- Sebastian -
o, I’m fine,” she said. “The champagne totally went to my head.”
I knew it was true from the flush of her cheeks. “Would you mind bringing a Hendricks with elderflower tonic please?” I said to the waiter. “Just in case she gets a scratch in her throat or something.”
“Sebastian,” she said when the server walked away.
I raised a palm. “You needn’t object. I only got it in case you change your mind about letting me drink alone.”
“I haven’t been this tipsy since…” She squinted at the sky. “That time we got kicked out of the roller rink.”
I smiled at the memory, remembering how we drank warm cans of beer behind the building and then fumbled all over the place once we hit the floor. She fell into my arms that night more times than I could count. “I remember. We got Petey’s on the way home, and you ate all your fries and mine.”
“You should’ve eaten yours faster. I was on a mission.”
I grabbed another slice of toasted bruschetta from the plate between us. “I got in big trouble that night.”
“Did you?”
I nodded. “My dad smelled beer on me before I was halfway up the driveway.”
“What did he say?”
“He said I smelled like a brewery and that it was reckless to get so wasted when I was responsible for your safety.”
“You kept me plenty safe.”
“I know. That’s why I set him straight and told him the only thing that hadn’t been safe that night was the warm beer he left in the garage.”
“Uh-oh.”
“It was straight to my room after that.”
“I don’t think my dad ever even knew we drank,” she said. “His own breath was always too boozy to notice.”
“Every cloud, eh?”
She cut her bruschetta in half with a fork and knife, causing her delicate gold bangles to slide down her arm. “So tell me everything,” she said. “What have I missed since we last saw each other?”
“Well, I ended up taking that scholarship for Cornell’s accounting program.”
“Did you like it there?”
“I liked taking classes that I wanted to take, and I liked meeting people with different backgrounds.” I watched a piece of bruschetta disappear behind her red lips and completely lost my train of thought.
“Did you join a frat or anything?”
I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Just curious,” she said with a shrug. “Sometimes I wonder if I’ve missed out on some of the social aspects of getting a degree.”
“You haven’t missed anything in my opinion. If you’ve ever been to a messy party, you got the idea. And no, I didn’t join a frat.”
“Did you think about it?”
“I did, yeah, but a lot of the students were from much wealthier backgrounds than me, and I wasn’t interested in being the token Latino, if that makes sense.”
“I suppose.”
“Plus, I was really focused on learning about the stock market, which took up a lot of my free time and determined the majority of my peer group.”
“I see.”
“Which is why I dress like a rich kid from upstate now.”
A smile pricked her cheeks. “It suits you.”
“Thanks,” I said. “It took some getting used to, but I like to look nice.”
“I get it.”
“Obviously.”
She blushed.
“Though I can’t imagine the other call center workers own dresses with slits that high.”
Her eyes flashed. “Were you checking out my slit?”
“More like plotting how to get inside it.”
She laughed.
My cheeks burned. “That was worse than the taco slip.”
“I forgive you.”
“Maybe for the things I’ve said out loud. Not sure you’d forgive me for the comments I’ve kept to myself.”
Her head fell to the side. “Try me?”
“Not a chance,” I said. “I might sometimes say the wrong thing when I’m distracted by a beautiful woman, but I still endeavor to be a gentleman.”
“In public.”
“Oh yeah. In private all bets are off. You know that.”
She kept her eyes on me as she swallowed.
The server arrived a moment later and replaced the empty plate between us with the last of our three appetizers. “Octopus calamari with sun-dried tomato sauce and two gin and tonics,” he said, narrating his actions as he moved things to and from his tray. “Enjoy.”
“Have you had octopus before?” I asked, extending my palm to encourage her to serve herself first.
“Once,” she said.
“With who?”
She cast her eyes down at the table.
“Sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “Just a friend.”
My chest loosened. I knew it was ridiculous to be jealous of everyone she’d spent time with in the last five years, but it was hard not to be.
“There have only been friends, actually.”
I clenched my jaw.
“Since you.”
I searched her eyes for a moment before she flicked them down to the dip, spooning some onto her new plate.
“In case you were wondering.”
“It’s none of my business,” I said. “I shouldn’t have had that reaction.”
“It’s okay.”
I used the small silver tongs to put some calamari on my plate.
“I mean, there’s a reason I haven’t asked about your love life,” she said. “Just the thought of other girls swiping your picture on Tinder fills me with irrational envy.”
“I never tried Tinder.”
“Really? I thought I was the only person in the country under twenty-five who hadn’t.”
I smoothed my napkin across my lap. “Tinder is for people who don’t know what they want.”
“I know some people who would patently disagree with that comment, but I’m willing to hear you out.”
“I suppose I just feel like…once you’ve found the best thing on the menu, what’s the point of even looking at it again?”
“You think you’ve had the best thing on the menu?”
I fixed my eyes on hers. “I know I have.”
She bit the inside of her lip.
“So I’m not bothered about the latest daily specials, if that makes sense.”
“What are you bothered by?”
“Not knowing if the dish I want is still available?”
She glanced down and dragged a crispy ring through her sauce. “You’re not worried about having the dish you once loved and finding out that it’s not as good as you remember?” She raised her gaze and popped her freshly prepared bite in her mouth.
“No,” I said. “I’m not at all worried about that.”
She kept her eyes on me as she chewed, but I couldn’t read her mind. Surely she wasn’t insinuating that my skills in the bedroom had deteriorated over time. That would be ridiculous. I was much better informed about the female body now than I had been when she first let me touch her most secret parts.
Besides, by the way she carried herself, she knew her body better than ever, too.
I dropped my eyes to my plate and dipped a ring in my red sauce, smiling when I realized she was only teasing me, daring me, begging me to make a move.
Which I would.
Because one kiss would be enough.
Or it wouldn’t be.
And then I’d know everything I needed to know.