His dark caramel eyes meet mine over the table and not for the first time tonight, my heart skips a beat at the veiled intensity in his gaze. “Mack makes a mean root beer float if you’re up for it. Otherwise, he’s got some light beer on hand too.”
“I could go for a beer,” I say, bouncing a shoulder and trying to ignore the little flutter in my belly. “I mean… beer, lasagna,anda side of garlic bread sounds pretty good to me.”
His lips twitch. “You’re a bit of a surprise, Blair.” The way he says my name fascinates me, and I can’t stop watching his lips. He’s got a five o’clock shadow tonight that frames his mouth. It makes him look a little bit rugged… and yes, evenmorehandsome.
“Don’t think I’ve ever been called that before. Driven, determined, laser-focused, married to my work, sure. Never a ‘surprise.’
“Yeah.” That’s all he says, but I can see there’s something working behind his eyes. Now I’m curious as to what he means by it. “Though they missed out beautiful, ambitious, and a little sassy too.”
I lift a brow his way. “Sassy?”
“Oh yeah. It’s there. You just pick and choose when to let it come out,” he muses.
A waitress appears in front of us, breaking the moment. “How can I help y’all today?”
“Hey, Joanie,” Sutton says with a friendly grin. “I’ll have a beer, some of Mack’s lasagna and a side of garlic bread.” He looks over the table at me. “I’ll let my guest make her order.”
“Just the same for me, thanks.”
“Sure thing, darlin’,” Joanie replies with a toothy smile. “Beers’ll be out shortly,” she looks over her shoulder, “food’ll be a little bit longer since the dinner rush just started.” I glance around the room to see we’re one of five groups dining in.Dinner rush?“Let me know if you need anythin’ in the meantime,” she says before holding out her hands to grab the menus from us and leaving.
“So…” I say, breaking the comfortable silence that’s fallen between us.
“I have a confession,” he blurts out. I notice he’s spinning a thick silver ring on his index finger with his thumb.
“OK. What is it? Are you a secret owner of this place or somethin’?” I tease, wanting to lighten the mood, or even just see him smile.
He snorts, shaking his head. “Nope. Thatisa random guess though.”
“You seem like you’ve got something on your mind, so I figured I’d throw a crazy idea out there to see if it helped you relax again,” I say with a shrug.
Cocking his head, he studies me. “You’re very astute, you know that?”
“Isn’t that somethingalldoctors have to be? Cool, calm, and collected in a crisis?”
“Very true,” he replies just as Joanie slides two beer bottles onto the table and disappears just as fast as she came.
“OK. I’ve had somethin’ on my mind all week and since we’re goin’ to be workin’ togetherandlivin’ in close proximity as well, I figured honesty is the best policy.”
Color me intrigued.“I agree wholeheartedly.” I reach over and still his hand with the ring on it, static electricity snapping between us the moment we touch. I press on. “I think everyone should be that way. A lot of people either don’tgetthe memo or choose to ignore it,” I say before sitting back and grabbing hold of my beer. “But first, before we get all deep and meaningful, how about a toast for me surviving a week in Timber Falls and to Grumps for curbing his stealing ways? This is in no way me diminishing what you want to tell me, but I figure we should get it out of the way—the toast, I mean.”
His shoulders relax. He leans back into the booth, holding his bottle up to clink against mine. He smiles and this time it’s a genuine, semi-relaxed one, which is even better than any of the rare smiles I’ve seen from him so far.Big tick for me.
“OK, confess your sins, Sutton Cooper,” I say, leaning back against the booth again.
I can tell he’s prepping himself for whatever he’s about to tell me by the way he’s biting the corner of his bottom lip.
“Right. I guess there’s no other way to say it. I know you. From before, I mean.”
Nowthatisn’t what I expected him to say.
“From where before?”
“Boston University. Would’ve been about ten or so years ago,” he replies.
I frown. “Were you in one of my classes?” I know it’s been a decade, but there’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed him. He has a presence that’s hard to ignore, even if I get the impression he doesn’t realize he does. His good looks alone and the way he carries himself would’ve garneredmorethan enough female attention.
His dark hair that parts just to the side and falls slightly to the left, those mysterious, soulful eyes of his, and–let's be honest–I’d have to be blind not to have noticed his lean torso through the wet shirt in the Zen garden last weekend.
