“Do you want to?” I pick up my drink.
“What? Get married and have kids?” She fiddles with her straw.
“Yeah.”
“Eventually.” She looks across the restaurant then she quickly looks down and mumbles something under her breath before grabbing her bag from the seat next to her and starts digging in it. Looking to where she had been, I notice a guy sitting at a table with a woman, and chuckle.
“Another boyfriend?”
“What?” She keeps her head down as she pretends to look in her purse.
“How long did you date him for?”
“A while.” She groans glancing up at me. “You know until you started coming around, I never ran into any of my ex-boyfriends as often as I do now. I swear you must be putting some kind of signal in the sky showing them my location.”
“He’s here with someone and not even paying attention to you.” I say then look up when a shadow falls over the table and barely keep from laughing because it’s the guy who had been sitting across the room most likely on a date.
“I thought it was you,” he says to Willow in greeting.
She kicks me under the table when I chuckle.
“Hey Abe, how have you been?”
“Good, I’ve been meaning to call you and check in, but life’s been busy.” He glances at me.
“Sorry, I’m Abe, Willow and I are old friends.”
“She has a lot of those.” I grunt when she kicks me again harder this time.
“Abe this is my—”
“Boyfriend.” I cut her off and hold out my hand, the claim startling her but feeling right when it rolls out of my mouth.
“Cool,” he says, then looks over his shoulder when his name is called, and I glance over finding the woman he was sitting with motioning that their food arrived. “I gotta go.” He focuses back on Willow. “Call me and we’ll catch up.”
“Sounds good.” She smiles then avoids looking at me when he’s walked away.
“Did you befriend every guy you’ve dated or just most of them?”
“They’re nice guys,” she huffs, placing her bag back on the chair next to her.
“They all seem great.” I agree and she glares at me. “That said, you’re not calling him.”
“Only because I wasn’t going to anyway.” She rolls her eyes and I get up from my chair and walk around the table to where she is, and her eyes widen as I bend down and get in her space.
“For however long this lasts, you’re mine.” I slide my fingers into the hair at the back of her scalp, grip and tip her head back. “And I’m not sharing you with anyone.” I kiss her and she doesn’t hesitate to open up for me.
Fuck, I’ve never been big on kissing, never done it just because I wanted to, it was always a means to an end, but I could take her mouth over and over and never get tired of it. When I pull back, her lashes flutter open and I rub my thumb across her bottom lip.
“Umm, I’ll be back,” I hear behind me, and I stand and turn to find our waitress holding a tray of food backing away from our table.
“We’re ready.” I take my seat and she awkwardly hands me my plate while she blushes then gives Willow hers.
“Thank you.” Willow tells her taking her napkin and placing it on her lap, then her eyes meet mine when my phone begins to ring. Taking it out of my pocket I check to see who it is then place it face down on the table next to my plate. “You’re not going to answer it?”
“It’s business, I’m out with you.” I watch her face go soft in a way that makes her impossibly more beautiful, then she nods and digs into her meal.
By the time we’ve both finished eating it’s after eight, and I can tell that like last night, the day has taken a toll on her. “Tired?” I ask when she leans into me as we walk to my jeep.
“A little.” She glances up at me. “Last night I slept better than I have in a while, but I still feel like I could sleep for a week straight.”
“You’ve had a lot going on so that’s understandable.” I open the passenger door for her and she climbs in.
Slamming her door I head around the back, pulling out my cell when it beeps. When I see it’s a message from Miles, I open it up and scan the text. After reading it I draw in a tight breath and message him back before I swing open my door.
“I think I might need to unbutton my jeans.” She laughs as I get in behind the steering wheel. “I really should not have ordered that dessert, but I’m such a sucker for carrot cake and that one was delicious.”