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“I thought this wasn’t a date,” I challenged.
“I’m not allowed to open your door because we’re not on a date?”
Well…put that way it sounded stupid. But I’d already waded into the battle and I wasn’t going to back down. “I just think it has certain connotations.”
Weak, Carly. Weak.
Nick grinned and straightened. With a dramatic flourish of his hands, he waved at the handle. “All yours then. Wouldn’t want those pesky connotations throwing off our night.”
My cheeks flushed and I rolled my eyes at myself. I threw the door open and climbed into the lifted truck as Nick jogged back around the front to the driver’s side. He slid behind the wheel in one fluid, well-practiced maneuver as I buckled in.
Stop staring at him, I told myself, tearing my eyes off his powerful biceps and dragging them down to his large hands as they wrapped around the wheel. He gave me a sidelong glance before I could fully peel my gaze from him, and he smirked. “Where to?”
I jerked my head to face the front, staring out the windshield. This was a mistake. I should tell him that I changed my mind. Could I fake a call from Alesha? No…I was an adult. He was an adult. We were fine.
Right?
“Um, there’s this bar and grill not too far from here if you want a drink. They have like twenty something brews on tap. Pool tables, too.”
“Dancing?”
I shot him a puzzled glance, unsure if he was hoping for or against the possibility of dancing. “Not unless someone gets really shitfaced.”
He laughed and the deep, rumbling sound filled the cab of the truck and sucked all the air from my lungs. Or was that just the effect his smile had on me? It was the dimples. Damn them!
“I can’t make any promises.”
“Maybe we should go somewhere else then,” I teased, forcing myself to get a grip.
Nick’s smile softened, but that dimple on the right side was still visible. “I’ll behave myself. I’m a little too old for that shit anymore.”
I laughed. “Right. How old are you anyway?”
“Twenty-nine. You?”
“Twenty-eight.”
He nodded. “And you’ve had this place how long?” He asked, jutting his chin at the now dark coffee shop.
“Two and half years now.”
“Great. You’re so young to have such a thriving business.” He brought his eyes back to mine, even darker than usual in the dim interior of the truck, the only light coming from the dash. “That’s very…sexy.”
I tried to laugh, but it got caught in my throat somewhere on the way and came out as a very unsexy-like snort. “I don’t know about that. It’s a lot of cleaning, budgeting, and obsessing over spreadsheets, none of which could really be called sexy.”
He grinned, his mind obviously mulling over an amusing retort, but he kept it to himself and left me wondering what was rolling around his tongue.
I cut him off at the pass and cleared my throat, breaking the electric energy that buzzed between us. “Harvey’s. That’s the name of the place. If you hit the highway, I’ll give you the directions from there.”
I could feel his eyes lingering on me and I suddenly wished I’d brought a sweater. I needed an extra layer between his searching eyes and my bare shoulders showing under my thin black tank top. My teeth worked on my bottom lip as I resisted the urge to turn and meet his eyes. It would only lead to trouble.
Thankfully, he started to back up and the moment washed away like a wave wiping away the footprints in the sand.
I needed to keep things casual and light with him or else I was going to do something stupid—and not very lady-like.
“Patio?” Nick asked a pint in each hand.
“Definitely,” I answered, reaching for mine. He handed over the darker of the two and followed my lead as I swiveled through the crowded bar to get out to the less crowded patio. The doors were open wide, propped open by two large planters. I picked a table close to the fire pit to keep off the chill in the air. There were a few other people out on the patio, but they were closer to the edge, and focused on a card game. A pergola eclipsed most of the patio and there were paper Chinese lanterns hanging from the slats that were intertwined with ivy vines and fairy lights that provided a soft glow over the space.
“It’s nice out here,” Nick said, lowering into an Adirondack chair.
I followed his gaze out to the moon reflecting off the Pacific and smiled. “Yeah. This place really is a little slice of heaven.”
A gentle breeze swept over the patio and blew sparks off the fire. They floated away, sparkling against the midnight blue sky.
“Reminds me of fireflies” Nick said, gesturing at the sparks as they faded into the night.
