She scoffed and shook her head. “You can’t know that.” The look she sent me said she didn’t fully believe what I said.
I cocked my head and studied her. She was denying what was glaringly obvious to me. There was mutual attraction and no small amount of desire simmering between us.
“Deny it all you want, Sweetheart. This thing,” I used my finger to indicate the air between us, “It will go off eventually, and when it does, it will be explosive.”
Chapter 7
PATIENCE
Fuck.
My panties might as well have been thrown into an incinerator. I crossed my legs under the table to try to ease the ache between them, but it was pointless. I honestly thought maybe all my ex-boyfriends had been right about me. Maybe I was frigid or just didn’t share desires the way normal couples did. I thought maybe I was broken.
As it turned out, we were all wrong. I didn’t respond to them because they weren’t Tucker.
I needed to get a bit of control over this conversation and quick before I went up in flames right there in the booth.
“A volcano? Isn’t that typically how you would describe someone with a bad temper?”
He grinned, and my insides melted a little more; if that was even possible?Dammit.“Yes, but it’s an accurate assessment for someone who has blue balls, too.”
The clearing of someone’s throat brought both our attention from each other to Giana, whose eyes sparkled with laughter as she slid our meals onto the table in front of us. “Call me later,” she mouthed, using her thumb and pinky to make the universalsign for a phone. I could hear her laughter as she walked away from our booth.
I nodded and rolled my eyes at her. She knew my work schedule. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that if I didn’t call her, she’d be calling me to get the scoop on what was happening between Tucker and me. If she didn’t get a response through calls or texts, she’d track my ass down while I was at work.
“What’s the female equivalent of blue balls?” I asked, trying to lighten the subject a little and get the topic onto anything but the sexual chemistry that was driving me mad. I took a calamari ring and dunked it into the marinara before popping it into my mouth.
“I don’t know. Maybe chapped lips or a bummed beaver?” He joked and reached over to nab a calamari ring for himself. “None of the women I’ve ever been with have had to suffer from that particular condition.”
I almost choked on the calamari. My shoulders and chest heaved with coughs because the little circle of goodness that I love went down the wrong pipe. Tucker was gently patting me on the back as I tried to gain control over the racking coughs. I shook my head and reached for the sweet tea, gulping down a large swallow.
“You okay?” He was concerned, but also amused by what happened.
“Jerk,” I called him, but my laughter, ruined the false indignation I was trying to present.
I reached over to spoon some of the spinach artichoke dip onto a smaller plate with a few pieces of warm flatbread chips, then offered it to him before grabbing a second plate for myself.
Playfully, I threw a piece of chip at him, and he caught it and popped it into his mouth. “See, a toad.” I stuck my tongue out at him and enjoyed the deep rumble of his laughter.
“So, are we gonnaLady and the Trampthis thing or what?” He grinned and bounced his eyebrows at the big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs that was in front of him.
“Just remember, the tramp was the dude in that movie.”
He chuckled. “Did your mother ever tell you that you’re a smartass?”
“Every day of the week and twice on Sundays.” I grinned at him.
“QuotingA Few Good Men, consider me impressed.”
“What kind of movie did you think I would quote?”
“A chick flick, maybeCluelessorLegally Blonde?”
“As if.” I gave him a smartass smirk. “Is that better?”
“Well, you have something else in common with Cher.”
“What?”
