he asked.
“What?”
“To fall in love?”
“Oh, God no. Never again.”
He laughed. “That sounded definite.”
She hadn’t meant to put it out there that forcefully, but now that it was, she supposed she should explain why. “I was married for two years. Granted, we were both very young and we shouldn’t have done it. It was a stupid mistake, and one I don’t intend to make again.”
“I don’t know, Carmen. If you were young, you probably learned something from it. You don’t mean to tell me you’re planning to spend the rest of your life alone, are you?”
She finished off her glass of wine and reached for the bottle. Rafe grabbed it and poured for her.
“Thanks. And my life is full right now. I have my job and my grandpa, and there’s no room in it for me to make another stupid mistake.”
“So you don’t trust your own judgement when it comes to men? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Not at all. I’m a lot smarter now than I was when I was twenty-one.”
“Which means you know exactly what you want—and what you don’t.”
“True.”
“And who the good guys are versus the bad guys.”
“Of course.”
“Well, you’re out to dinner with me. That makes me one of the good guys, right?”
She smiled at him, admiring his confidence, but she needed to set him straight. “We’re not on a date.”
“Let’s say we were.”
“But we’re not.”
“What if I wanted to make this a date? Officially.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Rafe.”
“Carmen.”
The way he looked at her, his lips tilted just short of a full smile, his eyes dancing in a way that told her he was amused, should irritate her. But for some reason it didn’t. Maybe it was because he was so incredibly fine looking, and maybe because he wasn’t a stranger to her. She knew Rafe. He was fun and playful, with an incredible sense of humor. He wasn’t making fun of her, he was trying to engage her. The man oozed charm, and she found that a bit irresistible.
Fortunately, she could resist just fine.
“You don’t want to date me.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because I’m not the dating type. I’m cranky and I have baggage.”
He arched a brow. “We all carry baggage around, babe. And you’re not cranky. Not with me, anyway.”
“Have you ever had your heart broken?”
“Yes.”
His answer was quick. “I didn’t know you’d ever been in a relationship.”
“I’m not talking about a relationship.”
“Oh.” Now he was delving into deeper waters, and she wasn’t sure either of them was ready to talk about that. “Okay. So you know what that feels like.”
“Yeah. And how hard it is to trust that anyone you care about won’t do the same thing to you.”
He was hitting all her buttons right now, and she didn’t know what to do about that. But saying all the right things didn’t mean she was going to fall into his arms, because she’d already been with someone who’d done that. And when it had come down to doing all the right things, he had failed.
So she sipped her wine and thought about the things he had said. And all through dinner they talked, getting to know each other in ways they hadn’t when they’d just been neighbors.
“I moved in with my grandpa after the divorce. He’d had a home care worker who was coming in twice a day to cook and help care for him, but it was becoming obvious he needed more.”
“It seems to have worked out well for both of you. Jimmy has you there, and you have a place to hide out from the world.”
She frowned. “Hey. It’s not like that at all.”
“Isn’t it? I mean, yeah, in the beginning it was great. You needed to heal, and staying there was perfect. Family is everything when you’re hurting, and Jimmy needed you.”
“He still does.”
“Jimmy likes feeling independent.”
She stabbed shrimp onto her fork, then lifted it and pointed it at him. “Oh,