I grin. “Kinda like us?”
“Not anymore, babe.”
“Speaking of,” I say, twirling angel hair pasta around my fork, “should we tell your parents? Officially, I mean.”
“Already done.”
I nearly choke. “What?”
“I called my mom a few days ago. Figured she and my dad should hear it from me before the tabloids ran with the story.”
This makes me happy. I love his family so damn much.
“My mom cried.” He takes a sip of wine. “She said she always knew you’d be a part of the family somehow.”
“What prompted her to say that?” I ask.
“I told her you were the one,” he says nonchalantly.
I set down my fork. “Patterson.”
“It’s the truth.” He smirks.
I smile so wide that it nearly hurts. “Don’t ever change.”
“Don’t plan on it,” he says.
We’re halfway through the bottle when his phone buzzes. He glances at it, then silences it without looking at who called.
“Popular tonight,” I say.
“Always.” He takes another bite of pasta. “Callan’s been texting me nonstop about tomorrow’s game. Hunter sent me a video of himself doing a backflip on the ice, which had nothing to do with anything. Smiley wants to know if I’m dead.”
“Did you tell them what’s going on?”
“They know.” He shrugs. “Your dad made a statement. Callan told them the truth.”
I watch him across the candlelight and think about how different this feels.
“You’re staring,” he says without looking up from his plate.
“Can’t help it.”
“Dangerous game you’re playing, Ken Doll,” he says. “We won’t make it to dessert if you keep eye-fucking me like that.”
“Maybe you’re the only dessert I want.”
He grins. “Even though you’ve been eyeing the tiramisu that couple is eating?”
“It looks amazing though, doesn’t it?”
As our empty plates are slid off the table, Patterson speaks up, not taking his eyes off me. “We’ll take a tiramisu and two espressos.”
The server nods and disappears.
Patterson joins me on my side of the booth. His hand finds my thigh under the table, and his palm is warm through the thin fabric of my dress. When his fingers trace lazy circles on my skin, I can barely stay focused.
“You’re trouble,” I tell him.
