Read Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) for Free Online

everything away.  Only thing really left is my room and the girls’ rooms.  So I guess that gets you out of unpacking,” I smile.
    “Awe, you don’t want my helping you unpack your room? Think I might learn too much about you,” he teases.  He sets the pizza down on the table and pulls out a stool to sit on.
    “No, I just thought it might be a better date if we did something a little more fun,” I put the beer in the fridge and grab us each one before I close the door.  I set one in front of him then pull out the stool next to him.  “This smells amazing,” I grab a piece of pizza.
    “My favorite place in town.  It’s called Walley’s.  It’s not too far from my place and as far as I am concerned the have the best pizza around.”
    “Eat a lot of pizza?”  I tease him.
    “Yeah, I'm not much of a cooker.  Of course not that I have a lot of time to cook anyway.”  He takes a bite of his pizza.  “So, do you cook?”
    “I love cooking.  I never used to until my brother opened his own restaurant but now that he does I like to try.  I think mostly to prove to my mom he didn’t get all the talent.” I laugh.  I don’t tell him I am terrible at it though.
    “What restaurant?”
    “It’s called A.L.E. House.”
    “Where did he come up with that?”
    “He used Abby, Lizzy, and his initials.”
    “That’s awesome.  I think I have heard of that place.  It hasn’t been open very long has it?”
    “No, only about six months.  He was on track to open it sooner but then a bunch of personal stuff happened and he had to postpone the opening by about four months.” I take a long swig of beer.  Maybe this will calm me down a little.  Even sitting here having a conversation with him I am still a bundle of nerves.
    “You ok?” He flashes that amazing smile at me again.
    I shake my head and laugh, “Yeah I am fine.”
    “You seem a little nervous?” He sets his beer back down that he just took a drink of.
    “Gee I wonder why that might be.  You think it might have something to do with the fact that you are sitting here at my table right now?”
    “I don’t see the big deal,” he takes a bite of pizza.  “I'm just a normal guy on a date with a normal girl.”
    I snort, “Normal girl sure, I will give you that, but you are not a normal guy.  You are probably one of the most famous men in Baltimore and you are sitting here having pizza and drinking beer with me, at my house.”
    “You are overthinking this way too much Jo.  I try to have a normal life the best that I can with the title that I have.  I'm not the type of guy that flashes off what I have and the fact that I am a professional football player.  That is just a job to me.”
    I look at him. “Seriously?  How is it that every woman in Maryland and probably all surrounding states wants to be with you, yet here you are, single, and eating pizza with a single mom of two?”
    He just smiles at me, “I'm picky.”  He takes his last bite of pizza and reaches for another one.
    “Well you can’t be that picky if you chose me out of all the women in the bar last night.”
    He takes a drink of his beer and then sets it back down and just stares at me.  “You are very critical of yourself.”
    “Yeah, bad habit I guess,” I take a drink of beer.  I can feel his eyes burning into the side of my face but I don’t look at him.  I take the last drink of my beer and take it to the sink to rinse the bottle out.
    “I think that is a very bad habit.  I you shouldn’t talk like that about yourself.”
    I open the fridge and reach for two more beers.  “So how long have you been in Baltimore?”  I try desperately to change the subject.
    “This is my third year.  Only my second as a starter though.” He finishes his beer and grabs the new one that I just set on the table for him.
    “Where did you play before you came here?”
    “I started in San Diego.  But I didn’t get any playing time there. They drafted me out of