Kent ducked his head and chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, might be best, to be honest….”
Since there was no reason to linger, as much as Dev would’ve liked that, he looked at the time on his cell phone and sighed. “Okay, I need to go get lunch somewhere. Then get back to listening to Angel whine about how miserable he feels. And maybe do some work too.” He smiled at Kent.
“It was nice to meet you, Mr. Rice.” Kent got to his feet to see him out, despite there being no need to do so. Not that Dev minded the guy coming closer.
“Please, call me Devin or Dev.”
“Fine, Dev. If you call me Seth instead of Professor Kent. I hear that all day and it’s just….”
“Too much?” Dev asked, turning around at the door. He realized how close Kent—Seth—had gotten when he almost bumped their chests together.
Seth opened the door for him, looking apologetic, and nodded. “Way too much.”
“Alrighty, then, Seth. Have a nice rest of the day,” he said, in lieu of his mind producing anything better with the close proximity and all.
“You as well, Devin,” Seth said, smiling as Dev threw him a small wave over his shoulder.
DEV’S FIRSTinstinct was to call his brother and tell him off for not letting him know how fucking scorching his professor really was. But then he remembered that their mom had probably just called him and Dev wouldn’t be on Angel’s good side right then. Oh well.
He walked to the car, trying to decide where to get lunch. Eventually, after a few minutes of his brain doing its slightly obsessive thing of comparing pros and cons without much input from Dev’s active mind, he had a decision.
“Martha’s it is,” he murmured as he maneuvered the Fiat out of the parking lot and back into the traffic.
Martha’s had been his favorite place ever since they’d moved to Colorado Springs a few years ago. The restaurant was tiny, served healthyish versions of hearty Italian food, and was open all day from brunch to late dinner.
Dev really didn’t go there often enough these days, because Angel had dated Martha’s granddaughter Olivia for a while, and it hadn’t ended pleasantly at all. Dev was still a bit pissed off at Angel for ruining the place for them. Or for himself, really. Dev wasn’t at fault and he still went occasionally, just not as often as he’d liked, because more often than not Angel was with him.
He was lucky to find a parking spot two blocks from the restaurant and walked the rest of the way, looking at the shops’ windows. He liked this part of Colorado Springs a lot. The small boutiques and random little shops, like the secondhand bookstore that only sold history books, were right up his alley. Not that he visited any of the clothing boutiques, ever, unless Mama was visiting, but the other places were enough to make his mind settle and keep his anxieties at bay.
He noticed a group of people heading toward Martha’s front door and smoothly bypassed them when they concentrated on chatting for a moment. His long legs took him inside the restaurant quickly enough to startle Olivia, who was manning the front.
“Holy crap, Dev!” she hissed, holding her ample bosom.
“Sorry, sorry, thought you’d be busy, and looks like I was right,” he said, frowning at the crowded tables.
“Yeah, it’s been busy, but Grandma isn’t around today and her table is free if you want it,” she offered, and Dev smiled at her.
“Thanks, hon, I’d love that. Where’s Martha, then?” he asked as she turned to the people coming in to tell them to wait at the small bar on the side, because there were no tables right then.
“Oh, she’s visiting Aunt Hilda in Denver for a couple of days,” Olivia said as soon as the new people moved to the bar. The door opened again, and she sighed.
Dev knew she hated to turn people away, but sometimes during the rush hour it couldn’t be avoided.
“I’m sorry, sir. We’re all out of tables,” she said apologetically.
Dev turned his head, just in time to see Seth Kent with a frown marring his handsome features. “Hey, Olivia, it’s fine, I’ll share Martha’s table with Seth,” he said coolly, ever so fucking grateful for his brain working quickly for once.
“Oh, hi, Devin,” Seth said and smiled at him. Then he looked back at Olivia. “If it’s okay…?”
“Yeah, sure. Damn, another group coming in. You better go get that table before I give it to the next lot,” she said, shooing them out of the way. “I’ll send Sammy up for your orders as soon as I catch him.”
“This way,” Dev said, nudging Seth’s arm. He led Seth to the back of the restaurant and then up the narrow stairs mostly hidden by the real, huge plants lining the back wall.
“This is cool,” Seth said as they got to the second level. “I’ve come here before, but never really realized there were tables up here.”
Dev took a seat in the little booth and smiled. “There’s just this booth and it’s Martha’s spot. They don’t normally let people up here unless it’s friends or family.”
“Which category do you belong to?” Seth asked, shrugging off his light jacket before sitting down.
