The cheesiness of the pickup line pulled me out of my shock. “Seriously?” I said, my tone dubious.
His eyes crinkled at the corners. I hated how endearing it was. “It’s an honest question.”
“Yes, I do. YouknowI do.” I pulled my hand away and glanced at the counter. The barista hadn’t called my order yet. “What are you doing, Dante? And I don’t mean the coffee.”
His good humor slipped. “You said our relationship had a rocky start, and you were right,” he said quietly. “So here I am, trying for a fresh start. No business, no bullshit. Just us, meeting normally like any two people would.”
The admission reached into my chest and squeezed.
If only.
The tense beat passed, and Dante’s smile returned, slow and devastating. I regretted all the times I told him to scowl less. A scowling Dante was much easier to resist than a smiling one.
“I don’t want to come off as too forward, since we just met,” he said. “But would you like to go out sometime?”
I squashed a reluctant bloom of amusement at the absurd situation and shook my head. “Sorry. I’m not interested in dating right now.”
“So it won’t be a date,” he said without missing a beat. “It’ll be dinner between two people getting to know each other better.”
My gaze narrowed. He stared back at me, his expression innocent but his eyes alive with mischief.
The barista finally called my name.
I broke eye contact and picked up my coffee. “It was nice to meet you,Dante,” I said pointedly. “But I have to get back to work.”
He followed me to the door and held it open. “If not a date, then your number. I promise I won’t prank call you or send you inappropriate photos.” A wicked slant of his lips. “Unless you want them, of course.”
I suppressed another smile and arched a skeptical brow instead. “Are you always this persistent with women you meet in a coffee shop?”
“Only those I can’t stop thinking about,” he said, his eyes steady on mine.
The air turned humid. A breeze swept past, doing nothing to alleviate the sudden heaviness of my dress or the warmth unspooling in my stomach.
We were tangled in such a complicated web, but for a moment, I let myself get swept away by the fantasy of us as a normal couple.
Normal first meet, normal dates, normal relationship. Just a woman wanting a man who wanted her back.
“If I give you my number, will you stop following me?”
A faint curve of his mouth. “We were both leaving, so I don’t know if that counts asfollowing, but yes.”
I gave him my number. He already had it, of course, but he typed it into his phone like he didn’t.
“Dante.” I stopped him when he was halfway down the sidewalk.
He looked back at me.
“How did you know I would be here at this time?”
“I didn’t. But I know it’s your favorite coffee shop, and you always come here around lunchtime.” His parting words drifted toward me on the breeze.
“It was nice meeting you, Vivian.”
DANTE
One ring. Two. Three.
I paced my room, my stomach twisted with nerves as I waited for her to answer.