He dipped his head in a single nod. “Bon apetit.”
Holding his gaze, she took her first bite.
Oh. My. God!
“Dio,” she groaned, hand covering her full mouth. “This isamazing.”
It was. She’d never eaten anything so good. Ever.
He shrugged, turning his wineglass again. “It’s all right.”
Swallowing, she shot her eyebrows up.
He laughed. “Okay, it’s bloody delicious.”
“That’s an understatement.” She ate more. Closed her eyes. Groaned. Succumbed to the ambrosial moment. “So good.”
“I should let you know, watching you enjoy my food is making me horny.”
Laughing, she opened her eyes and licked her lips. “Is this foreplay? Is that what this is?”
His nostrils flared. “Something like that.”
The intensity in his eyes, the huskiness in his voice sent a tight, warm pulse through her core.
Something like that indeed.
He cleared his throat, and picked up his own knife and fork. “So, graphic design. How did that come about?”
A little butterfly tested her wings in her stomach. She loved talking about graphic design. How she became a graphic designer however… “It started in high school. I studied art but I wasn’t really into the traditional stuff.”
Angus raised a curious eyebrow, drawing a laugh from her. “Paint and pencils and charcoal. That kind of art. Mom and Dad bought me a Wacom when I was sixteen—they’re both academics, so they’ve always encouraged anything Bria, Zeta and I were interested in.”
“Wacom?”
“A drawing tablet that uses a stylus.”
“They existed before iPads?”
She laughed again. “They existed before iPads. The second I got it I was lost. It was amazing. The artworks I created with that tablet…” She smiled. “Teenage me was very impressed with myself back then.”
Angus caught her gaze, smiling. “Adult Angus is very impressed with you now.”
The butterfly in her stomach fluttered again, though this time with happiness, and she lowered her gaze to her plate, piercing more food with her fork. “I discovered with my Wacom that I wasn’t into drawing people or landscapes,” she continued, letting the memories of school flood her mind. “I liked design. I was good at design. Iamgood at design. Very good.”
Being so open about her talent wasn’t normal, but with Angus she felt okay doing so. It was nice.
“I got accepted into The School of Art and Design at SDSU after high school, and won a partial scholarship, in part due to a fictitious print campaign I created selling Italy as the perfect tourist destination…using its least attractive elements.”
“That’s one way of doing it.” Angus laughed, sitting back in his chair. “Did you startDe Lucreative Designsstraight after uni, or did you work for someone else for a while?”
He’d remembered the name of her design studio. Her heart clenched. She’d mentioned it only once back in his restaurant, and yet, he’d remembered. It was wonderful.
If only the answer to his question was wonderful as well.
An ache settled in her chest. A familiar one. The one that had made itself at home from the second she’d discovered what Scott had done.
“Yes. And no.” She let her lips curl in a small smile. This was going to hurt. It always did when she thought about it, buttalkingabout it?