“Did you find this place okay?” she asks as I pull out her chair.
“Yeah. I had a driver bring me because I haven’t gotten my bearings yet. My sense of direction is a bit thrown off.”
She smiles, slowly, as she sits. “Good. I didn’t want you wandering into Jersey by accident.”
I push her chair in. “I feel judged already.”
“You should. I chose this place very strategically.” She slips her small bag onto the table and adjusts her watch. “It’s exactly halfway between our buildings.”
“You know where I live?” I say as I sit and pull in my chair.
“Yes,” she says, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear, then adjusting her watch two more times.
“That's not fair. I wanna know where you live.” I smirk.
“That feels like information you haven’t earned yet.”
My brows raise. “Oh, I’m earning points now?”
“You lost points,” she counters smoothly. “You’re in recovery mode.”
Lost points?
The server comes to the table. Alie orders a sparkling water— then turns back to me.
“So, Alie, did you have a nice day today?” I fold my hands in front of me on the table.
“Is that what we’re doing? We’re gonna go with small talk and niceties?” she asks.
“Well, I figured we could ease in.”
She laughs softly. “You don’t strike me as a man who eases into anything. I don’t see the point in being around the bush.” She shrugs.
“Why are you nervous?”
“I’m not nervous.”
“You just adjusted your watch three times.”
Her mouth curves. God, I missed that mouth.
“Now that we’re out of earshot of anyone who cares, can you tell me what happened that morning? I thought we’d agreed to see where it would go.”
She’s staring at me now, studying my face, as if she’s looking for a lie.
“I had a change of heart.” She bites the inside of her cheek.
“No, I don’t think you did. I think you got scared or maybe didn’t have as good of a time as I thought you did.” I pause to read her face. “And instead of talking to me about it, you bolted. I think we both know I enjoyed myself that night. That definitely wasn’t a lie for me.”
“I’m not a liar, Liam.”
“Neither am I, Alie.”
“Are you sure about that?” She brings her arms onto the table and crosses them, leaning forward.
“Yes, I’m sure about that. I don’t lie to anybody. I have no reason to.” I could be offended, but in all reality, we really don’t know each other. But I’m going to change that.
“So, when you were in the shower and your best friend, Archie, texted and asked about your hookup …”
