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“Ah, yes. All the entrees you like spicy?” the lady pumped her eyebrows at Mack.
“Sure.” He shrugged.
“A three,” Sariah said. “He looks big but he’s too tender to stomach a five.”
The lady laughed, took their menus, and bustled off. A young girl brought them waters. Mack thought it was interesting they hadn’t even asked if they wanted a different drink.
“I’m tender?” he asked.
“Don’t even try to deny it.”
“Does that mean you aren’t afraid of me?”
“Why would I be …?” Her eyes lit with understanding. “I’m not afraid of you, Mack.”
“That means a lot to me.”
“How could I be afraid when I know you’re a big old wimp off the field?” She grinned to show she was teasing.
Mack felt relief rush through him. She wasn’t afraid and she knew he had a tender side. He reached out and put his hand over hers. “All right, you can tease me and call me ‘a big old wimp’ and make me eat at questionable restaurants, as long as you promise to spend tomorrow with me.”
Sariah turned her hand over and linked their fingers. “I’d love to, but I have school.”
“On a Saturday?”
She nodded. “Sunday and Monday are our days off. Lots of massage clients come in on Saturdays.”
“I’d say I’d come back for a massage tomorrow, but I don’t know how welcome I am there.”
She released his hand and tucked her hair around the right side of her neck then toyed with her water glass. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“No, I shouldn’t have brought it up again.” But he really, really wished he knew what had happened, especially now that she’d said she wasn’t afraid of him. He wanted to see past her hair, see if there was something wrong, but he wondered if it wasn’t more likely that some guy had scared her. That was the feeling he got from Hyde, and from everybody else who was overprotective of her. “But you’ll go out with me tomorrow night?”
She took a sip of her water and then gave him a mischievous grin, the teasing Sariah restored. “I don’t know, Mack Quinn. You’re counting your chickens before they’ve even been put in the incubator.”
He grinned. His knowledge of raising chickens was sadly lacking. “I’m hoping they don’t feed us a raw chicken in this place.”
“Oh! You are going to eat those words. An hour from now you’ll be begging my forgiveness for dissing on my spot and planning when you can come back. You’ll have dreams about this food.”
Mack would have dreams about her, but he doubted he’d dream about this food. “We’ll see,” was all he said. He didn’t care what the food tasted like, or if they were in violation of health codes. He was finally with Sariah. Maybe there was something wrong with her physically or mentally but he didn’t care. He was finally getting his chance to get to know her.
* * *
Sariah appreciated the easy flow of conversation with Mack as they ate the delicious food. He’d told her a little bit about his large family, explaining the connection of Scarlett Lily to his brother Griff. She appreciated hearing the truth of that interaction from his lips. Occasionally he looked searchingly at her, probably wishing she’d tell him why she acted so crazy at the school, but he didn’t ask again.
She’d ordered a lot of food, assuming that he could eat a lot, and he had proven her right. His manners were impeccable, and he made sure she always got first chance at a dish, but when she assured him several times that she was full, he cleaned off each plate.
“You ready to eat crow, my boy?” she asked as he ate the last noodle from the pad thai plate and she finished off the last bite of mango sticky rice. The coconut sauce was delicious.
He nodded. “I’m thinking of ordering some to take back to the hotel.”
She punched a fist in the air. “Yes! I knew I’d win this battle. I’m more battle savvy than Napoleon.”
Mack covered her hand with his own and she had to keep her head on straight as her body reacted to his simple touch.
“You’d win any battle with me,” he said.
Sariah gave him a sassy smile when she wanted to tell him her every secret and beg him to move to Colorado. “I hope I never have a battle with you.”
