Free Unexpected Consequences by Mia Catherine Page A

while?”
    “I see no reason to leave any time soon. In fact, I have one pretty good reason to stay.”
    She smiled. “That’s sweet.”
    “Yeah, that’s me. I’m so sweet.” He tried to hide his embarrassment with a roll of his eyes.
    “You certainly have been with me.”
    “I’m gonna have to find a place to stay.”
    She hesitated, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she finally spoke. “You can stay with me.”
    Her offer shocked him. In his mind he wanted to immediately scream Yes! But he couldn’t. It wasn’t safe. For now, he’d have to make an excuse she would understand. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin what was promising to be a wonderful relationship. “As much as I would love that, Bright Eyes, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
    “Oh.” She looked away and pulled her hand back.
    “Kelsey.” He clasped her hand before she had a chance to remove it from the table. “We just met. I don’t think we should rush anything.”
    “It’s okay. I understand.”
    She may have said it was okay, but the way her head was tilted down, her shoulders drooped, and lack of eye contact, she was far from all right. “Baby, the last thing I want to do is screw this up, okay? I think we’ve got potential for something pretty great here. I want to keep seeing you. If we move too fast…” He didn’t want her feeling rejected. “I just don’t want to screw this up.”
    She finally gave him a smile. “You mean that?”
    “Yeah, I mean that,” he answered, smiling back at her. “You’re incredible.”
    “Thanks.” This time she didn’t appear shy. Perhaps she was becoming more accepting of his compliments. “I do have another idea where you could stay.”
    “You do?”
    “I know the guy who owns Shindigs. There’s a room above it that he rents out and it is empty right now. It’s not much, but it may work for you.”
    “I don’t need much. Shindigs, huh? That place seems to be one of your hangouts. Is it?”
    “Oh, man, yeah.” She laughed. “I think I’ve spent a third of my life at that place.”
    “I thought I saw a picture on your wall of you and your family there. I only got to look at it briefly before I was…um…distracted,” he said, remembering how she’d surprised him naked in her bedroom.
    The waitress brought their salads and the conversation lulled as they began to eat. “So is that how you know the owner, because you hang out at Shindigs a lot?”
    “Actually, no, I used to date him a while back.”
    A strange feeling of jealousy flowed through Nick as the thought of her with another man flashed in his head. He returned his forkful of food to his plate. “Is that right?”
    “Yeah, my senior year in high school. He was a junior in college. My family had known his forever and I thought it was so cool to be dating an older guy,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
    He tried to hide it, but he had no desire to hear the details of their relationship. His only concern was where they stood now. “So what happened? How did you break up?”
    “I guess whatever it was we had just puttered out over time. I graduated and wanted to attend school in Cleveland and we mutually decided to end it. We’re still friends, though.”
    “Friends, huh?” He mumbled into his drink.
    “Yeah, friends. Carl is a nice guy, but…”
    “But what?”
    “He’s dull,” she laughed. “Now, if you ask my family, they would probably think he’s the perfect guy for me—smart, polite, ambitious.”
    “What if I asked you?”
    She shook her head. “There just wasn’t that spark, you know? No excitement. No passion.”
    “No late night romps in the woods?”
    “Exactly. Carl would never have…”
    Nick laughed quietly when the waitress returned with their meals, leaving Kelsey’s sentence unfinished and her face bright red with embarrassment.
    “Anything else I can get you?” the waitress asked while clearing their empty salad plates. Kelsey simply shook her head