I giggled. “What’s the name of it, so I can order it too then.”
He gave me an evil looking grin, and said, “It’s called spicy Teorey deluxe.”
I laughed loudly, then covered my mouth with my hand. He was such a fool. I knew he was talking about me, but I expected him to just say Iesha, not come up with something using my last name. “I mean, it sounds exotic.”
“Hell yeah. Like a rare delicacy,” he said, then licked his thick lips.
He had me squirming in my seat. I should have stuck to my guns about not going to lunch with him. If he kept this up, he was going to finesse me right out of my panties. We didn’t need to go there just yet. I didn’t trust this version of him to stick around. I knew it would only be a matter of time before his ugly side emerged.
I didn’t mind his ugly side as long as it wasn’t directed at me or someone I loved.
“Your cousin still in town?”
“No. He left this morning. My sister took him to the airport since I had to go to the meeting.”
He nodded and remained quiet for a minute. “Can I come over?”
“No. I have a lot of work to do.”
He nodded again. It was like he was on the fast track to be a couple again. He didn’t realize that I gave him chance after chance that he had already fucked up. I didn’t trust him to be who I needed. It felt like he was trying to force us to be together. I looked at him, and he seemed slightly nervous.
“You okay?” I asked.
He looked at me. “Yeah. I’m cool.” His gaze went back to his phone. “My cousin texting me something about business.”
I frowned slightly. I felt like he was lying. Maui had said that something was going on with him. I wondered if they ever figured out what it was. Finally, he set his phone on the table, and I could see Ace’s name on the lock screen.
“You sure everything cool? Your face is red.”
“Yeah. I know you remember that ICE was after Uncle Marcus and all that bullshit with that. Ace is his son. The government is still after him.”
“So they reneged on the deal to let him go?”
“Yeah. But I mean, I’m not surprised.”
“Hmph. I guess I’m not either.”
He reached across the table and grabbed my hand and just stared at me. I was heating up something serious. I knew he could feel it. “Can you say it?”
I frowned slightly. “Say what?”
“I love you. Can you say it? You said it in text. I just wanna hear you say it.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Despite how I felt about our defunct relationship, I couldn’t leave him hanging, since he’d asked me to say it. “I love you, Seven.”
My face was hot as hell, and the tears were on the brink of falling down my cheeks. He released my hand and came and sat next to me, pulling me to him. He kissed my forehead. When I looked up at him, I couldn’t stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. He gently swiped them, then softly kissed my lips. “I love you too, baby.”
He pulled away and grabbed my hand, intertwining his long fingers with mine. Lowering his head, he said, “I didn’t think you were going to say it. Thank you. I needed to hear it.”
“Why?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I just . . . I want you to be mine again so bad. I know that just because you said it doesn’t mean we’ll get back together, but it gives me hope.”
“I see you, love birds.”
I looked up to see the waitress was back with our drinks and croissants. After setting them on the table, she said “Your appetizer should be out in a minute. Are you guys ready to order?”
“Give us just a few,” Seven said.
