Ken gave a gasp and stumbled to his feet. “Mr. Davis.” He swallowed and rubbed his hands on his pants.
“Just call me Rafe. Nice to see you again, Ken.” Rafe picked up Nik. “I guess my mother introduced my family.”
“There’s room at our table if you’d like to sit here,” Ken offered.
“We wouldn’t want to intrude,” Francie said at the same time Rafe said, “We’d love to.”
There was no way Ahri was going to sit at the table with a guy she’d almost kissed two days ago while she was on a date with another man.
“We’ve finished eating and need to get going anyway. You’re welcome to our table.” She stood and said to Nik, “You ought to try the Machine Gun Mike’s pizza. I think you’d like it.” She grabbed her purse and hugged the children again.
“See you later,” Alex said.
Rafe said nothing but watched her with a light furrow between his brows.
Once she and Ken were outside, Ahri took a deep breath. That could have been a disaster.
“Why’d you rush out like that?” Ken asked, disappointed.
“I see enough of Rafe at the office. I don’t need to have dinner with him too.” Dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, he’d looked yummy enough to kiss.
“Wait,” Ken said, frowning. “Executive assistant. You work for Mr. Davis?”
“He said to call him Rafe, but yes.”
“I thought his assistant was pregnant.”
“I’m filling in until she gets back from maternity leave.”
“Oh, man. We could’ve had dinner with the CEO of REKD.” Ken glanced wistfully at the restaurant. “I have some ideas I’d love to present to him.”
“Really? You want to intrude on his family time so you can pitch work ideas to him?” Ahri shook her head. “You can bring any ideas up to him at the office. He’s good at that kind of thing.”
“I wasn’t in a hurry to end our evening, either.” His ears turned pink.
“The weather’s nice this evening,” Ahri said, trying to shift the topic away from Rafe. She glanced up the street. “Do you want to do some window shopping?”
“Sure.”
They spent the next half hour strolling the lane looking at the shops. By the time they’d returned to the restaurant, it was getting chilly, and Ahri was ready to get home.
“Thank you for a fun evening.” Through the window, she saw Rafe glance her way. Their gazes met, and she felt that draw to him again. Seriously, it was getting ridiculous.
“I hope you’ll let me take you out again.” Ken stepped a little closer and broke her connection.
If Ahri hadn’t been caught up with Rafe, she’d have realizedKen’s intent. As it was, he was already leaning in to kiss her before she did. She managed to turn her face at the last minute, and he kissed her cheek instead. His ears went red again.
“Friends, remember.” She gave his cheek a quick peck and forced herself not to look toward the restaurant.
“Right,” Ken said, sounding disappointed. “Sorry.”
“I had fun. Thank you.” Ahri turned and headed for Kayn’s behemoth truck.
“I reckonwork must be wearing you down,” Rafe’s mother said to him when Alex took Nik to the restroom.
“Why?” Rafe continued to stare at Ahri and her date outside the restaurant. Was Ken going to kiss her? Hewas. Something primal seemed to flow from Rafe’s chest up into his skull, blurring the edges of his vision. Ahri turned her head at the last minute, and he wanted to whoop.
“Because you seem a little preoccupied tonight,” his mother said, her tone droll.
