Ronan pushed his unfinished dish toward her.
“I can’t eat yours. You said it was amazing.”
“You can eat it. I still have cheesecake.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Giada grinned at him as she quickly downed his creme’ brulee’, too.
Only a few minutes later and he was pushing his empty cheesecake plate toward the middle of the table. He picked up his glass of wine and drank down the last sip before refilling it. “Have you tried the wine?”
“Not yet.”
“Try it. It’s my favorite.”
Giada picked up her glass and took a little experimental sip. “Oh, my God. I think I need a case of this.”
“Isn’t it great? And it’s only got like a six percent alcohol.”
“I could have that instead of dessert,” Giada said.
“Unless it’s creme’ brulee’, of course.”
“Of course,” she agreed.
Fifteen minutes later, they asked for the check.
Five minutes after that, the waiter brought them not only the check, but two large bags with multiple containers inside.
“What is this?” she asked.
“A Porterhouse steak topped with crab meat sauce, and a plastic container of their butter and garlic. The other two… one is the creamed spinach, and the other is four cannolis.”
“When did you do this?” she asked.
“I have my secrets,” he said.
“You did say you might get one to take home. But a Porterhouse? That’s a big steak.
“It is. But I don’t feel bad about it at all.”
“I think I might need to be carried out to the truck. I ate so much.”
“I ate most of it. It was nice to have somebody at least try to keep up.”
She smiled at him. “It was nice to be able to just let down my walls and be me for a change.”
“I like you.”
“I like you, too.”
“You ready?”
“Let’s go,” she said, waiting to stand when she realized he was coming around the table to pull her chair out.
As she stood and gathered her purse, he left cash on the table for the bill. He looked over at her to make sure she was ready, then placed his hand at her back again and escorted her from the room.
