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Probably taking Ruth back to his apartment immediately would be a little too obvious. He didn’t want her to think he was entirely devoid of romance. Besides, the things he wanted to do with her required stamina. Skipping dinner wouldn’t be a good idea.
“How about Chinese?” he asked as they rounded the corner. “Jade Garden’s just up the street.”
“Okay with me, but they need reservations sometimes.”
They needed reservations that night, unfortunately. It seemed that restaurants other than Black Mountain Tavern were still doing fine in terms of customers. But then, the Jade Garden’s chef was first-rate, unlike Black Mountain.
Liam stood on the sidewalk, trying to come up with alternatives. The sushi place was a couple of blocks over. And there was always barbeque at the Rusty Fork. He could even manage Italian at the Noodle Haven, assuming they could get in, but the kitchen there frequently took a while getting its entrees out. And he wasn’t up for waiting. Not even a little bit.
“What are you in the mood for?” he asked.
Ruth looked up at him, her eyes almost coffee-brown in the twilight. “We could do takeout. Pizza’s good.”
“Pizza’s great. Capparelli’s?”
She nodded. “I like them. Your place or mine?”
Liam blinked. Was she asking what he thought she was asking?
“To eat,” she added. “The takeout.” Her cheeks flushed pink.
Liam loved the fact that he could make her blush. He intended to work on doing that a lot more later in the evening. “How about mine? It’s just up the street from Capparelli’s.”
“Okay.” Her eyes were still wide, but her expression was resolute. He hoped she wasn’t talking herself into something she might regret later on. But he wasn’t going to back out himself, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to suggest that she might want to.
Fortunately, there was no line at Capparelli’s, although the takeout counter was busy. He ordered something simple and was absurdly grateful when it was done within a half hour, even though he’d spent that half hour sipping a glass of milk stout with Ruth.
He’d managed to clean up his apartment that morning in the hope he’d be able to bring her back there. It wasn’t as classy as the condos nearer the resort, but it had a lot of character, which was a polite way of saying it was a little weird.
Ruth paused on the sidewalk outside the Victorian with its pink siding and maroon shutters. “This is yours?”
“Not all of it. My landlord bought it from a family here in town—they didn’t want to have to keep it up anymore after their grandma died. He put in some additional bathrooms and a spare kitchen and turned it into two apartments, one per floor.”
Ruth stared up at the stained glass fanlight over the front door. “Cool. Which one is yours?”
“The top one. The county clerk rents the first floor. The house tends to be pretty quiet.” Particularly since Liam was the only hell-raiser in the place, and these days he was usually too tired to find any hell to raise.
Something he hoped to change within the next couple of hours.
He ushered Ruth through the door. The only drawback to the upstairs apartment was the hike up a flight to get there, but people who lived in Antero were already altitude-adjusted. Flatlanders usually had to take a break on the landing.
She followed him through his front door, then paused to take in the room. The large windows were original, but the ceilings were a bit lower than the ones on the first floor. Liam was occasionally in danger of braining himself, and he was particularly careful going through doorways.
There were only three rooms, but all three were large—a living room, a combination dining room and kitchen, and the bedroom. His landlord had kept everything simple by painting all the walls a light cream. During the daytime, the mountain sunshine could make everything toasty. During the evening, the breeze dropped the temperatures. He closed the windows he’d left open earlier to air the place out.
“Sorry. No air conditioning, or rather, air conditioning the old-fashioned way. If I leave the windows closed in summer, it’s an oven when I get home.”
Ruth shook her head. “I don’t know anybody who has air conditioning at home around here except the big hotels at the resort. Why bother for a couple of months when the nighttime temperatures are in the forties and fifties?”
