Read Love Always, Damian for Free Online Page B

up and leave, he might figure something’s going on, and I definitely do not want him swinging by my parents’ house to find out. I need to be smooth, calm, and collected.
    Then get the hell away from him and these condemning palpitations in my chest.
    “Come on, my car is in the garage,” he offers, the corner of his mouth tugging up and showing off a dimple.
    Liam had them too. In fact, they’re what made me talk to Liam in the first place. Unlike Liam, Damian’s are far from innocent, yet the dimples give that impression, though, and they, like his eyes, his voice, have the power to pull me in.
    I can’t ride with him.
    “I should drive separately. I don’t have much time today.”
    Damian crosses his arms. His gaze washes over me, and the sexy grin falls from his face. He takes a few seconds to respond. When he does, it reminds me that I’ve known him too long, and he knows me too well. “You didn’t drive all this way to spend a thirty-minute meal with me. What’s going on?”
    My palms are clammy. I have no explanation to give him, so I agree to his riding arrangements. “Nothing. We can take your car.” I stand up, wipe my hands on my jeans, and grab my purse off the sofa. “Lead the way.”
    He eyes me skeptically. He doesn’t buy my response, but he walks to the kitchen. I follow him out the back door that leads into the garage, and I’m surprised to see he still has the same black BMW he’s had since his sixteenth birthday—a gift from his father.
    He opens the passenger door for me, and I thank him. Nora made sure to teach her sons chivalry because, she once told me, “real gentlemen are rare treasures.” I doubt she’d be pleased with how Damian uses her advice.
    Damian backs out of the driveway, and as he glances over his shoulder, I see the wheels turning in his head. The muscles in his jaw tense, and there’s a heavy glint in his eye. My being here is probably as awkward for him as it is for me, though for different reasons.
    Because he never loved me.
    “How are your folks?” he asks when we’re on the road.
    My parents are older, and four and a half years ago, my dad had a massive stroke. He lost the ability to walk, even talk for a while. Physical therapy has helped some, and he can use a walker around the house, but it exhausts him. Damian was there for me when it all happened, and for that I’m thankful.
    “They’re okay, I guess. Mom’s tired, and she had to hire a part-time in-home nurse to help take care of Dad.”
    Damian nods. “I’m sorry, Elle. That sucks.”
    “It’s life,” I say, and as soon as I do, silence drops over us like a wave. I break the surface first. “How about your dad? Things good between the two of you?”
    I ask because after Liam and Nora died, Damian and Jackson were constantly at each other’s throats. Instead of mourning their loss together, they grew further apart. But from what I understand, Kate Browdy helped bridge the gap.
    “We meet for dinner at Hickory Park every Thursday night.”
    I smile at that. “That’s awesome.”
    We’re at the diner now, and we both order coffee. Damian gets sausage gravy over their advertised made-this-morning-fresh buttermilk biscuits, while I settle for a waffle with fruit.
    It’s a little tense between us, and since I’m not going to ask him the favor I originally planned on, I don’t have much to say. He waits for me, though, sipping at his coffee with two creams and twice the tablespoons of sugar.
    I unzip my purse and pull out a package of natural sweetener. I sprinkle it in and leave out the cream.
    “That’s different,” he says, noticing. “You used to dump so much shit in your coffee that it ceased to be coffee.”
    I snicker because it’s true. I probably single-handedly paid someone’s yearly wage at Coffee-Mate. “I guess I got used to the taste of the coffee itself.”
    A few moments of silence passes again before Damian breaks it. “You gonna tell me why you wanted to see