She reached across the table and grabbed the little wooden hammer looking thing that Luke wasn’t using, since, he was apparently the master at cracking shellfish and didn’t need it. Hers had already gone flying out of her hand at her first attempt at a crab leg. Luckily the waiter thought it was comical.
She pulled her arm back and slammed the crab leg with her little hammer, finally cracking the shell. She grinned proudly and lifted her gaze up to Luke’s. “I totally nailed that sucker.” She grabbed the little fork and dug the meat out of the shell.
“He never had a chance.” Luke said while smiling. She dipped her fork into the melted butter before lifting it to her lips. Her mouth wrapped around the fork and her tongue snaked out to run across her lips, catching any excess butter that may have slid off the crab meat.
“Christ.” He muttered before taking a gulp of his beer, draining the contents of the bottle in one swig.
“You okay?” She asked as she perused the bucket of chilled crab for her next victim.
“Fine.” He cleared his throat and repositioned himself as he sat. “Any luck with finding an apartment?” Hoping the change in conversation would take his mind off of her mouth.
She frowned as she hammered another crab leg. “No. So I’ve decided to take my sorrows out on this bad boy.” She said pointing to the leg in her dish. “I think I’m going to ask Rudy if I can take the apartment upstairs from the bar.”
Luke raised an eyebrow as he picked out the meat of the lobster he was working on. “Have you seen Rudy since you’ve been home?”
“No. I’m avoiding him, which is completely wrong of me.” She glanced up at Luke. “He’s been really good to me and I don’t know how to tell him that I’m not going to be working there anymore. And then follow that by asking him to let me and Benny rent his apartment.
“He’ll understand Cara and if worse comes to worse and you can’t find an apartment, you can stay with me.” He said nonchalantly.
“I cannot do that.” She said firmly and lifted her gaze. “For so many reasons.”
“Name one.” He challenged.
“Okay.” She put her fork down and looked directly into his eyes. “I need to learn to stand on my own two feet.”
“I’m not trying to enable you Cara. I’m happy you’re taking control of your life, happier than you’ll ever know.” He held her gaze. “I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable where you live because you felt like you ran out of options.” He leaned against the back of his chair and paused, biting the inside of his cheek. “Just putting it out there, that, I was an option.” He said softly and wondered if the underlying meaning of his words would go unnoticed to her.
“You’re so much more than an option, Luke.” She said softly, not quite certain of what she even meant by her words, but she knew they were true. She watched as something flashed in his eyes and for some unknown reason she couldn’t tear her eyes from his. Whatever was going on inside of him was mesmerizing to watch unfold through the irises of his eyes.
Luke sucked in a breath, finally getting his bearings. “You about finished?” He said, nodding towards her plate.
“Did I say something wrong?” She asked, confused by the sudden rush to leave.
“No.” He swiped his hand down his face, mentally kicking himself. “I’m sorry.” He signaled for the waiter to bring him another beer.
“We can leave if you want.” She offered, wiping her hands with a wet-nap.
“Cara, eat your dinner.” He said firmly, feeling like a jackass. She had him so wound up and she had no clue.
“Something I said struck a nerve.” She pushed her plate away. “I’m not hungry Luke, but I want to know what I said that got you so antsy.”
“I’m not antsy.” He bit back and then sighed. “I’m just tired.” He lied not able to bring himself to ask her what she meant by him being more than an option to her, too afraid to know the answer.
“I’m nervous.” She blurted out.
He lifted his head quickly. “Ignore me. I didn’t mean to make you nervous, for fuck’s sake.” He shook his head. “I’m such a jackass…”
“I’m nervous being here with you.” She cut him off. “Not because of anything you said or did, but just because you’re you and I’m noticing you, Luke. You matter to me and that’s it. That’s all I got. It’s not much and it doesn’t make much sense to me yet but…”
“I’ll take it.” He said gruffly and reached across the table, taking her hand in his.
She smiled slightly and squeezed his hand. “I’m ready to leave if you are.”
He nodded slightly and let go of her hand. He reached into his pocket as he stood up and threw some bills onto the table, more than enough to cover their meal.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” She said as she untied her lobster bib and laughed at herself before she shrugged on her leather jacket. Luke smiled at her.
“You sure you don’t want to keep it?”