“I’m glad you didn’t. I’d have been a dick to have missed seeing you. You’re rocking, Alex,” he says, and I stifle a laugh.
“Thanks… I think. Well, I’m really hungry, so do you wanna…” I trail off, not knowing what else to say, as I look back at our table.
“Fuck yeah, I’m starving.” He drops my hand and walks past me toward the table.
I clear my throat and raise an eyebrow while taking a calming breath, walk over to the table where he’s already sitting, and grab my seat.
“Oh… bubbly, fuck yes,” Logan cheers, pouring himself a glass, then putting it back in the bucket without offering me any. I grit my teeth and pull the bottle out, pouring myself a drink. “So, I guess you wanna know why I was late?”
I shrug and already know Logan’s going to be taking over the conversation tonight.
“I was working in the gym, pumping iron, trying to get my body shredded for tonight. I wanna look good for you, you know what I mean?” He raises an eyebrow. “And I lost track of time. Then, when I realized I was running late, I literally ran here. Well, from the car, anyway. You know guns get the girls and all that,” he rattles on without stopping, then raises up his arm, flexes his bicep, and kisses it.
I inwardly cringe while faking some sort of half-assed laugh—I’m sure I just threw up a little in my mouth.
“So this place is nice. Did you set up thisspecialroom for us?” he asks, then takes a long gulp of his bubbly.
“Yeah, thought it would be nice to have our own space for our first time together.”
“Wow! You went all out for me, Alex. I like that. A woman who knows how to spoil her man. Plus, you’re fucking hot as fuck! That bad girl image,fuck me.I gotta keep myself in check right now, let me tell you.”
I clear my throat, feeling extremely uncomfortable about how open Logan is being. It’s nice he finds me attractive, but there’s no way I’m sleeping with him tonight. He can get that idea right out of his head, and unless he reins himself in, we may not even make it to dessert.
“So, ah… why internet dating?” I ask.
“I can never keep a woman, and I don’t know why. They always seem to think I’m too enthusiastic or something. I don’t know where they get that idea. I think I’m pretty calm, actually.”
All I can do is smirk.
He tilts his head, giving me that smug little half-smile. “Why are you even on here? You seriously can’t find someone the regular way?”
I exhale slowly through my nose. “It’s been a while. Took a break from dating. Trust issues.”
He leans in a little, all confidence and cologne. “Well, you can trust me, babe. I’m blunt, yeah, but I treat my girl right.”
I raise a brow. “Cool. Just so we’re clear… I’mnotyour girl.”
He winks like I didn’t say anything. “Not yet, sweetheart… but we’ll get there.”
I chuckle under my breath. “You’ve got a lot of confidence. You know that?”
He shrugs like it’s a flex. “Gotta have it in my line of work. I deal with some pretty hardcore people. You don’t show up with confidence, they’ll walk all over you.”
I raise a brow. “You ever think maybe you’re overcompensating?”
He laughs like I just flirted with him. “I like you, Alex. You’ve got fire. And no, babe, I talk big, I look big…” He leans in with a smirk. “I’m big ineverydepartment.”
I smirk. “Including your ego.”
“Especiallymy ego,” he says, waggling his brows.
I roll my eyes and take a sip of my drink. He’s cocky. Completely full of himself. Probably terrible in a relationship. Definitely terrible in bed.
But I’ll give him this—he’s at least entertaining.
“You’re a tattoo artist, right? Can’t imagine too many badasses come in for butterfly ankle ink.”
His grin sharpens. “I work out of a biker club’s tattoo shop. So yeah, we get some serious types.”
