This was the first time we’d met in daylight. His skin wasn’t as pale in a baby blue button-down. He did a double take when he noticed me heading his way, then stood, showing off his long legs in black slacks. Did this guy know how to do anything casually? At least he didn’t have a tie on. Maybe this was casual. At the club, he’d worn similar clothes, but his shirt had had a sheen to it that made it sparkle in the flashing lights.
Oh, shit.Don’t think about the club. All I needed was to pop a boner and prove how much younger and not in control of myself I was.
“Uh, hey,” I said, unsure if I should shake his hand or bow or what. Fuck.
Luke gestured to the chair across from his, and I eagerly took it. The table was small, and our legs would brush each other’s in the middle, but he angled himself away.
Okay, no touching. Got it.
The blue of his eyes was so deep and bright. I got lost in them as they roamed over every speck of me.
One corner of his lips twitched, and then he said, “I like this look on you.”
For a minute, I lost all speech function, then adjusted in my seat and finger-combed my hair. “This’s the normal me.” But I wasn’t even sure how true that was.
In high school, I’d been covered in black, supporting Jamie in his emo ways. College was supposed to be my time to figureshit out, find who I was, where I felt comfortable. As much as I thought I hated suits, they were kind of growing on me, as was getting spiffied up with Savannah. The stuffy attitudes sucked, but me in a suit meshed well enough. Comfortable, though? Maybe it wasn’t my clothes but a mindset.
“What’s good here?” I tacked on, dreading us diving into silence. We’d had no issues keeping the conversation going on our one date, but that was when Luke thought I was a girl. I had no clue about his orientation now, surprising the shit out of me with all that at the club.
Luke jumped on the topic as if it were the most important thing in life. “Everything. I have coffee coming, and I can order for you, if you like.”
AaaandIjumped on that. “Please. I’m a bit too nervous to think straight.”
Luke chuckled. “Don’t be. It’s a nice morning for good company and conversation.”
Good company? That told me nothing. Was this a date?
On cue, the server arrived with two glass mugs of steaming coffee, a tiny pitcher of cream, and a bowl of sugar packets. As I doctored mine, Luke smiled at the beaming woman and ordered for us. Something French-sounding, but if it wasn’t a donut from Krispy Kreme, I didn’t know pastries.
“I stopped here with my mother once,” Luke said. “She hated the place, so I come back often.”
I snickered. “Your momma is such a gem.”
“In some ways. She’s cold, unyielding, persistent, and lifeless. Yet she doesn’t sparkle.”
“Ouch. Okay. Well, my momma is a gem too. But she does sparkle and makes people smile. She’s persistent and only unyielding when it comes to punishment.” I laughed. “That’s all I got.”
“Your mother sounds like a rare treat.”
“My whole family is.”
We tasted our coffee, and hell yeah if it didn’t beat out Starbucks and Waffle House, hands down.
“How is school going?” he asked. “Wait, are you really a freshman? I’m not sure how much of …”
How much of Ashley was real? “Yeah, I’m really a freshman, but are we really here to chitchat or totalk?”
Luke scrunched his brows and said, “Both?”
I rubbed my palms on my jeans again. “Yeah, yeah, we can do both, but I’ve got to say I’m sorry. I can’t go another second without saying it again.”
“Sorry for what?”
“For lying. For not telling you right away that I was a guy.”
“You’ve already apologized, Asher. Relax.”
“Relax?” My voice rose more than I expected, and I ducked between my shoulders, glancing around. Even with the patio heaters running, only one other table was occupied on this chilly morning. The two women, maybe a mom and daughter, were laughing together and not paying us any mind. The other patrons filled the indoor seating area.
