When I slid into the booth, Drake took the other side.
“I’m assuming you come here often,” he said.
“Townie,” I said. “This has been a haunt for me for a long while.”
“I had a few spots like that in Roxborough,” he said, grabbing one of the plastic menus they kept at the table. He flipped through it with a glazed look.
“Too many choices?” I asked. “Go with the bacon cheeseburger, and you won’t be disappointed.”
“That easy is it?” He flashed me a grin, his white teeth on display, and my pulse sped up. Well, that was inconvenient.
The waitress came over to our table, her curly hair barely held back by an elastic band. “What can I get you?”
“Two bacon cheeseburgers,” I ordered. “Tea for me. You a coffee or tea guy?”
“Coffee,” Drake said.
“Got it,” she replied. “I’ll be right back with the drinks.”
Drake leaned back in the seat, his hands behind his head, placing those thick forearms on full display. I licked my lips on reflex, my mouth drier.
“So,” I said, carding my fingers through my hair. “Sorry for, uh, abducting you, I guess.”
His grin widened, a wicked arch to his brows. “Pretty sure this was a dinner invitation.”
Was he flirting, or was that throaty tone just how he spoke? Serena had to hit me over the head with her interest because I was shit at picking it up. Everyone at the shop made fun of me for the amount of missed connections or numbers I collected by accident.
“Who did your ink?” Drake asked, his gaze scanning over me. I shifted in my seat. Right, he was looking at my tats.
“My coworkers,” I said, lifting the punk sleeve Nyx had been working on. “Trash polka style here, since that’s Nyx’s specialty, and Owen is designing a back piece for me.”
“Wait, are you a tattoo artist?”
I snorted. “I guess that’s why people answer the ‘what do you do’ question. Yeah, I work over at Alchemy Ink.”
“No way, I’ve been eyeing the place up for a while. I’m used to going into the city to different artists, but I wanted to check out the local talent,” he said.
I sat up in my seat, already interested. “You’ve got ink?”
“Not much yet,” he admitted.
“Where?” I asked, since none of his tattoos peeked past his sleeves.
He waggled his brows. “That’s only getting seen by select people.”
Heat rushed through me. The idea of peeling the shirt off him to view the muscles beneath was so tempting. My mouth watered before the ice water dumped in. Serena’s brother. He was off-limits, right? Granted, I wasn’t sure of the etiquette over dating siblings. Probably frowned upon.
Granted, it wasn’t like she was going to fuck him.
The waitress snuck our drinks over, and I began to doctor mine with sugar, swishing the tea bag around, while Drake took a straight-up sip from his black coffee. His lashes fluttered a few times as he savored the first taste. Not helping the filthy direction my imagination was going. I busied myself with a slurp of piping hot tea, which got stuck in my windpipe.
I spluttered, slamming on my chest as I choked for air.
“You okay?” Drake asked, giving me a concerned look.
Heat flushed my cheeks as I caught my breath. “Totally. Just take my word that I’m not usually this much of a mess.”
“Hey, no judgment here,” he said, his muscled arms still distracting me. “I’d normally make a joke about choking, but I just met you.”
