Her head jerks back. “Um, Ari is a blond. A bleached blonde, but a blonde nonetheless. Actually, Luke, most of the women you’ve been with have been blonde.”
“Go figure. What else do you like in a guy?”
“He has to be honest.”
I avert my gaze and look out over the mountain. I hate that I can’t tell her what really went on between Ari and me, and that what I’m really doing here is less about giving her lessons and more about trying to get her to want all of me the way I want her. I just hope to fuck Ari has come to her senses. But what if she hasn’t? What if she still wants to go through with the wedding? I’m not about to, not when I don’t love her. Will she turn spiteful, revengeful, do or say something to impact my career? Worry knots my gut, and I suck in a quick breath.
&nbs
p; “Luke?” she asks.
“Go on,” I say, working to pull myself together. “Tell me more.”
“Okay, well, I like blue eyes.”
“I have blue eyes.”
“Yeah, you have the nicest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Mine are boring brown.”
I scoff. “Far from boring. You have the darkest eyes I’ve ever seen, Katee, and they’re so expressive.”
“Ah, so that’s why you always know what I’m thinking?”
“Clean shaven or beard?”
She toys with the stem of her flute. “I like clean shaven, but I also like that scruff thing you’re sporting,” she says.
“Do you like the burn marks it leaves on your body?”
Her hand quivers and she nearly drops her glass. “Jesus, Luke.”
I laugh. “You didn’t answer the question.”
“Yeah, I like it.”
“I like it too. I also like when you licked your lips today, to let me know you could feel me dripping out of you.”
The server comes back, and Katee has a flush on her cheeks as I give our orders. When the waiter leaves, I guide the conversation back to where we were. “What kind of job would your perfect guy have?”
“You know, I don’t care, as long as he’s happy doing what he does. He doesn’t have to make a lot of money. You know that’s not important to me.”
“I know.”
“So he could be a sports guy, on the road a lot and that wouldn’t bother you.”
“I’m used to that with you. I miss you when you’re gone, though.”
I reach across the table and take her hand in mine. “You know you could always come with me. A guy needs his own personal masseuse when he’s on the road.”
“Yeah, but what about when the kids come?”
“That’s true. You’d be busy taking care of them.”
She rolls her eyes. “What am I even saying.”
“You’re saying that there could be a guy out there for you.”
The server comes back with a bowl of warm bread to get us started. Katee reaches for a slice, butters it and slides it into her mouth.