Free Flawed Beauty by LR Potter Page A

been
hard. I’m very close to my parents and would hate to lose one of them, never
mind both,” he said softly.
    “It was a long time ago,” she
murmured, uncomfortable with his misplaced sympathy.
    “So you lived with foster parents?
No other family, I’m supposing?” he asked.
    She looked away and shook her head.
“No, no other family.”
    “What were your foster parents
like?”
    “Some good, some bad. The last ones, Toby and Markus,
were good.”
    “Sounds like you had a rocky road,”
he said, rubbing his finger over his bottom lip thoughtfully.
    “Could have been worse,” she
answered softly, thinking of the life with the Mr. Smiths of the world her
parents had destined for her.
    Jace reached over and took one of her
hands in his. “One day, Tate Morgan, you will open up to me. And when you do,
it will be…” he paused for dramatic effect and leaned forward to whisper in her
ear, “magic.”
    A shiver ran up her spine at the
touch of his lips against her ear. Before she was able to respond, the
restaurant’s electronic pager sitting on the bar between them began to buzz and
light up.
    Throughout the dinner, Tate listened
to Jace talk more in depth about his family and
college experiences. He continually tried to pry information out of her, but
she effectively managed to turn the conversation back to him.
    “…so, you can only imagine my
parents’ surprise and delight when I enrolled in a poetry class while in high
school. Not quite what you’d expect from a jock,” Jace grinned.
    “I don’t quite see you as a heart
and flowers guy myself ,” Tate quipped.
    He flashed a dimpled smile. “You
don’t, huh? You’d be surprised. I can be quite dashing and romantic.”
    “So, why did you actually take the
class? To meet girls?”
    “That was a definite plus, but
actually, I took the class to help with my song writing,” he said.
    “I don’t imagine you needed any help
getting the girls… poetry class or not,” she teased.
    “Have you had many serious
relationships?” he asked.
    As he was cutting into his very rare
steak, he missed the dart of her eyes to his face.
    “No,” she answered simply.
    He placed the steak in his mouth and
closed his eyes in enjoyment. “Well worth the wait,” he murmured. “I know the
other day at lunch you said you don’t date much,” he said.
    “How about you? Have you had many serious
relationships?” she asked, turning the questions back to him.
    The knife he had poised over his
steak paused as he considered his answer. “While I’ve dated a few women,
I’ve only had what I consider one serious relationship. She was the proverbial
girl next door – really, she lived across the street, but same thing,” he
grinned. “Her name was Brittany and we were high school sweethearts. We dated on
through college, but it ended right before she went away to law school.”
    Tate felt a weird jealousy towards
the unknown Brittany. “Why?” she asked.
    With a wry twist of his lips, he
said, “She forgot which brother she was supposed to be with.”
    “Oh.”
    “Yes, oh. It was quite the shocker to find
them together. Kind of a huge deal-breaker, don’t you think?”
     “Do you miss her?”
    “Umm, at first. But it was a long time ago. I’ve
moved on… she’s moved on. We’ve found we’re actually better friends than we
were anything else.”
    “So, you’re still in contact with
her then?” she asked.
    “Yeah, not as much as before. She’s away at law school. But we
catch up now and again. So, what’s the real reason you don’t date?” he asked,
lifting the buttered asparagus to his lips.
    She rubbed against the tightening in
her chest. She stuck to her usual answer. “Too busy.”
    “Even while you were in high school? I can’t believe guys weren’t
swarming to you like bees on honey,” he said with a grin.
    She watched the green beans as she
pushed them around her plate, trying not to think about the boys who’d swarmed
around her