“Is it that bad?”
My nose scrunches up automatically and without my consent. “I wouldn’t say bad per se.” When his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline, a questioning glint in his eyes, I fold like a pancake and admit, “Okay, okay, it’s horrible. Like the worst chocolate cake you could imagine but none of us have the heart to tell her.”
He really laughs then, “How can it be that bad? I mean it’s chocolate and cake? Those two things were made for each other.”
“Totally agree but when zucchini comes into the mix, all bets are off.” I actually gag a little just thinking about it, then I shudder for extra measure.
He steps back, looking about as affronted as I feel just thinking about the thing. “Zucchini?What the hell!?”
I hold my hand up, “I know, I know. It’s a real travesty but mom got on a health kick.” I swallow, knowing damn well it was way more than a health kick. It was a full-fledged, my daughter may be dying and can’t eat crap because of her bad heart but she’s going to know what chocolate cake tastes like. It was a valiant effort, and I love her more than anything for trying but justno. It’s also the reason we don’t have the heart to tell her how bad it really is.
“I mean, I don’t know. I might not be able to fake it. Chocolate cake is like sacred.”
I beam up at him because I know he’s full of crap by the smirk growing on his too-handsome face. I shrug my shoulders, “Then you can’t come.”
“Woah, woah, woah. Nobody said that was the deal.”
I’m already nodding my head. “That’s why you had to promise, hotshot. That’s the deal. Take it or leave it,” I sass right back.
He puckers his too-plump lips to belong to a man before bowing his head. I bet his lips would feel amazing to kiss. Even more amazing— I stop the thought right there.You cannot be thinking about Rowan Pierce going down on you! He’s a friend! Just a friend.I chant it over and over in my head, anything to distract me from the image of him between my thighs.
“You drive a hard bargain Millie St. James.”
I stick my hand out like we’re about to strike a deal on Wall Street. Safely back in the friend zone until his hand engulfs mine and I feel that tingle that is ever so present anytime I’m around him shoot up my arm.
“You gonna keep your promise, Rowan Pierce?” It’s a dang miracle that I manage to keep a straight face and not turn three shades of tomato red in front of this man with the thoughts running through my head right now.
His face grows serious for just a moment before his infamous smirk breaks across his face. “For you,always.”
His words cause a swarm of butterflies to take flight in my belly. Warmth starts in my core and spreads out to every finger and every toe, leaving me utterly defenseless to the charm that only Rowan Pierce possesses.
I finally realize just how much trouble I’m in with this man. I think I’m already falling and didn’t even know I was standing on the edge of the cliff.
“Now, about that dinner?”
Chapter Eleven
Millie
I’m severely regretting my decision right now. I wipe my sweaty palms across my blue jean-clad legs, hoping like hell it’s enough to absorb the crazy amount of moisture coming out of my hands but I don’t think it’s doing much good. I’m too dang nervous.
When Rowan asked me to dinner it was an easy yes. I want to spend more time with him and the hotdog we got during one of the intermissions at the game wasn’t enough to hold me over. I probably burned it off within the first thirty minutes of trying to learn how to skate and failing miserably. So on top of not wanting the night to end, I’m starving as well.
What I failed to realize was that I was also saying yes to meeting his friends. When he casually threw in anoh yeah, my friends are going to be at the place we are going. Is that okay?All I could manage to get out was a squeakyyesbefore I could think better of my poor decision-making skills.
It’s not Rowan or meeting his friends that I’m nervous about. It’s the fact that I’m going to be surrounded by my peers with absolutely no experience talking to people my age. My upbringing was very sheltered and skewed because of how medically fragile I was.
Give me a forty-two-year-old nurse or sixty-year-old doctor and I could talk to them all night about all kinds of things. Put a fresh-faced twenty-year-old in front of me, though? I’ll clam up like my butt cheeks do when I’m not sure if it’s a fart or a shart.
I’m seriously not kidding.
Rowan has been the exception and even then, I find myself wanting to crawl under my bedsheets and never come out again from all the random and dorky things that seem to come out of my mouth when I’m around him. But he’s never been judgmental or made fun of me which has only encouraged me to be myself around him.
If it was just a friend or two, I think I might be more comfortable and not look like a total dumbass but it’s not. It’s the whole crew, his words, not mine.
I didn’t know how to tell him that I changed my mind. That I didn’t want to go to dinner with him after all which is how I find myself being led into a cozy diner just off the highway that looks like it serves the best homemade chocolate and vanilla milkshakes. A big neon blinking sign is plastered across the front that says open.
Rowan’s hand grazes the small of my back as he opens the full glass door. I work to suppress the shiver his touch elicits. A little bell above the door sounds at our entry. I hear them before I see them. A chorus of, “cap’s finally here!” and “It’s about damn time,” greets us.
