“Good.” I smiled at her thinned eyes.
“For you, maybe. Can you take me back before the restaurant opens? I really don’t want to do the walk of shame in front of Joe and Caterina in my dress from last night.”
“They take almost daily walks of shame out of Joe’s office. Those two are nothing to be concerned about.” I cupped her chin. “But I’ll take you back if that’s what you really want. I have to work today, but I thought tonight, maybe if you were free or something?”
She inched closer, the corners of her mouth twitching.
“If you’re asking me out, be direct.”
“Direct?” I tapped my chin with my finger. “All right. Can I come over after work with some dinner for us to eat on that sick deck I spotted in the back of your rental, and can I make you come on one of the patio chairs?”
A blush crept up her cheeks as she covered her eyes. “Oh my God, stop.”
She lifted her arm to push against my chest, but I pinned her down and tickled her sides.
“Yes,” she gasped between breathless giggles before her eyes went dark. “Bring me dinner, and we’ll figure the rest out.”
“Your wish is my command, my lady.” When I leaned in to kiss her she laid her palm over my mouth.
“Since we’re both up, before we get sidetracked again, I’m starving. Busy night, you know?”
I couldn’t help the stupid smile cracking my cheeks.
“I do know. I don’t have much here, but it’s our early morning downstairs. I can get you breakfast and take you back. And,” I ran my finger along her jaw. “I’ll talk to Joe about a day off tomorrow. And I could stay, and not have to rush back. That is, if you want me to.”
“I always want you to, which has always been my problem.” She kissed my cheek. “Let me find my clothes and I’ll get dressed. I think I have flats in my bag so hanging out in my dress for a while shouldn’t be terrible.”
I moved back to let her get up, my eyes following her as she scooped her clothes off my floor.
My chest pinched at what she said. She still didn’t trust me completely, but again I was working on that.
Last night may’ve been a leap, but I still had miles to go.
30
Dominic
“So you guys are,”Joe motioned from me to where Thea sat with Caterina and Ava on the patio near the beach with his finger, “together now?”
When we came downstairs, the pub was already open since Joe had wanted to train a couple of new waiters in the early morning. Caterina, I guessed, wanted more time with Joe before she took Ava to the beach like she usually did on Saturdays. They were more attached than Siamese twins. How perfect they were together often highlighted how lonely—and miserable—I was.
Now, I was attached to a woman of my own, although she wasn’t mine in the official sense—yet.
“Yes, and no,” I said, my eyes drifting to where Thea sat laughing with Caterina. “We’re not, not together.”
“Are you speaking in code or something?” Joe snickered as he lined the glasses up behind the bar.
“I meant I’m not rushing her, but she’s not running from me anymore,” I answered Joe while I kept my eyes on the wait staff as they set up.
My issue was getting her to stay.
“Her, too?” I heard Tommy ask Ben, one of the newer waiters who started last week. Ben did an all right job serving tables from what I could tell, but was so full of himself he barely fit his head in the door.
“Yep. These tourist towns are all the same. Women go on vacation with their friends, looking for a hook-up with a guy with a decent set of abs and without a receding hairline. All I have to do is crack a smile, and they jump in my lap.”
My eyes rolled as I glanced back at Joe. Ben was your typical All-American college douchebag with a hard-on for women in their thirties. He hit on Caterina his first day here, before knowing who she was, and had been on Joe’s shit list ever since. She’d laughed in Ben’s face, but Joe wouldn’t stop giving him a hard time. My opinion was that we were too busy to worry if the waiters were dicks or not. We just needed them to be reasonably polite to customers, keep the orders straight and not to drop anything on the way to the tables.
“Like that one outside.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder—in Thea’s direction. “No one wears a dress like that to eat breakfast here. I love the ones who bounce from one hook up to another. You don’t need to worry about drama or weird attachments after. Older women are thebest.You need one to forget the Jordan bullshit you put yourself through, man.”
