“Fleur,” Creed said with a nod.
“You still have the magic it would seem,” she said and shook her head as she grinned. “But then you two were bound to be together. Always were.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that and the assumption we were together. We were together, but I was also not broken up with my boyfriend. Creed and I hadn’t sat down and discussed what it was we were doing either. Other than the obvious, which was having amazing sex and sleeping in the same bed.
“Jessie,” Fleur called out to a male server at the table nearest to ours. “Get these two whatever they want. They’re my friends,” she added with emphasis. Then she turned back to us. “I’ll be back to chat soon. Right now, we have a new line cook in the kitchen and Josh is about to kill him if he messes up again. I need to go run interference.”
Creed waited for me to move into the booth then slid in beside me. We were facing the fire and the other tables were to our back, which gave a small amount of privacy. His hand rested on my thigh and I tried very hard not to think sexual thoughts. Jesse was about our age and he had impressive curly hair for a guy. He took our orders and left.
“Did you talk to Griff today?” he asked me for the first time since he’d come home from work. I had expected this question sooner.
I shook my head no. “I tried.”
He squeezed my thigh. “He’ll call.”
Yeah but when? Next week?
“Damn if you two don’t look cozy.” We both looked up to see Derek Young standing beside our table with a smirk on his face.
“Evening, Derek,” Creed said grinning at his friend.
Derek slid into the booth across from us and leaned forward on his elbows. “It took less than a week?” he asked still grinning.
Creed’s hand squeezed my thigh again. “No, it took longer than a week. I’ve been working on getting her attention for a while.”
I looked up at Creed frowning because that was not true. He winked at me then pressed a kiss to my forehead.
“Okay I came to visit but try not to make out with her while I’m sitting here,” Derek said too loudly.
I blushed and ducked my head.
“Sorry, Sailor. I’m just giving Creed a hard time. It’s been awhile since I had something like this to tease him about. Typically, he comes around with females that we all know we won’t see again and we are thankful for that.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing and Creed chuckled.
“Your house looks good,” Derek told him. “Sure is nice driving by and seeing those two houses lit up again. Having them empty was depressing and having someone that wasn’t a Sullivan in your house was just wrong.”
“It’s good to be back home,” Creed told him. “I didn’t know how much I missed it until I came back.”
“What about you? How are you handling the cold?” Derek asked me.
I lifted my shoulders with a shrug. “Okay, I guess. It’s an adjustment but I’m learning to appreciate a good fire and an electric blanket.”
Derek laughed and started to say something when our drinks arrived.
“I’m here with a date and need to get back over there to her. She’s proving to be the high maintenance variety and I’m not sure there will be another date,” he told us in a whisper as he stood back up. “I’ll see you both around.”
I watched him go back to the table across the room and got a look at the blonde he was with. Her hair was in a perfect smooth low ponytail and she was wearing a red sweater. Other than that, it was all I could see.
“He always finds something wrong with the women he dates. He’s been doing it since he got his heart broken by Britney.”
The mention of his heart being broken reminded me of Griff and I felt sick to my stomach. It was easy to pretend that Griff wasn’t an issue when I was with Creed. Being with him made everything else seem unimportant. The happiness that came with having Creed in my life was so overpowering it masked the ugly that I had to face.
Like the fact I was currently on a date with a man I was in love with, while my boyfriend sat in an apartment fifty-five miles from here studying. I was a monster. A very selfish monster.
“Where did your head just go?” Creed whispered, slipping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. He was too good at reading my expressions. I had never had someone read me so clearly and it was unnerving at times.
I didn’t have a chance to answer when a woman in her mid-thirties appeared at our table. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but are you Sailor Copeland? We’re having an argument over at our table and I’m here visiting friends, but I live in Georgia and I’ve seen you on all the magazines. I know it’s you. They think I’m crazy.” She was standing there with her hand on her hip, looking convinced of who I was and ready to go gloat to her friends.