“It has its moments,” I say. “And then there are the days where I get sprayed by a skunk and her mate because the owner thought there was a kitten stuck under her house.”
“I did wonder how you got sprayed.” He shifts in his seat to face me. “I thought maybe you were chasing a skunk away from your house or something.”
I gape at him. “What kind of idiot chases a skunk from their house?”
Slowly he raises a hand. “Uh, this kind of idiot. In my defense, the skunk had it out for me.”
“That sounds like a story.”
He nods. “A good story to be told over dinner.” He points at the restaurant. “This place okay? I figured you had to like either Italian or barbecue.”
“I like both. In fact, this is Har—” I stop myself before I say my daughter’s name. “I mean my favorite restaurant.”
He blinks, but doesn’t call me out. “Great.” He opens his door, and I open my door, and he doesn’t do that thing some guys do when they’re trying to be chivalrous and yell at me for getting out of the truck on my own.
He just meets me around the front of the truck and walks with me to the restaurant. He does open the door for me and rests his hand on the small of my back as we step up to the host stand.
I love the feel of his hand against my back, a silent support. I don’t need it, but I love it.
As the host leads us through the restaurant, I wave and smile at several people I know from work or from growing up here. That’s the trouble with working as an animal control officer in a town so small the college doubles our population when it’s in session.
“Wow,” Deacon says after the host seats us in a small, private room with sliding doors. “You didn’t tell me you’re famous.”
I look around the empty, private room with not one, but three tables, the largest of which seats twelve people. “And you didn’t tell me you work for the mafia.”
His brows wrinkle in confusion, even as his lips twist with amusement. “What?”
“I can’t think of any other way you convinced Vince to let us have this room on a Friday night while the college is in session.”
He shakes his head. “I guess you’ll never know.”
I shrug, pretending a nonchalance I don’t feel. My body is tingling with excitement and attraction and withheld laughter. All the best feelings of a first date. It seems bizarre now that I was so nervous before. I feel completely at ease with Deacon.
“I’ll just ask Vince.” I pull out my phone like I’m going to text the owner of the restaurant, but the truth is I don’t know him. I could probably call the restaurant and maybe even get to speak to him, but I doubt he’d answer my questions.
Deacon crosses his arms over his chest and nods at my phone. “Go ahead.”
Damn it. He called my bluff. I pretend to dial, but he laughs, clearly seeing through my ruse.
“He was one of our first customers when we moved to town,” Deacon says. “I promised him some work for free if he could give us this room.”
I drop my phone back into my purse. “Wow, you must do really good work.”
He smiles, revealing mostly straight, white teeth, with just one crooked tooth. I want to touch that tooth with my tongue.
The thought shocks me, and I fumble with my napkin, unrolling it to place my fork and knife on the table.
“You just blushed,” Deacon says. “Where did your mind go?”
I swallow hard. If I were another woman, I’d tell him I’m thinking about kissing him, but the last time I seriously dated I was in high school. Not that Deacon and I are serious. We’re fun and casual with an expiration date.
Damn, I’m bad at this. I should just tell him what I’m thinking.
“Why did you move to Catalpa Creek?” I ask instead.
His smile widens. “That’s okay. You don’t have to tell me. I have a very good imagination.”
His smug tone should annoy me, but all I want to do is crawl onto his lap and taste his smile.
