Damn it, she was rambling. Telling him way more than he needed to know. But when he shrugged, like she wasn’t rambling or crazy, her heart raced. “I don’t think that’s psycho at all. I think that makes you a great mom.”

Looking away, Lucy tucked her hands into the pockets of her jacket and her heart stopped. “Er…thanks.”

“It’s the truth,” he said, so simply that Lucy had to fight back the tears before looking back up at him. Angie and her family always reassured her that she was a good mom, but Rick wasn’t kind and took every chance he could to knock her down. It was tiring, and she knew he was just a sick piece of shit, but still, it hurt. She had one job that really mattered in her life and that was caring for her daughter. Being the kind of woman her baby could look up to. To know that someone thought she was doing a good job… It just meant a lot.

Swallowing around the emotion in her throat, she smiled. Here went nothing. “So, anyway, I’m really sorry for the way I acted on Monday. Between the panicking about Jayden not being here, Angie’s anxiety, and then just being tired—I’m tired a lot—I kind of lashed out at you, and I’m really sorry for that.”

His face curved into a grin and he nodded. “That seemed really hard for you.”

She laughed. “It was. I don’t apologize much since I don’t think I’m ever wrong, but I was wrong to treat you the way I did. So, I’m sorry.”

His eyes were sparkling. How, she didn’t know since they were dark like storm clouds. “Well, thank you. I’m glad we had this talk.”

God, his eyes. They were really the windows to his soul. Did she just think that? She was insane. Looking away to keep it together, she agreed, “Me too.”

Clearing his throat, he started. “I know I’m a little strange—”

“Just a bit,” she said with a grin, looking back up at him. “But Angie and Jayden are good at reading people, so I’m gonna trust their opinion of you.”

“But you won’t trust me,” he asked, his eyes challenging.

She scoffed. “I don’t know you.”

He moved his hands into his pockets, his eyes still holding hers as his lips curved. “So let’s change that.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Huh?”

“How about you let me take you out to dinner? Get to know each other. Angie said she’s going to her dad’s this weekend. So how about Saturday?”

Lucy’s brows pulled together as her whole face scrunched up. “You’re asking me out? On, like, a date?”

She hadn’t realized her voice had escalated until Benji laughed. “Don’t sound so surprised.” She could only stare at him as one side of his mouth quirked up. “But yeah, I am.”

Sputtering like a bumbling baboon, she couldn’t keep her eyes from widening. She wasn’t sure why she was so surprised. It was obvious he was feeling her and she was feeling him, but this was ludicrous. Why would he ask her out? “Why?” she squawked and he looked away, laughing.

“Because I want to. Because I think we’d have fun.”

“Fun? You want to?” she said, repeating what he said, and his whole face smiled.

“Didn’t know you had a part-time job as a parrot,” he teased and she just gawked at him. Looking away, he chuckled nervously. “I’m not sure how to read you right now. Not sure if your surprise is good or bad. It’s awkward and you’re making me squirm, if that’s what you wanted,” he admitted, but all Lucy could do was stare at him.

He was so beautiful, but this couldn’t happen. “You’re my kid’s coach.”

He shrugged. “Eh, I mean, kinda. But not full time if that makes it better?”

“I don’t know you.”

“Yeah, which is why we’d go out.”

“But—”

“Do you want to go out with me or not?” he asked simply and Lucy’s eyes widened more, if that was even possible.

She hadn’t expected him to be so direct, and while she thought it was hot, there was no way she could go out with him. She just couldn’t.

“Um, I’m sorry,” she said and his face changed. The smile dropped as he nodded slowly. “I just don’t have time. I’m so busy and, yeah, no. I don’t want this to be weird, but no, I can’t go out with you.”

He held her gaze. “Can’t?”

“Yeah.”

Taking a step toward her, his eyes bored into hers, his body radiating some serious heat as she got lost in those gray depths. “I don’t take you for a ‘can’t’ kind of girl.”

“That’s ’cause you don’t know me,” she breathed and he nodded.

“Which, again, is why we should get to know each other.”

She shook her head, trying like hell not to lean into him. “I can’t.”

“But do you want to?”

She eyed him and, shit, she was gasping for breath. He smelled divine and those eyes, Jesus… But she knew she couldn’t even try to date him. That would be disastrous. So she did what she did best. She lied. “No, I don’t.”

He didn’t move, nor did his eyes change as he looked down at her. Silence passed between them, and as her eyes grazed down his face, the sharp planes of his nose, and the sweet color of his cheeks, never in the last seven years had she ever wanted to go up on her toes and kiss a man.