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Tightening his grip on my hand, he looks amused. “Jealous?”
“What? Me? No, absolutely not. I don’t get jealous.”
He studies me, clearly not believing my lies, and my body heats under the weight of his gaze. Good Lord, this man is potent.
“Good, because you have nothing to be jealous of. Like I said before, Liza and I are just friends. Our parents go way back.”
“So you two have never—” I let my words hang in the air, hoping he won’t make me say them.
“Never what, Shae? If you’ve got something to ask, ask it.”
“I’m not blind. I saw the way she looked at you. There’s more to your friendship than you’re letting on. Either that or she has a major crush and you’re completely oblivious to it.”
“Are you sure you want to have this conversation?”
“Sure,” I say, trying to keep my voice even. “Why not? It’s not like we’re in a relationship.”
“Right.” Rex takes a drink of his water and runs a hand through his hair, mussing it up. “Yes, we’ve had sex. But she wanted more, and I let her know up front it wasn’t a possibility.”
“She fell for you.” The same thing JJ swears is going to happen to me.
This is a stark reminder of why I can’t let myself fall for Rex. He’s used to flings. He can walk away without feelings, and I need to keep that in the forefront of my mind.
“We’ll never be more than friends,” he says.
I wonder if he feels that way about all women, or just Liza. If the right woman came along, would he want more?
No. No.
I’m not going there. Rex is an amazing distraction, but that’s all I can allow. I’ve got too much on my plate, too much at stake, and my heart isn’t whole. No one wants a broken heart.
Whatever this is between us, it’s purely physical.
“Good. Then I don’t feel so bad doing this.” Leaning forward, I capture his lips, deepening the kiss enough to be considered PDA but stopping before it gets out of hand.
Rex runs the pad of his finger over my bottom lip. “You can do that anytime you want.
”
The waitress appears with our food, and my stomach growls.
Rex and I both laugh. “Hungry?” he asks.
“You have no idea.” I unroll my silverware and twirl my fork in the pasta, bringing it to my mouth. “Oh my God,” I mumble, completely unladylike. “This is amazing. Here, try it.” I scoop up another bite and lift it to Rex.
His lips take the fork, and he moans as the saucy pasta hits his mouth. Nodding, he swallows and says, “The pasta three-way is one of my favorites.”
“I can see why.” I take another bite.
The next hour passes as we relax into easy conversation. Rex feeds me bites of his steak and vegetables while I feed him bites of my pasta, and we laugh and talk. I tell him how I lost my job back home and ended up back here in Chicago with Erin and JJ. He tells me about this restaurant and how it’s been passed from his grandfather to his father and will someday drop into the hands of him and his brother, Dante.
I’m able to direct most of the conversation away from my life, which is imperative. I don’t know Rex well enough to tell him about my childhood and growing up in Chicago. He’s so easy to talk to, and we’re getting along great, so I could see myself confiding in him about my past, which is something I cannot do. If my identity is discovered by the wrong person, the consequences could be deadly.
Rex seems fine talking about his family rather than mine, although I noticed right away that he doesn’t dive into too many details about his father—only surface stuff, which I can respect. But he does enjoy talking about his mother and brother.
“Can I remove these plates for you?” Stella asks.
“Please.” I place my napkin on the plate before she takes it. “I’m stuffed.”
