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He laughed. “Good. Then maybe I can talk you into another date if I promise you another ride.”
“I thought I was bribing you for another date with the chocotorta,” she corrected as she nodded to the older man who was behind the large desk in front of the elevators.
“I think this could be the start of something beautiful,” he said as he pressed the up button. “We continue to tempt one another with small treats to continue to see one another for an entire year, and then we realize that the ultimate enticement is just seeing one another.”
As he expected, Lainey blushed, but she didn’t just nod. Nope, she gave as good as she got.
“Fine, but you can only use your muscle car twice as an enticement. After that, you’ll have to come up with something else. After all, I’m going to have to up my game after the cookies and cake.”
“I’m not sure you can. But I’m going to love to see you try.” He ushered her into the empty elevator and then held out the hand that wasn’t holding her dessert box. She immediately took it and they held hands all the way up the elevator, down the hall, and to her door.
“Why don’t you have an alarm system?” he asked as he came in and helped her out of her coat.
“Why would I? There hasn’t been any kind of break-in here in this building in years. The only thing we’ve had is the occasional domestic dispute.”
Mateo put her lemon tart down on the kitchen island while Lainey got out plates, forks, and glasses of milk. She opened up her tart and the cookies container.
“I meant to ask you. Why do you take your glasses off when we eat?”
“I’m near-sighted. When I want to see you or my food clearly, I have to take off my glasses, but if we’re walking through the restaurant, I need to put them back on.”
He nodded.
“Why? Do they bother you?” she asked.
“I think you’re just as beautiful when you’re wearing them, or when you’re not.”
“You sure are full of compliments.” She looked down at her tart.
“Lainey. I don’t say things I don’t mean. If I didn’t find you beautiful, then I wouldn’t say it.”
She frowned, then bit her lip. “Okay. Thank you.”
She passed over a plate of cookies and the glass of milk, then came over to sit beside him. “Would you prefer to eat at the dining room table?”
He’d noted that she had paperwork and her computer set up on one end of the table, so he figured she normally ate here at the island. “I like it here.”
She blew her bangs out of her face, then smiled. “Good. So do I.”
Then she bit into a piece of her tart and hummed. “Dang, this is good.”
Would she hum with pleasure when he kissed her?
He stopped his wayward thoughts and tried to think of something else. “Dang?”
She grinned. “I have nieces and nephews. I try to keep my language to a ‘G’ rating. If I don’t do it all the time, then it will spill over when I’m with them.”
“Makes sense.”
“What about you? I haven’t heard you swear. Are you around kids much?”
Mateo thought back to the birthday horror show. “Sometimes,” he mumbled. He hated thinking about that day. Those bastards had targeted kids. Amber and Lachlan could have died that day.
He remembered the first time that Nolan had introduced him to Iris, who had just turned two years old. She was all fussy and determined to get put down so she could crawl.
Then there was Laura, who had been huddled next to the toilet bowl, seconds away from being killed.
All of these moments flashed before his eyes as he stared at Lainey.
