“He had a cold. You wouldn’t believe how often I see that in strays.” He sipped his beer. “I guess I don’t have a ton of hobbies. I work a lot, and that’s pretty sad. I like football—actual football where your foot touches the ball—and I’m not too bad at DIY. Unless your grandmother is around, then it’s every man for themselves.”

“That is so accurate, I’m a little scared.”

“I’m a fast learner.”

I grinned.

“Tell me your hobbies.”

“Well, I like watching serial killer documentaries on Netflix while not wearing a bra, shopping for underwear with ridiculous patterns, and apparently sharing grandmother babysitting shifts with my cousin,” I reeled off. “And yes, those things are all on my online dating profiles.”

“That I highly doubt you’ll be needing anymore.”

“My grandmother or my online dating profiles?”

“I hate to think about what Jen would say if I said her, so the dating profiles.”

“Is that right? You’re real confident over there, aren’t you?”

He shrugged, leaning forward so his muscles bulged against the fabric of his shirt. “Let’s just say I have a really good feeling about this.”

“You mean to say that Grandma hasn’t scared you off? For real?”

“Would I be here if she had?”

“Weirder things have happened. You should see her binoculars stash.”

“You’re not scaring me off like that.”

“I’m not trying to scare you. I’m trying to warn you. The appropriate response is ‘thank you.’”

Isaac’s lips pulled up, his eyes shining. “Fair enough. Shall we get back to getting to know each other?”

“Yes!” I said a little too enthusiastically, drawing the attention of a few tables surrounding us. I shirked back in my seat, much to Isaac’s amusement, and waited until everyone was no longer looking at me.

We covered school and dreams and silly things like your favorite food and your favorite color. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, our food was brought out, and we kept talking to the point we barely ate anything between us.

We laughed.

Our feet touched under the table.

He touched my hand more times than I could count.

I told him stories about growing up with Grandma Jen and the book club, and he told me stories about growing up in England and spending all his school breaks on a farm.

I lapped up every word. Every single time he smiled at me it was confirmed that I was here for more than the sex, for more than just the physical connection we so obviously shared.

My feelings for him were very real. Maybe they were based on lust, maybe they were based on my heart, or maybe it was a mix.

I didn’t know. Maybe I would never know.

The only thing I was sure of was that Isaac Cooper was worming his way into my heart, and I was completely powerless to stop it.

And I was more than a little okay with it all.