Noah grinned. “Perfect.”
They sat across from each other. The food had come quicker than she’d expected. Noah had picked some sliders, and she’d gotten the loaded nachos. A moan reverberated from her lips as she took her first bite, eliciting that grin from Noah that she was quickly falling in love with.
“That good, huh?” he asked.
She nodded. “This is what dreams are made of. Who cares about escargot and thousand-dollar vacations to the Bahamas? I’d take nachos and dancing any day.”
He coughed, choking on his food as he stared at her.
“What?” she laughed.
“Where did that come from?” he asked after he swallowed.
Jane shrugged. “I don’t know. It was just the most opposite thing I could think of to this place.” She wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand and laughed again when his eyes followed the movement. Jane flushed. She shouldn’t be embarrassed over her manners when she had zero interest in dating this man.
She definitely wasn’t interested in a guy who could pick the perfect place to take her on a date—even though they weren’t on a date.
Nope. Not interested whatsoever.
Well, maybe a little?
Jane peeked over her glass as she took a sip of her soda. She couldn’t help but wonder how things would differ if she were dating him. Would he still take her to a place like this? Or would he have forked out more money for a fancy restaurant?
She huffed more to herself and her silly thoughts than anything else.
“I agree with you on one thing,” Noah called to her over the music.
“Yeah? What’s that?” she asked.
He wrinkled his nose. “I can’t imagine why anyone would want to eat snails. But when it comes to the Bahamas?” Noah raised his brows suggestively. “You can’t tell me that it wouldn’t be fun to spend the afternoons lazing around in a bathing suit on the beach.”
He made a good point. Going to the beach was something she’d never done. But there were beaches here in the states. There was no need to go to some fancy resort.
Jane tilted her head. “If I wanted to spend time at the beach, I’d go to one within driving distance. No need to go overboard.”
The man before her laughed, shaking his head. “You really don’t like to splurge, do you?”
“I mean… I don’t have anythingagainstit,” she mused. “But I don’t see a scenario where I would have so much excess that it would make sense to do so.”
His piercing gaze drilled into her, and she fidgeted. What had she said? Was she contradicting herself? No, she wasn’t. She’d simply suggested that if she had enough money to help other people, then perhaps she might be willing to splurge.
Her face heated, and she looked away with a laugh. “Fine. You caught me. I’ll admit it. Sometimes there are situations when splurging is acceptable.”
Noah, the prince he was, didn’t rub it in. He merely nodded and took another bite of his burger as she scooped up some more of her nachos. Their conversations shifted. They started talking about everything—starting with their childhoods after they’d stopped spending so much time together, to more recent events.
She filled him in on her sisters and her nieces and nephews, and he made his own confessions. At some point, they’d found their way onto the dance floor.
Her arms were around his neck, and he was leaning in real close. “Caleb married Sammie because she had to be married to get her inheritance.”
Jane gasped and pulled back to stare into his eyes. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not,” he chuckled. “They were friends, and she needed help.” Noah shrugged. “They got married fast, and everyone thought she might have been pregnant or something, but we couldn’t have been more wrong. Turns out…” he smirked, “marriages of convenience can turn out to be more than meets the eye.”
Oh. That’s where this was going. He was talking about their silly little pact. Admittedly, it would be nice to have her mother off her back, but other than that, there was no reason. She couldn’t rationalize tying herself to anyone just because she didn’t like the way her mother meddled.
Jane pretended she didn’t know what he was talking about and just smiled coyly at him. “I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to Sammie, but they looked happy enough. Mack, too. I never thought I’d see the day when he’d settle down with a girl who already had a kid, though. He’s changed.”
“Yeah,” Noah agreed. “Lacey is good for him. Seems finding the right person can do that.”
