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“Paxton told me your name,” he explained as I approached. “I guess we didn’t introduce ourselves. I’m Aiden.”
“Tinley.” I’d arrived and slipped my hand into his. “Nice to meet you.”
Gosh, this guy was gorgeous. Why would he be interested in an out-of-towner like me? He could have anyone he wanted.
Oh, right. This town had zero single women. At least, that was what my sister told me. Desperate times called for desperate measures. And his measures just might include trying to talk a woman into moving here and boosting the female population.
“This is nice.”
I withdrew my hand and lowered my gaze to the table. Unlike every other table in the restaurant, this one was covered in a white tablecloth. A candle sat in the center, next to a vase with a single red rose.
“Don’t sit down yet.” Aiden rushed around the table, then pulled out my chair.
I was staring at him again. I couldn’t stop doing that. As much as I tried to tell myself this guy was a charmer, I was drawn to him. When he looked at me, I felt all warm and tingly.
I’d barely taken a seat when a woman arrived. She couldn’t have been that much older than I was, and there was no ring on her left hand. So much for this town not having any single twenty-something women.
“I’m Piper, and I’ll be your server,” she said. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Maybe a lemon drop?” I asked. “And a glass of water.”
As she walked away, I second-guessed my order. It was a drink my friends and I always chose, but was that a college thing?
“Lemon drop, huh?” Aiden asked, tossing me a teasing smile. “I’ve never even tried one of those.”
He lifted his glass to his lips and sipped. It looked like beer. Maybe I shouldn’t be worried about coming across as immature. Instead, I was looking all bougie with my fancy drink.
As if to confirm that point, Piper arrived with a martini glass topped with a sugar rim and lemon wedge. Yes, definitely bougie.
My food order was far from it, though. I asked for the ribs and french fries. With a smile, Aiden said, “That sounds good. I’ll take that too.”
“Copycat,” I teased once we were alone again.
He smiled. “You have great taste. You’re on a date with me, after all.”
Somehow that didn’t come across as arrogant. Maybe it was his flirty tone. He was just returning my flirtatious comment.
Was I flirting with him? That definitely wasn’t like me. I’d blame it on the lemon drop, but I hadn’t even taken a sip yet.
“You do know I’m just here temporarily,” I said, trying to take my eyes off him but oddly unable. “I agreed to help my sister with the food truck.”
There. That should convince him I wasn’t a good romantic prospect. Unless he was just looking for sex, in which case I’d already made it clear he was barking up the wrong tree.
“Where do you live, exactly?” he asked.
“Durham.”
“What’s Durham got that you can’t get in Blackbeard Bluff?”
“Jobs,” I said without even taking a second to think. “And my friends.”
I didn’t mention my plans to leave Durham for Raleigh. Not that Durham had a lack of jobs—we just wanted something closer to big-city living, and Raleigh had that.
“Your boss won’t let you work from home?” he asked.
“I just quit waiting tables to come here and help my sister for a couple of weeks. I haven’t started looking for my permanent job yet.”
“Yeah?” He took another sip of his beer but didn’t take his eyes off me. “And what type of work will that be?”
