“Why would I be?”

“Are you reading my mind?”

Noah shook his head. “Reagan, I like you. I really, really fucking like you, and I want to see where things go between us. That doesn’t mean I want to rush into putting a label on anything until we know each other better.”

Well, shit.

A decent guy who agreed with me and didn’t want to rush anything.

“Oh.” I cleared my throat. “Okay. Then in the interest of full disclosure, I happen to really, really fucking like you, too.”

“You say it so romantically.”

“I said it the exact same way you did.”

Noah winked. He straightened, taking a step closer to me, and wrapped one arm around my waist. “We’ve only known each other for, what? A couple of weeks?”

I curled my lips to one side. “Why don’t you check the data on that pretty dick pic you sent me? That’ll tell you.”

He slowly shook his head. “Be serious.”

“I can’t. It’s not in my nature.”

“Reagan…”

“Fine.” I met his eyes. “I really like you, okay? But I’m not going to label anything with you right now. We don’t even know if we’ll fit into each other’s lives. I’m living with my parents right now, I’m fighting every other day with my insurance company, and you haven’t been in town long.”

“You’re right.” He reached up and cupped my face. His thumbs brushed across my cheeks, and he smiled. “I’m still settling into living here. I don’t know many people outside of the station because my job can be demanding. Until I met you, my only friends were the guys I work with. Your life just got flipped upside down and you’re dealing with that. But that doesn’t mean we can’t spend time together and make it so that we fit into each other’s lives.”

“You know that means spending time with my friends, right? And my brother? And probably my family, too.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t have family here. Not a lot of friends, and I happen to get along with your brother. Turns out we’re the same age and support the same football team.”

“You support the Panthers?”

“Yes…”

“Why?”

He smirked, tilting my head up. “Because I want to.”

That was as good an answer as any, I suppose. “All right. So what are we doing, then?”

“With us?”

“No, for dinner,” I said dryly. “Yes, with us. If we both agree it’s too early for us to be in a relationship, but we both have feelings for each other… Now what?”

“Pretty simple, isn’t it? We date. We don’t see anyone else.”

“Do you think I look like the kind of people who dates more than one person at a time?”

Noah narrowed his eyes. “That sounds like a question I shouldn’t answer.”

“Ah, he learns fast.”

“You’re insane.” He slipped his hands down to my neck and over my shoulders where his thumbs brushed my collarbone. “Reagan, I don’t want to even think about seeing anyone else. And if you do, I’ll lock you in my room with me until you change your mind.”