Jonah leaned to the side in the doorway, bottle in hand and shirt not buttoned up all the way and smiled at me. “This lighting makes you look gorgeous, by the way.”
I blushed. “I look good in all lightings.”
“That is probably true.”
He came and sat next to me, handing the bottle off. I took a big swig and winced as it went down. “Man, that stuff is strong.”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “It’s actually from Ireland.”
“You’ve been to Ireland?”
He shook his head. “A client bought it for us. Have you?”
“A couple times,” I said. “It’s stunning. I would love to go back.”
He sipped and asked me to tell him more about my time in the UK, so I did. Soon, we were getting a little tipsy, and my stories started to make a little less sense.
“No,” I said. “That’s not right. This wasbeforeI went to Spain for a month. Or maybe it was after I got back. I don’t remember. All I know is that I was either trying to learn Spanish for my trip, or I had picked up a little Spanish after my trip, and so I go to this pub and the bartender is from Spain. He’ssohot, likeinsanelyhot, and I decide I’m going to impress him with my Spanish. So, I saddle up to the bar and I try to ask him when he gets off work.”
“And what happened?”
“I got the verbs trabajar mixed up with buscar, as well as the verb conjugations, so I ended up telling him that I was searching for a job. He handed me an apron and told me I could start that night, which is how I became a bartender for exactly one evening. I made great money in tips, by the way.”
“Did you end up going home with the guy?”
I smiled up at him. “Why? Are you jealous?”
“No,” he said. “I’m not, because being jealous would mean I have feelings for you, and that would break rule number one of our little arrangement, right?”
“That’s right,” I agreed. “Good job remembering.”
I took another sip. We were nearing the bottom.
“So,” I said, hearing the slur in my voice but having no control over it. “Did you really mean that thing you said the other day, about thinking people only get one soulmate in their lifetime?”
He raised his eyebrows. “I forgot I said that.” He tapped his chin in thought. “Huh. Well, you caught me at a strange time. I have been on so many bad first dates lately, and I didn’t want to think about where my love life was going.”
“So, you don’t believe what you said?”
“I’m not really sure,” he said. “But I would like to think I could have a second shot at love, you know? The real thing, too. I don’t want to settle. I want to really feel it, like I did for Erin.”
“I think you probably will. Some day.”
He looked at me and I felt his eyes on me, but I kept mine trained on my lap. I wasn’t sure why I had brought this up and now I was starting to feel really stupid about the whole thing.
“I hope so,” he said softly. “I really hope so.”
When I finally looked up at him, I knew he was going to kiss me, and I let him.
We laid down on the floor and for the second time that night, my clothes started to come off, one item at a time.
Chapter Sixteen
Jonah
Three Weeks Later
Iwoke up on Thanksgiving morning to the smell of coffee.