“It’s nothi—”
“I was just telling the lovely Tina how every time you look at her, it’s written on your face how badly you want to hold her down and lick every inch of her body.”
Nick’s eyes flare with lust, and he fixes me with a look so full of promise I swear my panties melt right there on the spot.Later,he seems to say with that look. But before I can respond, he turns to Miss Martha and smiles. “I’d say you’re not far off with that assessment, Miss Martha,” he says, before leaning over and whispering to her behind his hand. “But you know what? I think I like it even better when she’s the one holding me down.”
Miss Martha barks a laugh. “Well now, I can see how you would. Tina here is a beautiful young woman. I imagine she has a lot to offer a big, strong fella like you.”
Nick laces our fingers together and lifts my hand, pressing his lips to the back of it. “She sure does,” he murmurs, with his lips still pressed to my skin. He lets our hands drop, keeping his fingers tangled with mine. “But I have a lot to offer her, too. And one day soon, I’ll prove it to her.”
“I bet you will, Odd Duck. I bet you will. Now, if you’ll excuse me. The Woodcocks are just up ahead and I have an urgent matter to discuss with them.” Miss Martha shakes her head as she walks away, giggling to herself the whole time.
“I like her,” Nick says. “She always says exactly what’s on her mind. My grandmother was nothing like that before she died. I don’t think I ever heard that woman state an opinion that didn’t come from my grandfather’s mouth first.” He shakes his head before turning to face me. “I’m sad that I never got the chance to know her. At least, not really. My mom is kind of the same way.”
“That’s... sad. I can’t imagine my mom not saying exactly what’s on her mind as soon as she thinks it. I think she would literally explode if she couldn’t tell everyone what she thought about a situation. Our Sunday chats are mostly me listening as she tells me how she thinks I should run my life.”
Nick chuckles under his breath, and starts walking. “Yeah, I sort of got that when I walked in on you talking to her that day.”
My heart quickens. That was the day that Nick came to arrange the catering for the week. It’s hard to believe that wasonly six days ago. I wonder what my mother would say if I told her about this little adventure in birdwatching when I call her tomorrow. Not that I plan on telling her. That would be insane. I’d find myself strapped into a wedding dress and walking down the aisle before I could say boo. Considering this isn’t even a proper date, that might be a bit of an overreaction. So why does the thought of walking down the aisle to a smiling Nick not scare the shit out of me like it clearly should?
“So, what brings you to Tuft Swallow? You moved here, what, six months ago? How does a famous fighter come to settle in a town like this? I can’t imagine there’s much call for an MMA gym in a town as small as this. You’d probably have better luck in Spitz Hollow.”
He laughs. “You’re not the first person to tell me that. I had a meeting with a guy from that Spitz-Shein sportsplex in Spitz Hollow, and he seemed to think having my gym in this tiny town was a wasted opportunity. But I grew up here in Tuft Swallow. When my age started to adversely affect my fighting, I knew it was time to retire. This is the only place I ever felt at home, so it was a no-brainer to come back here.”
I freeze in place, pulling Nick to a stop. “Wait a sec. You grew up here? In Tuft Swallow?” He nods. “How on earth did you become a fighter instead of a cornhole player? If my part-timer hadn’t told me about a basketball camp he wants to do this summer, I would have thought cornhole was the only sport offered around here.”
His face goes dark, and he scrubs a hand through his hair. “My parents drove me to Spitz Hollow for martial arts training in the beginning. When I showed a talent for it, I went to training camps all over the country.”
“Alone?” The thought of a young Nick all alone on the other side of the country makes my heart heavy. A young kid like that needs someone looking out for him.
He shrugs. “I was a big kid. I could take care of myself. Besides, when I was fifteen, my whole family left Tuft Swallow and moved to Vegas. I trained out of a gym there for most of my career.”
I turn back to the path and continue walking, still holding Nick’s hand. “That sounds lonely.”
“What about you? You’re here all by yourself, aren’t you? What brought you to Tuft Swallow?”
“I came to open the restaurant. After culinary school, and working in way too many kitchens that weren’t mine, I decided it was time to follow my dream. I wanted a place that was near enough to Boston that I could visit my family, but far enough that my mom and aunts wouldn’t be on my doorstep every day with a new man they wanted me to date.” Nick’s hand squeezes mine. “I looked at a map and saw Tuft Swallow. I figured a bird obsessed town was the perfect place for someone named Falcone.”
I see him grin from the corner of my eye. “It does have a certain sense of poetry to it.”
“Exactly. It’s like it was fate. That was five years ago, and I’m still here, so I must’ve made the right choice.” And now that I have a little boost from catering for Nick, I’ll be able to stick around a little longer. With the slight increase in traffic I’ve seen in by-the-slice sales, thanks to the Spring Chickens, I think I might be okay.
“So, why pizza?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said you went to culinary school, right? So why pizza? Why not something fancier?”
It’s not the first time I’ve been asked this, but it is the first time I didn’t get a hint of derision from the person asking the question. “Some of my old acquaintances from culinary school and the restaurants I’ve worked in have asked me the same thing,all while looking down their noses at me. They could never understand why I’d want to make pizza in a hole in the wall town instead of working my way up to being the head chef in a Michelin starred restaurant. But this is what I’ve always wanted to do. It’s a tradition in my family for the men to move to a new city and open a pizza place.” I shrug. “I always wanted to do the same thing.”
Nick stops walking and steps in front of me, taking both of my hands in his. “That’s pretty amazing, Tina. You’re living your dream. Your parents must be proud.”
Disappointment settles over me. “You would think so, wouldn’t you? But they’re not. Not really. I didn’t follow the pattern. It’s the men who are supposed to move away and open pizza places. The women are supposed to get married, pop out some babies, and look after everyone else for the rest of their lives. And I can think of nothing I’d like to do less than take care of a grown ass man for the rest of my life.”
High Value Dumpster Diver
Nick
I drop another kissto Tina’s swollen lips and lower my forehead to hers, dragging a ragged breath into my lungs. “Are you sure you need to go in to close? We could sneak upstairs before they even know we’re here.”
