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I laugh a bit as I pull a chair up, so I can sit across from her and share the café table. “Probably a good idea.” I reach over to grab one of the solar lanterns to place at our feet.
“I’m just going to go for it.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” I say, before filling my mouth with wine of my own.
“You help run one of the best marketing firms in the city, if not the nation, you can cook, you live in this beautiful apartment, you’re extremely good-looking, and you can have sex like that. I have to wonder when the girlfriend or wife is coming home, because there’s literally no way you’re single.”
She begins winding the pasta on to her fork like nothing just happened. She’s expecting me to be with someone, yet she’s here anyway. I clear my throat and take a bite of my food before I can even find an answer. “I’m divorced.”
“Well, she’s an idiot.”
I take a deep breath. “You asked me before what I was thinking. There’s a lot going on, actually. How much do you want to know? Technically thisisour first date.”
“I don’t scare easily, so how about if it gets to be too much, I just tell you to stop and you do the same.”
“Fair enough. Well, I was married for about seven years. We were college sweethearts I guess you could say. I came home here one night and found her in our bed with her boss.” I mindlessly drag my thumb over where my wedding ring used to be before finding the band of my family ring next to it.
“Shit. Did you kill them? I think I might have.”
“It wouldn’t have solved anything. I see her now about once a year or so when our paths cross at charity events. Last I saw her, they were still going at it.”
“Wow. I’m sorry.”
“Nice party killer, isn’t it?”
“It’s your story. It explains a lot, actually. So that takes care of the wife scenario. What about the girlfriend?”
“You’re not only a viper with your sensuality, you’re a viper with your questions.”
“Elijah, you don’t have to answer. Just say too far.”
I think for a moment. We’ve already crossed off the main reason not to. “You’re the first woman I’ve been with since I met her. That was 2006.”
“Wow. Okay.” I wonder if, in that instant, I’ve lost her. Reality can be a hard pill to swallow. I know whereof I speak. She takes a beat before she continues with something unexpected. “Come sit next to me?”
I set the bowl down at my feet, padding around the table to sit at her side. “So, you were about my age when you met her?”
I chuckle. “Yeah. I guess so. I hadn’t considered it like that.”
“So, in a way, this is a do-over. You can go back and do all the things you didn’t, or fuck, just have fun again. I mean, I noticed in our meeting in the office you still have a tan line where your ring would be. That means you wore it until pretty recently, right?”
“Studying me that hard?”
“When it’s something or someone I want, yes. I didn’t fuck you in the club because it’s something I’ve done before. I’m not going to lie and say I’m not sexual, because I am, and I’m proud of it. But there’s something about you, Eli.
“You put your hand on my stomach and it was… intense. The way I spun in your hands was fire. I left that night because I thought it was only one night. I was okay with that. Things happen for a reason. I know you don’t regret it.”
I drag the back of my fingers down her cheek. “The only thing I regret is you leaving.”
“My age doesn’t bother you?”
Cocking my head to the right, I give her a small smile. “Does my age, divorce, and clear baggage bother you?”
“Everyone has baggage, Eli. It’s all about how we deal with it. I’ve already said you’re beautiful, you feed me, and you fuck like a god. I’m good.”
I laugh louder than I have in a very long time. “You’re so blunt. I love it. Not to mention, you’re good for my ego. By the way, my buddy, Wes, already loves you.”
“Let me guess. If you’re Goose, he’s Mav, right?”
