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“Uh…” Mike turned to Sam. “You coming to eat?”
“I don’t want to intrude on your family thing.”
“You’re not intruding,” he told her.
“Still, I—”
“Samantha,” Mrs. Ewing interrupted from out of nowhere. “So nice of you to come today. Are you going to come to eat with us?”
Mike crossed his arms over his chest in an I-told-you-so kind of move.
“It’s our treat,” Mrs. Ewing continued, not letting Sam respond. “Lauren’s family is coming as well. A little get-together. About ten people. So, we’ll see you there?” She patted Sam’s shoulder, answering for her. “Good.”
Jimmy snorted once his mother was out of hearing range. “Endless soup, salad, and breadsticks it is, then?”
“Guess so.” Sam huffed out a laugh.
With his hands in his pockets, Mike rocked back on his heels, saying to Sam, “Mind if I ride with you?”
“Of course not,” she said, ignoring Jimmy’s raised eyebrow. She waved him off, and Mike followed her outside to the car, where she blasted the AC.
“Hot as the devil’s asshole,” he grumbled, getting himself situated in the passenger seat.
“Eloquent.”
“Oh, you’re not impressed?” He pressed his hand to his heart, playing at hurt, before tugging his jacket over his shoulders. She watched as he took off his tie and threw it in the back with his jacket, then undid the top two buttons of his shirt, exposing the skin at the bottom of his throat. She licked her lips, imagining the taste of him there.
Without taking his eyes off his task, he said, “You’re staring.”
“You’ve got a nice collarbone,” she blurted.
“Yeah?” He rolled up his sleeves, revealing the tattoos on his left forearm where the grayscale forest scene started. “Nice collarbone?”
“It’s an underappreciated body part.”
Once her eyes rose up to meet his, he cocked his head to the side, sending a fever over her skin. “I’ll take your word for it.”
She spun her gaze out of the windshield. “I like your art.”
“I like yours too.” He dragged his finger down to the top of her shoulder blade, where the rainbow-colored phoenix was tattooed, and she felt flushed all over. “The symbol of rebirth?”
She cleared her throat and nodded, then drove out of the parking spot. With her eyes on the road, she didn’t need to see him to know he was looking at her when he asked, “Will you tell me about it sometime?”
She glanced over to him at a stop sign, his dark eyes inviting her to tell him everything. Fighting her emotions was an uphill battle. “Yeah, one day.”
* * *
Mike followedSamantha and the hostess to the long table in the back of the restaurant. Jimmy was there already, flirting with a waitress as she filled up his wineglass, and Samantha tossed Mike a playful eye roll about it, like they had an inside joke. She sat down across from his brother, leaving Mike to take the chair next to Mr. Ballman, Lauren’s dad.
He was a portly man with a full head of white hair. He stretched out his arm, booming, “Michael, have a seat, my boy.”
Samantha, like the sweetheart she was, leaned across him to introduce herself to Mr. and Mrs. Ballman, allowing Mike a moment to get a good look down her dress. If he weren’t already wildly attracted to her, it would be impossible to ignore the way the soft lavender cotton accentuated the shape of her shoulders and breasts. Or how she was practically in his lap.
Not the worst way to eat dinner.
Adam and Lauren showed up a few minutes later with their kids and Mike’s parents in tow, and everyone settled into quiet conversation once their entrees were ordered.
Mr. Ballman spooned out a large portion of the salad onto his plate along with two breadsticks before passing them on, as if they weren’t both refillable. It was Olive Garden, for Christ’s sake.
