“Because this place is definitely just for girls.”
The idea of our first date has been blossoming in my head all the way here and it’s all crashing down into dust right now.I could tell him he has to come with me because I want to be here.Or I could just go in and ignore his snide remark.I’m sure he’d follow.
“Where would you like us to go?”I say instead.
His whole face lights up.In surprise it looks like.Happy surprise.“No, no.I go where you go, Goldie.Doesn’t matter what I want.”
“It matters to me,” I mutter, wondering why it actually does.But then his face lights up in a whole different way and I feel this light deep in my chest, warming me, caressing me, softening something inside me I didn’t even know was hard.
“No one’s said that to me in a very long time,” he says quietly, hoarsely.
It’s definitely a moment we’re sharing.The kind that feels like a tsunami is pulling the ground from beneath my feet right before tons of water come crashing down.
I have no idea how to respond.But I want to bask in this light of gratitude and connection for as long as I live.
But he snaps the moment short by opening the cafe door and ushering me inside.
“I’m serious, we can go somewhere else,” I say.
“Why?”he asks.“This is where you want to be.And that’s good enough for me.”
He’s definitely pulling away from me in some way now, the light of his gaze not so bright anymore, even as he says exactly the right thing and does exactly what I want.
I’ve never been this attuned to another person.Not even my sisters.And maybe it’s all in my head, maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see.But I don’t think so.Mainly because I’ve never felt anything even remotely as strong as what I feel when I’m near him.So how could I possibly imagine it?
I sit at one of the spindly tables, clutching my purse in my lap, while he orders for us at the counter.A cappuccino for me, an espresso for himself.I’m still debating whether I should offer to pay as he sets the drinks down and takes a seat across from me.
By the time I mutter, “How much was it?”he’s already finished his espresso.
The sharp glint in his eyes is like sunlight hitting a knife blade.“I can afford to buy you a coffee.”
“I didn’t mean to imply you couldn’t,” I say, finding some steel of my own.It’s infuriating the way he talks down to me.As infuriating as being near him is intoxicating.It’s worse than drinking half a bottle of vodka in one sitting.“I just thought… since I invited you here and all.”
“Oh,” he says and leans back, his palms resting on his muscular upper thighs, and grins.“No, that’s OK.I want to treat you.”
Now why did I feel that like a punch of light deep in my core?
“Thank you.”
Then I take a sip my cappuccino, hoping I’m not blushing too hard, refusing to look at my reflection to check as I look through the window.Even though everything is rushing by, the way it always does in the city, it all looks to be moving in slow motion—the people, the cars, the trucks, even the branches of the trees.
“Do you come here often?”he asks, a totally benign conversation starter that still pummels at me with all the force that’s not evident anywhere else in the world.
“I would, but I don’t get out much,” I say.“As you noticed.”
He grins again.A smile does things to his face that are hard to describe.It takes nothing away from the air of dark danger around him, just frames everything in a beautiful package that’s hard to avert your eyes from.I can’t believe every other woman in here isn’t staring at him and drooling.Some of them kind of are.I want them to stop with a primal surge of jealousy I don’t remember ever feeling before.
“Oh, you get out plenty… I met you in a nightclub, we took a carriage ride and went swimming.And all inside a few days.That’s more excitement than I usually see in a week.”
I look at him, getting the full force of his darkly bright gaze.“Somehow, I doubt that very much.I’m sure you’ve had a very exciting life before you were forced to become my bodyguard.This job must be very boring for you.”
That sharp glint crosses his eyes again, but this time he keeps grinning through it.“It has its moments.Like right now.”
I know I’m blushing so hard right now.I just hope he’s mistaking it for the golden hour sunlight streaming in through the window.I can’t actually take my eyes off his face, but I take another sip of coffee anyway.
“But coffee this late in the day?How will you go to sleep?”he asks, grinning at me.
“I never go to sleep early.Which is a good thing, since you’re taking me out tonight,” I say, setting the cup down clumsily because my hand is shaking.I’ve never been this forward with anyone, especially not a guy.I’m not even allowed to be.My dad would very likely slap me across the face and kill him for what I just said.
