Despite his approval, it stung a little to look back up at him. I felt exposed. He was a successful entrepreneur, and he would know a lot more about starting a business than I did. For me, it was never about the business side, it was about Poppy, but I still had to find a way to pay the bills. “You do?”
“I do.” He nodded slowly like he was giving it proper thought. “Anytime you find somethin’ you are passionate about, that makes you the best person to go after it. You are fired up about it.” His lips slid into a thoughtful grin when he added, “So, I guess I have her to thank.”
The softness in his expression both put me at ease and piqued my interest. “Thank for what?”
“For getting’ ya to help me.” His eyes found mine in a way that should have been friendly, but combined with his handsome-hunk-makeover, and recent superhero action, it seemed to send an electric spark right to my gut. He tacked on, “It’s been a crazy few days, and at first, I wasn’t sure what to think about your rescue plan. Well, frankly put, I hated that stupid list of rules, but it’s clearly not your first rodeo and I think we might just make it to the finish line.”
I opened my mouth to speak, I came up empty. It wasn’t the most eloquently stated compliment, but I could tell it was heartfelt. My boss certainly never said that kind of stuff to me. Luckily for me, he didn’t notice I was stunned speechless.
He got up from his chair, saying, “Say, I didn’t have time to grab any breakfast, and I have a hankering for somethin’ fried. Would you want to grab some food with me while we go over your scripts?”
I was starved too, and this weird mood I was in wasn’t getting better by sitting here, so I figured we might as well try a change of scenery. “Yeah, I can eat.” I stood, stretching my arms high above my head. “I know just the place. It’s all organic and they only purchase food from companies who use fair trade, or local farmers.” Then I took the lead out of his office, adding, “It’ll be good for your image to eat there since it’s all eco-friendly.” I flashed my phone at him, before stowing it back in my purse. “I’ll take a selfie with you to post on social media.”
“I said fried. Not tasteless and overpriced toast that you millennials want to invest your 401Ks in.”
I sputtered out a laugh, because it was a pretty on-point joke, but I wasn’t going to admit that with actual words. Instead, I grinned and motioned to the door and he followed right on my heels. “You keep pointing out my age, like I’m some child. You can’t be that much older than I am.”
“Eleven years.” His eyes slid to the side, catching mine before he tacked on, “I Googled you.”
I almost tripped when I heard he had looked me up. I quickly changed the subject, chatting about all the ways you can make avocado toast. I pointed to the corner bistro, his words rolled out unamused, “Stixs and Seeds.” He cocked his head and peered down at me. “Are you sure they serve people food? ‘Cause that sounds like it’s more for a bird?”
“Yes, they serve people food, and it’s amazing.” My lips turned up into an amused grin. As much as I loved this place for its organic food, I had also wanted to come here to push him out of his comfort zone.
“I ain’t no bird.” He rubbed his hand over his belly in circles. “I can’t live on branches. I need carbs and red meat—preferably somethin’ smothered in BBQ sauce—to keep this figure.”
“Don’t worry.” I smoothed over his comment as we passed through the double glass doors into the woodsy décor. It didn’t exactly give off a manly comfort food vibe, with the potted trees draped with white Christmas lights. But the birchwood tables were cool, and matched the benches made of long, skinny white logs.
Beau’s head took a broad sweep from left to right as he assessed the place, then dropping his voice to a whisper, he said, “It looks like a giant tree house. I present that as evidence to reiterate my point ’bout this being a bird food place.”
I stifled a laugh and playfully nudged him with my elbow before whispering, “Too late to turn back now.”
“It’s never too late to run.” He whipped around on his heel, but I was one step ahead of him, and nabbed his hand, pinning him in place. Now I was left holding his hand.This is strange.I quickly shook off my hold, but my hand still felt a tingling sensation that was hard to ignore.
A hostess with braided pigtails appeared, cheerily gathered menus for us while chatting about the specials, and ushered us to our seats at a table in the center of the restaurant. We sat, me quietly and ladylike, him with a dramatic sigh and plop. We were way too quiet while we studied our own menus. I couldn’t help but keep glancing at him, wishing I could tap into his thoughts. However, the look on his face hinted he might not be that impressed with the menu selection. After an awkward amount of quiet time, Beau spoke with his eyes low on the menu. “I’m gonna tell you something but it’s not to spook ya.”
“Okaaay.” I lingered on the last syllable; my curiosity piqued.
“Just wanna warn ya not to get alarmed if my tooth falls out.”
I grimaced at the visual that had given me, turning away slightly as I forced my face into a neutral expression and tried not to show judgment. “Does that usually happen?”
“Not unless I eat somethin’ crunchy.” He wagged his head reassuringly. “It’s a crown. I just glue it right back in as soon as I get to the shop.”
I chuckled, not sure if he was being serious or joking, but he never laughed. Instead, he maintained his dead-serious expression. Not wanting him to think I was rude, I slapped my serious expression back on my face and tucked my head down, focusing on picking at my nails. “Glad you warned me.”
“Kidding.” His laugher rushed out while he struggled to get actual words out, “You believed I would actually glue it back in?”
“I don’t know what you would do!” I defended, my face heating up. “I didn’t think you’d lie to me.”
“It was a joke.” He slammed his eyes on mine. “I’m tryin’ to get you to lighten up, and it’s also payback for making me eat bird food.”
“Right.” I was smiling now as this whole thing felt so silly. “Except you haven’t tried it yet, so you might enjoy —”
“Nope. No, I won’t. But I should be able to keep all my teeth.” He must have thought he was hilarious since his whole body shook in laughter.
Relief washed over me when our waiter, a college-age male with dreadlocks, strolled over to take our orders, leaving us sitting with two mint waters. I didn’t waste any time moving on to phase two of my plan. I shifted right into business mode, “So, thank you for your cooperation with yesterday’s task.” I pulled out my phone and set it up to record our conversation. “Now, my next task is to write a biography for you which will read like a story. It must be able to connect to people and make them like you. Why don’t you start with telling me where you grew up, maybe some of the things you liked as a kid, and how that led to your work now.”
“I grew up here in Texas.” His lashes fluttered as if he was pulling up a memory. “Like any other country boy, I liked to fish, play football, baseball, and ride motorbikes—” he paused, letting his eyes playfully glare into mine— “gas powered motor bikes. Not electric.”
