“Uh-huh.”
“So…” He shrugged. “What else we calling it?”
I couldn’t help laughing and teasing him. “I thought maybe we was just going to eat.”
“Nurse…”
“It’s Navy.”
“My bad.” He smiled. “Navy… people don’t put on cologne that cost damn near a mortgage payment just to go eat and females definitely don’t spend two hours getting fine as hell just to have casual conversations.”
“I didn’t spend two hours.”
He furrowed his brows. “Hour and fifty-nine minutes?”
I folded my arms, trying my hardest to keep a straight face. “You just making up stuff now.”
“I ain’t making up shit.”
“You don’t even know how long I took.” I looked out the passenger window, shaking my head while trying to calm myself down. “You are so full of yourself.”
“Nah.” He shrugged. “I just call it how I see it.”
For the first time, I wasn’t thinking about Rome anymore. I wasn’t thinking about Ashley, and I wasn’t thinking aboutdivorce papers or hiding money or looking over my shoulder every five minutes despite the circumstances. For the first time in what felt like forever… I was simply enjoying somebody’s company.
Marv reached into the cup holder and picked up a small bottle of water before handing it to me. “Here.”
I took it. “Thank you.”
“See?” he nodded. “Already treating you right.”
I rolled my eyes. “You done? I know you flirt with every nurse that walk through your hospital room.”
He gasped dramatically before placing one hand against his chest. “That’s crazy.”
“It is?”
“Hell yeah, I only flirted with one.”
“Oh really?”
“Yep.”
“And who was that?”
He looked over at me with that same crooked grin. “You.”
I shook my head, trying not to smile, but he caught it anyway. He chuckled as he cut the wheel toward the valet entrance of an upscale waterfront restaurant overlooking Biscayne Bay. When he opened my door, he extended his hand toward me with a grin. “Come on, Nurse Navy.”
I slipped my hand into his, letting him help me out, and the second my heels hit the pavement, he leaned down just enough for only me to hear. “Aye try not to fall in love with me before the appetizers come.”
Marv held my chair while I sat down before walking around to the other side of the table. The hostess had seated us near the back of the restaurant where the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the Bay. It was the kind of place where people came dressed like money, and from the looks of the parking lot, most of them had plenty of it.
“You picked a nice spot,” I admitted as I unfolded my napkin across my lap.
Marv shrugged while reaching for the menu. “Only the best for my favorite nurse.”
I laughed. “Favorite huh?”
