He smirks. “Maybe I like the attention.”
“It’s negative attention,” I say.
His smirk gets a little bit sexier. “Any attention is good attention from you.”
I roll my eyes and start walking again, if only to catch my breath because holy crap that was hot.
He puts the car in reverse and backs up a bit. “Garlic bread… pasta…hanging out with me…”
“Two of those things sound good,” I muse.
He grins. “They are. And the pasta is pretty good too.”
He is an Olympic level flirt. And I’m totally falling victim to it. I stop walking.
“I probably smell bad. I’ve been working out.”
He shrugs. “We’ll sit outside.”
I take a deep breath. I am all out of reasons to say no. And my stomach is growling.
I climb into his car.
It’s a short drive to his family’s restaurant. I’ve been here a few times, but not lately because we haven’t had the money. It’s an upscale Italian place for sure.
Mark parks in the back of the restaurant and we go inside through the employee entrance. I’m expecting to see a kitchen, but it’s actually a hallway with a few offices back here. Since it’s the lunch rush, the place is packed and servers bustle around. We go to the takeout window and Mark tells me to order anything I want. I get pasta alfredo and he orders the chicken parmesan with extra garlic bread.
“So what have you been up to this weekend?” Mark asks as we find a table in the far back corner of the patio seating area.
I shrug. “I took today off.”
“Oh? Where do you work?”
I snort out a laugh. “I don’t work. I wish I could, but I don’t have a car.”
“So what did you take the day off from?” he asks, reaching for one of the breadsticks in the middle of the table.
I unfold the cloth napkin in front of me and put it in my lap. “I don’t know. Everything. Volunteering. Working hard to suck up to everyone. That kinda thing.”
“Ah,” he says with a nod. “All this kudo-getting is exhausting for sure.”
“Yep,” I say, exhaling. “And it doesn’t look like I’ll win anyway, so I wish I could just stop trying.”
He rests his chin in his palm and watches me. A few seconds pass and I’m feeling a teensy bit awkward. I don’t even look cute right now. I have no makeup on and a frizzy ponytail. I have to say something or this silence might stretch on forever.
“So what did you do today?” I ask, reaching for a breadstick. I was absolutely starving a few minutes ago, but now that we have food in front of us, my stomach just feels nervous.
“I did…” He glances at his phone, which lies face down on the table. “Things.”
I roll my eyes. “Of course you did. Things to earn kudos, no doubt.”
He grins. “Something like that.”
A waiter brings out our entrees and suddenly my appetite is back. This alfredo pasta smells so good, there’s no way Mark’s gorgeous smile could make me too nervous to eat it. There isn’t much to talk about while we eat, but that’s okay. This food is so good I don’t care about awkward silence.
My phone makes a weird sound. It’s a notification chime unlike any one it’s ever made before. Frowning, I set down my fork and reach into the side pocket of my leggings. “Sorry,” I say. “I know it’s rude to be on your phone while you’re eating but I’ve never heard that sound before.”
“You’re not offending me,” he says. “I’d probably enjoy your company even if you were on your phone the whole time.”
