She thought of all the lectures she had attended regarding the health factors of cooking red meat, and wondered whether she ought to suggest to Dillon that he reconsider and have his steak cooked a little more. Well, at least a little more! But she didn’t want to come across as lecturing him, and besides, that could be a conversation for another time, in the future.
If they wound up having a future, she silently added.
“So, tell me, what made you want to become a contractor?” she asked once the server had taken their orders and retreated.
Dillon didn’t really have to think before giving her an answer. “I guess I like taking old places and bringing them back to life,” he told her. “Besides, it was something my brothers were into wholeheartedly.” He smiled, remembering. “They have a tendency to jump in with both feet and I’m the one who stops to look at all the possible angles, all the ways something could go wrong. I suppose,” he went on as he buttered one of the rolls that the server had left, “you could say that I’m their anchor and my brothers are the ones who buoy me up. In other words,” he concluded just before he took a bite of his roll, “we make a good team.”
“In any words you make a good team,” Hailey countered. “But that kind of work has to be rather stressful for you,” she said after thinking it over. “If it ever gets to be too much, you might want to look into taking some yoga classes.”
His experience at the spa was limited to the Mommy and Me class—and that was really enough in his opinion. Dillon had to laugh. “I think bending into a pretzel would turn out to be more stressful than beneficial for me,” he told Hailey. Dillon thought that his response would bring an end to the discussion.
“There’s more to yoga than that,” she tactfully pointed out.
He shrugged off the point she was attempting to impress on him. “I’ll just take your word for it,” he told her.
She eagerly jumped at the opening he’d inadvertently created. “Well, if you’d like to make an appointment, I could personally show you how taking yoga lessons can help you.”
He looked at her with surprise. “You think I need help?”
Seeing her error, she quickly restructured her statement. “I think in this fast-paced world, if we’re out in it, we all need help.”
“Okay,” he agreed, gracefully bowing out of what could wind up being a rather lengthy, uncomfortable discussion. “I’ll think about it and let you know.”
“Can’t ask for more than that,” Hailey said cheerfully. She could, she added silently, but that wouldn’t get her anywhere and the idea was for them to get to know one another, not to antagonize one another. She had a feeling that if she pushed too much, she just might drive Dillon away instead of get closer to him.
She had noticed that when they’d sat down, Dillon had placed his phone on the table right next to his plate instead of tucking it away. Not only that, but she saw that his eyes kept straying to it. He must have done that several times so far and they hadn’t even been served yet.
“Expecting a call?” she couldn’t help asking.
He hadn’t realized that he was being so obvious. “No,” he denied. “I just want to be ready in case a call does come in. In this business, you never know,” he told her evasively. “Nothing more frustrating than fumbling around, trying to locate a ringing cell phone,” he added in an attempt to sweep the subject under a rug. “But if it makes you feel better, I can put my cell phone into my pocket so it doesn’t interfere with our dinner,” he told her, going through the motions of picking the phone up, even though he was hoping she would say no to his offer. “How’s that?”
“Very understanding of you, but if you’d rather keep closer tabs on your phone, please, feel free to do so.” She smiled at him warmly. “I take it you can multitask?”
“With the best of them,” Dillon told her with a laugh, checking the screen again in case he had accidentally turned down his phone so he couldn’t hear it when it was ringing.
But according to the information, there were no missed calls and no text messages, either.
Dillon tried not to show his disappointment.
Chapter Ten
During the course of the meal, as she did her best to draw Dillon out, Hailey discovered that they were more different than they were alike.
Dillon, she found, was a dyed-in-the-wool carnivore who for the most part was a workaholic and he had a tight rein on his emotions. She, on the other hand, was a vegetarian who, while dedicated to her job, was outgoing and liked to live within the moment, getting everything from life it had to offer. She also found out that he liked spending evenings alone while she enjoyed unwinding with friends. She liked reading mysteries while he tended to read architectural books.
No doubt about it, she thought by the end of the evening, they were oil and water. However, she had to admit that they did have one very big thing going for them.
Chemistry. Really hot chemistry.
There was no denying that she was extremely attracted to Dillon and she had the definite impression that he felt the same way.
She felt this even more so when they finally left the restaurant because when Dillon brought her home, he seemed reluctant to leave and have the evening come to an end.
Hailey debated inviting him in for a nightcap and seeing where that led. She really wanted to, but at the same time, she didn’t want Dillon getting the wrong impression about her, didn’t want him thinking that this was the usual way she did things.
There was nothing “usual” about the way she felt about Dillon. Which was
