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That smile really was going to be the death of me.
Dinner,dessert, and drinks went on for a couple of leisurely hours as we lost ourselves in the most effortless conversation I’d ever had with someone I’d just met. We talked about everything, from our careers to the politics we kept on our burner accounts to some of the shitposting we both engaged in from time to time.
“I still can’t believe you haven’t been banned,” Isaiah said with a laugh at one point. “The number of times I’ve read your posts and thought I just witnessed a murder?” He whistled and shook his head.
I snickered. “I’m not that bad. And I’ve been suspended a few times.”
He made air quotes. “A few times.”
“Hey! I resemble that.”
“Uh-huh.” He just chuckled. “But I’ve never seen you do it to someone who didn’t deserve it, so…”
“Exactly. Plus it isn’t like I cuss them out or threaten them.”
Isaiah’s laugh did things to my pulse I’d never felt before. “You don’t have to cuss them out or threaten them. You just do the verbal equivalent of ripping out their still-beating heart and showing it to them.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He cocked an eyebrow and gestured at his phone, which was facedown beside his plate. “Shall I pull up that exchange last week with that one Republican on the West Coast? Where you politely invited him to wander out into his district, find a large cactus, light it on fire, and shove it up his ass sideways?”
I batted my eyelashes. “Hey. You said it yourself—Ipolitelyinvited him.”
That laugh. God. This man was so damn beautiful.
For all I’d worried myself sick that the spell would be broken once we met in person, this was even easier than the friendship we’d cultivated online. We laughed so much, my stitched lip was getting tender. By the end, Isaiah’s smile still made my head light just like it had in the beginning, and I was already secretly hoping this was the first of many, many nights like this.
As we settled up the check, those two—almost three—leisurely hours suddenly seemed like they’d whipped by. This was over already? Damn.
It was, and all too soon, we were stepping out into the crisp evening air. We’d left Isaiah’s car down by the park, and I’d driven us in and parked in the garage across the street from the restaurant. It wasn’t that long of a walk from here to Point Park, but I hadn’t liked the idea of leaving my car there. That, and the way Isaiah’s eyes had lit up at the prospect of going for a ride in it had guaranteed I wouldn’t say no for anything. Even I still got a little giddy sometimes when I climbed into that sweet sports car, and nothing in the world was better than the kid-on-Christmas grin on that man’s face as he’d slid into the passenger seat.
I wondered if I could talk him into going for a longer drive. He’d get to ride around in the Ferrari for a bit, and I’d get to spend more time with him. Everybody won, right?
But he had to be at work early in the morning, and I had physical therapy before practice. No matter how much I wanted this evening to go on for a few more hours, we had to be responsible adults.
“Listen, um…” He turned to me from the passenger seat. “Do you want to do this again? Meet up?”
The words, “Oh my God, yes! Are you kidding?” almost poured out of my stupid mouth. By some miracle, though, I held on to my dignity and managed a calm, “Sure. Definitely.” I glanced at him as I slowed to a stop at a red light. “Do you?”
Fuck me. That smile.
“Yeah,” he said softly. “Just, um… Let me know when. Your schedule is probably less flexible than mine, so…”
Facing forward again, I nodded, pretending my palms weren’t sweating on the steering wheel. “We’re home for a couple more games before we hit the road. Are, um…” I flicked my eyes toward him again. “Are you coming to either of those games?”
“I am now.”
If not for my stitches, I’d have been smiling like an absolute idiot right then. “If I see you during warmups, I’ll toss you a puck.”
“Promise?”
The light turned green, so I couldn’t look at him, but I grinned. “I guess it depends on what your sign says.”
Isaiah let go another of those beautiful, free laughs that I’d already fallen for tonight. “I have to make asignnow? One dinner, and now you’re giving mehomework?Goddamn, dude.”
I snorted, fighting the smile that desperately wanted to form. “You’re creative. I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”
“Oh my God,” he said on a groan, but he was still chuckling. “Seriously? I have to make a sign?”
