“I see it here.” She tapped a button on the tablet on the hostess stand, then waved toward the chalkboard behind her. It was covered in couples’ names and little doodles. “Would you like to add your names to the board and ring the bell tonight?”
“Yes,” I said, glancing at Jamie. “As long as you’re okay with everyone knowing we’re together?”
“Me?” He laughed. “Um, yeah. That’s fine.”
We each wrote our names in a big heart, thenposed for a photo the hostess was nice enough to take for us. She was a cute blonde with the perfect personality to play hostess, but her long hair hid her nametag from view.
A bell rang out over the dining room as we entered, and everyone turned in their seats, watching us as we followed the hostess to a table by the window.
There were appraising looks, whispers, smiles and giggles. Sammi had told me about the place when she’d offered me some dating advice, but dang, she hadn’t been exaggerating. The gossip that Jamie and I were a couple was already spreading.
“My name’s Jamie,” the hostess said with a bright smile as we sat down and she handed us each menus. “Your server, Marco, will be right over, but let me know if you need anything.”
Jamie and I exchanged a shocked look as she walked away.
“Is that—” Jamie started.
“I think so.”
He glanced after the hostess, watching her long legs, curvy waist, and blonde hair sway its way toward the front. “Should I be worried?”
“Hey,” I said firmly.
He raised his gaze to me. I met his eyes, hoping to convey everything I felt in a single look.
“You’re the only Jamie I see.”
His smile was like a sunrise after a storm, wild and free and a little bit awe-inspiring.
“Keep it up, and this is going to be my best first date ever.”
I reached for his hand on the tabletop. “That’s a record I’d love to set. I think we could knock a few other firsts off the list, too, what do you say?”
His eyes widened. “I’d say you’re getting fresh with me. What kind of a boy do you take me for?”
I laughed. “The best kind.”
“Well,” he said, stroking the length of my index finger with two fingers, sending fiery arousal through me as he gave me the most faux-innocent look I’d ever seen, “I guess we’ll see where the night goes.”
“I can’t wait.”
CHAPTER 22
Jamie
We finished dinner,and I tried not to think about how gorgeous Jamie the hostess was, or what might have happened if Hank had been matched with her as intended.
He was here with me. He said he wanted me. And the way he looked at me was…convincing.
Hank had always been this easy-going guy who was hot as hell but down-to-earth and sweet. Tonight, he was all those things, sure, but there was an added level of intensity to every look he sent my way.
It made me a little nervous, but in a good, butterflies in the stomach sort of way. It was still hard to believe I might actually get to have this. Hank had been the forbidden fruit I couldn’t taste for weeks, and I’d fantasized about him so many times it was a little embarrassing.
Now, here he was, saying it could all be real. But Silas was always telling me not to believe in fairy tales, and now that my Prince Charming was across the table, smiling at me like hewanted to strip off my clothes item by item, I found myself flustered and off-balance.
Could this really happen for me—or would the fantasy shatter once it got too real for Hank?
“Doing okay over there?” Hank asked. “You look a little lost in la-la land.”
