"You think you're better than they are?"
Her eyes travel the length of the room before they settle back on my face. "I know that I am."
I smile. "Confidence is something I lacked after college. You've got it in spades, so you're ahead of the game."
"You weren't confident when you were twenty-four?"
"You're twenty-four?" There's no surprise in my tone. She looks young. I wouldn't have pegged her younger than she is, but it's obvious I have a few years on her. "I'm twenty-eight."
"I know." She taps the end of the straw with the pad of her index finger. "You weren't the only one searching for information online. I looked you up too."
I feel a rush of satisfaction knowing that. "What did you find?"
It's a question I instantly regret. I've stopped doing searches for my name because of all the shit that's unrelated to my work that's out there.
"Well," she drawls through a wide grin. "I found out that there are a lot of your books in Manhattan with lunch invitations written in them."
I sigh, looking at her face. "There's a few, Sophia. I wouldn’t say there's a lot."
"I would." Her eyes brighten. "If it works for you, that's great. I happen to think it's a lame approach."
"No shit," I say before I clamp my hand over my mouth in response to a loud huff from the table next to us. "The swear police are on patrol."
"Little ears." She taps her earlobe causing the small silver earring to sway. "I'm trying to curse less. My best friend is having a baby in a few months and I want to make a good impression on him."
She's too fucking sweet.
"Tell me where you see yourself in a year." I take a sip of the now tepid lemon water I ordered. "Where do you want your design business to be precisely a year from now?"
She hesitates briefly. "I want to be working for myself. I want my designs to be available in a retail setting… or, I want to be able to sell custom pieces from my website. Wait. I want both. I want to have both of those things in a year."
I don't point out the fact that she's not completely sure where she wants to be. I also don't mention that she has a lingering trace of the cream from her coffee on her bottom lip. "You can make both those things a reality if you set your mind to it."
"It's not as easy as wishing for it." Her gaze follows the server's movements as he places our meals in front of us.
I opted for a double cheeseburger and fries. Sophia chose a grilled chicken burger with a salad but it's impossible to ignore the way she's eyeing up my burger. "I want to taste the chicken so let's split our burgers. I'll take half of yours and you take half of mine."
"You want us to share?"
I don't want to share. I want her to myself even though we've barely spent thirty minutes in total together. "No, I don't want to share."
"You said you want to taste the chicken." She smiles as she pops a thinly sliced radish into her mouth. "You can have a bite if you want."
I shake my head and cross my legs tighter, my cock still not cooperating. "Give me half, Sophia. I'll give you half of mine."
"Deal," she says as her tongue glides over her bottom lip. "You're not as big of an asshole as I thought you were."
We both cringe when we hear the chorus of giggles next to us.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Sophia
"Your burger was better than mine."I ball the paper napkin in my hand before I toss it onto my empty plate. "I don't eat beef that often, but that was too good for words."
He nods as he sips from his water glass. "I admit it was good. I typically head uptown when I want a burger. They make the best one at a place called Nova."
"I'll tell Tyler you said that the next time I see him," I say it as nonchalantly as I can manage. I'm not against dropping Cadence's name or that of her very famous fiancé. Tyler Monroe owns one of the most popular restaurants in the city. I eat there at least a couple of times a month and I've never paid a dime for a meal.
