She gasps so loudly that I have to turn down the speaker on my dashboard. “You’re a bastard.”
“You better fix that shit,” I warn her.
“I can’t. She just left again. You better not ruin my dinner, or I’ll make sure to lick every single one of these cookies, and trust me, they are delicious.” I can hear the humor in her voice, but she’s not going to be laughing if there’s sour cream on her food. She hates that more than anything.
“Fine. I’m on my way now, but you better not touch another one of them, and I’ll fix the whole brother thing.” She laughs and ends the call. The entire drive there, I’m pleased because she came back. She didn’t have to especially because Iwas an asshole, but she did, and she brought a peace offering. Damn, I’m going to fix this stupid misunderstanding and get our relationship started.
When I get to the taco spot, Julio’s Tacos, it’s busy with half the tables full and a couple of people waiting for orders. As I wait to place my order, I take a deep breath, and it smells delicious and my stomach rumbles again. Shit, I wonder if anyone heard that.
I place the order and wait on the side.
Then another scent hits me. It’s the same as this morning. The one that I’ve committed to memory. The one that drew me to the image of cinnamon. I turn my body slightly, and right behind me is my sudden obsession, Caroline. She’s sitting at a booth and eating her dinner with a man opposite her. They were too far for me to smell the cinnamon. That was strange.
I walk up to her and say, “Hello, Caroline.” My eyes barely glance at the bastard with her because I want to know what fool thinks he can have my woman. “My sister said you dropped off cookies.”
“Good evening to you,” she responds and then takes another sip of her pop.
“Excuse me, we’re on a date.” I close my eyes to control my sudden anger at his audacity of interrupting me.
“No, I believe you were leaving.”
“A blind date?” I ask her, wondering why she would date this punk. She nods.
“Beat it,” I snarl at him. He looks down at his plate as if he doesn’t want to miss out on his meal instead of losing out on the girl. “Go ahead and take your plate with you.” He picks up his plate and coat and scrams to the other table. That makes me angrier. He doesn’t give a fuck about her.
“That wasn’t very nice,” she scolds me.
“I’m pretty sure you already know I’m not a nice guy.”
She nods. “Yes, I figured that out this morning.” She raises a brow and stares at me boldly before adding. “Although to be fair, I did startle you. Men get grumpy when they’re scared.” She bites her bottom lip, smirking at me, knowing she scored a point.
“So did you bake the cookies, or did you buy them?”
Her brows cinch together. “What cookies? I didn’t bring over any cookies.”
“Are you serious?”
“No, I totally did. I just like that look on your face.” Her eyes light up.
“What look?” I ask, wanting to know everything about her.
“That grumpy, growly look.” She smiles so brightly, and I want to jump across the table and kiss her. “I think that would be a very bad idea.”
“You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have said that aloud.”
“Sir, your order is up.”
“I should go. My date was ruined,” she huffs, setting down her napkin. Most of her food is gone, so at least she ate dinner, although I don’t like that she had dinner with another man. If you can call him that. I clocked that kid as a weasel when I came over. She is way too good for him.
“Good. You shouldn’t have been on it in the first place,” I say.
“Yeah, some of us don’t have many options in the dating world.” She tilts her head. “Not that he was a good option.”
“There is only one option for us, Caroline.” I take her hand. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
“Hold on, I should pay for the bill.” She reaches for her purse while I call the server over.
