“I’ll taste it for you.”
One of AJ’s dimples popped into place as he reluctantly handed me a spoon. “She’s got better things to say than you do.”
“That’s because she likes everything you bring her.”
“Yeah, that skinny young thing is easy to please.” AJ glanced at the door, no doubt hoping she’d return for some reason. “I’m surprised she’s so thin with the amount of food she manages to put away.”
“I think she’s just got a really fast metabolism. She runs a lot, probably burns off the energy that way.”
“True.” AJ scratched his arm then looked at me expectantly. “Well?”
I licked the spoon and grinned. “It’s good. What are you gonna serve it with?”
“Well, Liesl likes cherries and meringue, so I’m thinking of making some sort of meringue, fruit creation then drizzling this over the top. Like a mountain of goodness covered in chocolate rain.”
“Nice.” I nodded with a grin. “You really like to please your woman, don’t you?”
AJ shrugged. “I love her. Making her happy makes me happy.”
I dipped my spoon into the chocolate bowl again. “How’d you know?”
“Know what?”
“That moment you fell for her, how’d you know?”
“It wasn’t a moment.” AJ picked up the spare spoon and scraped out a little sauce. “I mean, yeah, I thought she was gorgeous the first time I saw her, but she was so out of my league I didn’t even entertain it. I thought she’d been one of those rich bitch snobs. Gorgeous on the outside, sour in the middle. But she became friends with Jae and started hanging out with us and I just… I don’t know, she grew on me and I guess I was lucky enough to grow on her too.”
AJ licked the spoon clean then nudged me with his elbow.
“What?” I knew what, but I still had to ask him anyway.
“You’re falling for that Dani chick.”
“I know.” I put the spoon down with a slight frown.
“She’s not going for it or something?”
“Nah, I think she likes me too.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“It’s complicated.” I pursed my lips.
“It always is with the girls you like.”
“I know. That’s the thing.” My hands flew up and gently banged the table. “I promised Elliot, and myself, that if it got weird or hard, I’d back away.”
“But you don’t want to do that.”
“Do I risk another Bambi Bitch Slap or stalker chick?”
“I really don’t think Dani’s the stalking kind, but she looks like she could throw a pretty mean punch if she had to.”
“It’s not her fist I’m worried about.” I winced. “She finally eluded to the fact that her father doesn’t want her dating. I think she doesn’t want to tell us where she lives because we could potentially pop over or something. I mean, is her dad hell scary or something?”
“Look, I don’t know, man, but…” He sighed.
“But what?”
“Elliot will kill me if he hears me saying this, but if you really like her, you shouldn’t let anything stop you. She seems different from other girls. Yeah she’s still a little mysterious, but she’s got kind eyes. I like her.” He slapped the table. “Damn it, Zach, she likes my meatballs. You just gotta go for it.”
I cracked up laughing, lightly punching my friend in the arm. “Thanks, man.”
“Anytime, broski.”
His large hand gripped my shoulder, making me feel small, before he shuffled out of the booth and back to the kitchen with the chocolate bowl in hand.
Snaffling up my pen, I tapped it against my open textbook and looked to the door, picturing Dani’s slight frame as it eased into the open air. A slow smile crept across my face as I replayed her words in my head.
I just hoped we could get around her father.
Chapter 14
LUCY
May 2011
“You’re not my father, Shorty! You can’t boss me around like this, okay?” Lucy whipped off her apron and threw it on the floor. She never usually lost her cool. Shorty still scared her a little and she knew she had to walk a fine line. They’d been working with him for six months now, doing his bidding, not questioning a thing, but she’d just been on her feet for the last six hours. She was tired, cranky and being ordered to get changed so they could go pull off yet another con was not what she wanted to do right now.
“I didn’t know he’d be ripe for the picking tonight, but he is. We have to play this now or potentially lose the gig.” He raised a long finger at her nose. “And I’m the closest thing to a father you got.”
“You will never be anywhere close to my dad,” she seethed.
“Oh yeah? Then why’d you run away from him?” She wanted to slap his cocky face, but couldn’t.