“Ha ha. I meant about you. You’re super into them and you’re half-Italian. Are you related to one?”
I chuckled, remembering a story my dad had told me years ago. “When my parents got married, twenty years ago or so, my dad said a tall, Italian-looking guy came up to them. He introduced himself as a friend of his aunt and presented a one-time offer of taking care of someone.”
“No fucking way.” She stopped walking and I had to pick her up to get her to keep moving. We were by a crosswalk and traffic had increased with classes starting in almost a week. A car honked and she flipped them the bird.My little lunatic.
“Don’t get into a fight with anyone today. My hand still hurts from last night and I can’t afford to punch anyone.” It stung like a bitch but her taking care of me would be one of my favorite memories of all time. She’d had no idea what she was doing in the back of my SUV, but her straddling my leg and bandaging me had been worth it.
“Are we going to talk about what happened?” She looked up at me and, for the second time that day, I wished people were around so I had to kiss her. “Hmm?”
“No need.”
“Yes, need.” I opened the door to the dessert place and ushered her in. She thanked me, her pulse going haywire in her neck. She was a nutbag for desserts. “Don’t think I forgot about what happened. But right now, dessert takes priority. Never ask me to pick between a dessert and a person if you don’t want your feelings hurt.”
“I’ll remember that for our interview.” I flicked her ear and stood behind her, hands on her shoulders. She shook with a laugh and pointed to three different types of cake. “Get whatever you want. It’s my treat.”
“I’m all about equality, but I told you, my brain gets wonky around sweet things. I might get all three. Want to share, lover boy?” She turned to me, all pink cheeks and rosy lips, and I had to touch her. I had to.
I put my hand on her neck, cupping her face. I ran my thumb over her bottom lip and her breath faltered.Good.So did mine. “Yeah. Let’s get all three.”
She let out a shaky breath and ordered. The doe-eyed hostess checked me out, a normal occurrence for me. But I felt nothing. I straightened. “We’ll take all three.”
“Of course.” The hostess glared at Greta, then slowly took three different slices of cake. Red velvet, double fudge and peanut butter chocolate. Greta had great taste. Without thinking, I kept my hand on her hip and slid it across so it sat just above her bellybutton. I patted it.
“You better have room in there for all of these. I sure as hell can’t eat it all. I’ll pass out tomorrow with all this damn sugar.”
She laughed, the sound hitting me in the chest. “Don’t you worry about that, pretty boy. I’ll pound the shit out of the cake.”
I snorted when the hostess gave us a weird look.Perfect.I used my other hand to tilt her head back, exposing her neck. I pressed a soft kiss right under her ear. She gasped. The hostess saw, sneering at me, but I kept my hands on Greta.
“Your total is twenty,” she informed us with an annoyed expression. I handed her the bill while Greta held three different plates. She strode over to a table with her long legs and she didn’t wait for me to sit down before taking a bite.
“Oh god,” she moaned. “Heaven.”
“Yeah?” I grinned. I took a small bite of the red velvet and nodded. “It is good.”
“No. Good is too soft. Heaven.” She crossed her eyes. God, I wanted to be the cake. She twirled the fork in her mouth, taking her time licking off each crumb of cake andshit.“Thank you for the cake.”
“You’re welcome.” I thought about gardens. And buying cereal. Lifting weights. Anything to not think about her mouth on that damn fork. “So, did you and Tanner have a nice coffee date earlier?”
She looked down, pushing her hair behind her ears. “Yeah. He bought me coffee.”
I waited. I wanted her to bring up her past with him. Suddenly, it mattered a whole fucking lot to me. Inexplicably mattered. “What did ya guys talk about?”
“You know, mundane things. The show coming up. And his big debate this year. Accepting if he’s drafted or staying another year.” She took another forkful of cake and moaned.
“Anything else?” I grasped for straws. She had to know what I meant, right?
“Uh, not that I can think of. Oh, I want to go mini-golfing tonight.” She smiled and took another bite of the cake. “Here. Eat more.”
“I’m fine.” Anger crept up my throat. How could she be so nonchalant about it?
“Okay, psycho.” She gave me a weird look and frowned at something on her phone.
“Are you having second thoughts about this?” I asked the question, not sure where the hell it came from. It blurted out. Maybe it was my insecurity or the fact that she was keeping something from me.
She flinched. “No. Not at all.”
Worry remained in her eyes and before I could stop myself, I had to know.Tanner.“Is it because of Tanner?”
