Or maybe he might see how nervous she was, trying to keep things interesting.
"You know," he nodded, "I should have thought of that. I was sitting there looking at these listings and feeling like I was still flying blind."
Kaleo turned his head to look up at the clock on the wall and then he turned to look at the restaurant around them.
They were the only two left inside.
Lexie could hear Mia and her dad in the kitchen cleaning up. "I'd be happy to, but I don't want to keep them from going home."
She stood up and reached for his plate.
"Are you done?"
He looked down and then back up at her. "I did everything but lick the plate. I think so."
She looked down at his plate and saw that he was right.
A quick look at her plate said she'd nearly done the same thing.
"Okay, I have eyes. I should have seen that." She hid her gaze from him for a moment. "I'll take these in the kitchen and then come out to help with the tables, if you don't mind."
Kaleo was up on his feet. "I can help, too."
She opened her mouth to refuse but he continued.
"At the firehouse we all clean tables and do dishes. It's part of the job."
Without waiting for her to say anything, he got up and moved to the doorway before her, holding the curtain back so she could go into the kitchen.
She looked up at him as she passed through the curtain.
He looked good across the table.
This close?
Close enough that she could see the beginning of a little shadow on his cheek?
And his open smile?
Wow.
He was even better looking.
By the time she handed the plates off to Mia and picked up a bucket to start on the tables, she knew that her whole face must be red.
"Here," Kaleo was still holding the curtain back with one hand and now he was reaching out the other, "Hand me the bucket. I'll get started on our table."
"Uh... thanks..."
He took the bucket and started to wipe down the table.
She took a second cloth out and started on the table next to theirs. "I know you do this at work-"
Kaleo turned his head to look at her and her voice caught up in her throat. "It's really no big deal."
"Well, you did buy me dinner."
He raised a brow as his hand was still busy wiping at the tabletop. "Happy to." He rinsed and squeezed out the extra water in the wash bucket. "Besides, I could have searched for weeks to find a place this good. Finding it on the first day in town? Talk about lucky."
