Page 12 of The Starfish Method


Font Size:  

Hannah isn’t like the other women I usually spend time with. For starters, her hair is pink and her pants are covered in glitter. I don’t know much about fashion—okay, I don’t know anything about fashion—but I do know that none of the women in my social circle would be caught dead in those pants or with that hair. It makes me like them even more.

I can’t quite get over the way she speaks to me, either. In fact, I quite like it. Nobody else has ever refused to share a meal with me or threatened to feed me to a tank of sharks. She’s light and airy; it’s easy to be around her.

Even now, as she shovels her Eggs Benedict into her mouth like she’s never eaten before, I can’t take my eyes off her.

“What?” she asks. “Is there something on my face?”

All I can do is shake my head. “No, I just like watching you.”

“Way to sound super creepy.” She chuckles and wipes the corners of her mouth with a napkin.

“I can’t say I’ve ever been accused of being creepy before.”

Her eyes sparkle with humor. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

At this point, she has my mouth set in a permanent smile. “I can’t reveal all my dirty secrets on our first official date.”

Her brows arch, and a smirk curves her lips. “Is that what this is? A date?”

I nod. “What would you call it?”

She shrugs and takes a sip of her coffee. “I don’t know. Two people getting to know each other.”

“Otherwise known as a date,” I supply.

“Potato—potawto. Doesn’t really matter what we call it, does it?”

I relax in my chair, stretching my arms back then lacing my hands behind my head. “Not really. But I still don’t know much about you, Hannah, except that you work at The Aquarium with the sharks. What else should I know?”

Hannah takes a moment before answering me. “There’s not much to know, really. I’m an only child whose parents have sadly both passed away. I’m twenty-eight, career-focused, love starfish, hate toadfish, and I share an apartment with a lobster named Levi, short for Leviathan. He’s quite the little charmer. You’ll have to meet him sometime.”

I cock a brow then shake my head. “I shouldn’t be surprised, should I? I mean, you refer to sharks as sweet babies.”

“I think I was a mermaid in a past life,” she says on a dreamy sigh. “So, what about you? What do I need to know, Sam? Please include any weird sexual fetishes in your rundown—just so we can get those out of the way here and now. I reserve the right to veto anything too outrageous.”

I cough. She’s a riot. I’m enjoying this way too much to stop her, even though the waiter clearing our empty plates away has just turned fifty shades of red. “Weird sexual fetishes?” I sit forward, supporting my elbows on the table and cupping my jaw as if to think about her absurd question. “Nope, don’t have any. Doesn’t everyone collect their lovers’ toenail clippings while they’re sleeping?”

Hannah throws her head back and laughs. It’s a beautiful sight, and it sounds as good as it did the other night.

When she’s regained a semblance of control, I cock a brow. “What? You don’t do that?”

She wipes a tear away from the corner of her eye, and I’m ridiculously pleased that I’m the one who produced this reaction from her. I’m not known for being an amusing person, but I couldn’t help myself. She makes me want to be, just so I can listen to her laugh.

“Oh my God. Stop. You’re too much.” She gasps and I grin, pride blooming in my chest at my accomplishment.

The other tablesin Zenith’s restaurant are beginning to fill as Sam and I are leaving. Which reminds me . . . “You didn’t tell me why you were up so early yesterday—or today, for that matter.”

“I’m in the gym by five every morning. It’s a habit I can’t break nowadays.”

I stop dead in my tracks. “That sounds awful.”

Sam shakes his head at me and places a palm on my lower back, urging me onward. “You were awake when I messaged you yesterday. And you agreed to an early breakfast today, so obviously mornings don’t bother you. What’s so awful about it?”

“I’m not worried about early mornings—I can’t sleep past five myself. It’s the gym.” I cringe. “No, thank you. Everybody’s sweat mingling on the equipment. It’s nasty.”

He chuckles as we come to a stop outsidehisbuilding. “It’s a great way to start the day, gets your blood pumping and creates endorphins. Win–win. Also, there are these things called sanitary wipes that the machinery is cleaned with after each use.”

I pat his chest, patronizing him. “Okay, gym junkie, whatever you say. I’ll stick to going for a dip with my girls. That wakes me plenty.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like