AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nate?”
“Hmm,” he mumbles between bites.
“Are you forgetting something?”
He raises his head to stare at me, my heart twisting in my chest with how childlike and innocent he looks.
“Am I?”
“Yes.” I laugh. “Your date. Remember? She should be more important than your food. You’ll give the poor girl a complex otherwise.”
“Sorry.” He frowns, putting his wings down.
“It’s okay.” I pat his thigh.
His rock-hard muscled thigh.
Thighs that have been molded to withstand hours of skating on the ice.
Thighs that can go all night without building a sweat.
It’s official.
I’ve lost my mind.
Suddenly, I’ve become a perv, fantasizing about my client’s legs and how they feel like tree trunks. A mixture of shame and guilt washes over me as I quickly pull my hand away, praying Nate can’t see the turmoil bubbling inside me.
“Are we supposed to talk now or something?” he asks, with a puzzled expression, making me feel even more embarrassed with how unprofessional I’m acting.
“Yes, of course,” I reply, after schooling my features. “Let’s start with something easy. Ask me about my day?”
“Okay,” he grumbles, shifting in his seat. “How was your day, Lottie?”
“It was good. I had back-to-back client interviews, which I always enjoy.”
“Hmm.” He nods, looking down at his wings bashfully.
“This is where you take what I just said and ask why I enjoy something,” I explain, having to increase the volume of my voice since the group in the cage beside us is getting a little bit rowdy.
“Crap. Okay. Why do you enjoy interviewing clients?”
“Glad you asked. I enjoy getting to meet new people. And most importantly, I like helping them.”
I wait for him to continue with the conversation, but Nate looks like he would rather crawl into a hole and hide than talk to me. It also doesn’t help matters that our next-door neighbors are getting louder by the second, cursing and calling each other names in their drunken stupor.
“What a fucking loser!”
“Not looking like a big man now, are you?”
“I could take him.”
“I’d pay money to see that.”
Their belligerent trash talk is killing the vibe I was trying to create. I thought that bringing Nate to a place like this, where he could relax by blowing off some steam, was a sure way to get himto lower his guard and just be himself around me. I wanted to prove that dating didn’t have to be so painful for him.
But with each second that passes by, the loudmouth group behind us keeps laughing away while shouting obscenities. I realize this was the last place I should have brought him. I make a mental note not to bring Nate to such a testosterone-infused place next time we go out. He gets enough of this alpha-male bullshit on the ice and in the locker room.
“Nate, are you still with me?” I ask when he’s gone quiet.
