My lips drew into a thin line. “Is there a reason you’re asking?” I asked with a tilted head, resisting a smirk.
He scoffed, apparently getting my drift, and shoved his hands in his pockets as he stalked in my direction. My breaths slowed upon his approach, and when he stopped an inch from my chest, he grinned outright down at me.
“Can’t be too careful,” he said.
I bit the inside of my cheek. “Are you going to be able to keep it in your pants today?”
“Is that what you want?”
“I’m engaged, Gavin.”
“And you’re making it a habit not to answer my questions,” he said. “Seems a little suspicious.”
I almost laughed, but ended up just shaking my head. “You’re ridiculous.” I shoved past him and adjusted my bag further onto my shoulder as I made for the door.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
He reached around me as we hit the threshold, his hand on mine as we both reached for the doorknob, and he twisted it with me. The warmth of that touch blazed through me all the way down to my toes. I hesitated, pivoting my head slightly to look up at him.
“It’s just lunch, sweet girl,” he said.
I couldn’t stop laughing as we sat together at the small, beachside shack, waiting on our food.
“You made out like you had this entire day planned out,” I teased him. “Now, who’s the liar?”
“I did,” he argued. “I had everything. Breakfast on the water, driving to Sequoia Park, picnic, Disneyland, helicopter ride at sunset—“
“Disneyland was an option?” I interjected.
His grin softened as he gazed at me across the table, the morning sun and ocean waves behind him. “I don’t think you’ve been a good enough girl for Disneyland yet,” he said.
My mouth twisted, and I swallowed, my eyes fluttering at the sound of him saying those words. Staring at him there against the glow of the sun was one of those moments that made me feel like I was truly looking at a god. His green eyes looked sage in that brilliance, the light coming off his ginger hair creating a flame-like swirl in the strands, and those freckles… fuck, they were cute, popping off his skin like that.
“You know, I would have done all those things,” he continued. “But I didn’t want you to feel like I was pressuring you into anything or trying to show off.”
My lips wrapped around the paper straw in my Bloody Mary, and I sighed. “Thank you,” I said, my heart full of relief.
“For what?”
“For not trying to impress me,” I replied.
The smile on his lips was small, and he tapped the paper he was fidgeting with on the table as he stared at me. “I didn’t know that was something you didn’t like.”
“It’s not really that I don’t like it,” I said. “It’s just that…” My voice trailed, and I looked out at the beach. “It’s nothing,” I said. I sat up, leaning over the table. “Tell me what’s new in the life of Eros.”
“Ah… not much really,” he answered. “Same job. Same schemes. Same apartment. Nothing nearly as exciting as what’s happened with you.”
I eyed the smirk on his lips and poured myself a refill of Bloody Mary from the pitcher we’d ordered. “Just because my life has changed dramatically doesn’t automatically make it exciting.”
“I think a new business counts as exciting,” he said.
“I think it counts as terrifying,” I said.
“Was it?”
“I don’t think I slept for months,” I admitted. “A new business meant not only larger projects, but that I would have to find other designers to delegate to, and I was such a control freak at the time that I thought I would be the worst micromanager in history. When you find the right people, it turns out they make life a little less stressful.”
“Did your fiancé invest or help you with startup capital?” he asked.
