The wedding had gone off without a hitch, the flowers were a success, and Prestige Events wanted to work with her again. To celebrate, Savannah was going on a date with Tony, the tall, dark-haired hottie who’d waltzed into her shop yesterday evening to buy flowers for his newly engaged cousin. The two of them had flirted for several minutes, until he finally gave her a sexy smile and asked if she wanted to have dinner with him the following evening. She’d said yes immediately.
Tony was just the kind of guy she liked spending time with. Gorgeous, easygoing, and not looking for a relationship. He’d told her he worked long hours at the law firm at which he was a junior partner, and didn’t have time for anything serious.
Exactly the way she liked it.
A flicker of guilt went through her as she left the apartment. She felt kind of sleazy, going out with someone else when the dust of her time with Matt had barely even settled. But so what. Tony would be a nice distraction. A way to put Matt out of her mind for good.
Downstairs, she stepped onto the sidewalk in front of her shop and found a sleek black BMW waiting at the curb. The passenger window rolled down and Tony’s cute grin greeted her. “Hop in.”
Despite herself, she was a tad irked that he hadn’t gotten out to open her door for her. Matt always did, even if they were just going for a quick cup of coffee. His southern gentleman manners, as he always said.
Don’t think about Matt, a sharp voice ordered.
She decided to heed the voice’s advice. She was going out with Tony. Tony, not Matt. So there was no reason to think about anyone other than Matt—shit, Tony, anyone other than Tony.
“Hey,” she said as she got into the car.
Tony’s dark eyes studied her appreciatively. “You look amazing.”
“Thanks.”
He moved the gearshift and added, “I made reservations at the Italian place around the corner. Is that cool with you?”
“It’s great.”
They didn’t say much more as he drove to the restaurant. Savannah normally excelled at first date chitchat. She had no problems asking questions or dropping a few flirtatious remarks, maybe even innocently brushing a guy’s arm to make that first contact.
But she didn’t do any of that tonight, and when they were finally seated at a secluded corner table with a red and white checkered tablecloth, she almost felt nervous.
“So,” Tony said, reaching for the menu, “how do you like being a florist?”
She fumbled for her own menu. “It’s great.”
“Cool. Did you always want to work with flowers?”
“Uh-huh. Flowers are…well, they’re great.”
She tried not to cringe. She’d uttered the word “great” like fifty times already and they were ten minutes into the damn date. Drawing in a breath, she pretended to study the menu, all the while gathering up confidence. Enough was enough. She was acting like a total loser here. She was in her element, for Pete’s sake. These first encounters, the exciting, flirty moments leading up to fun between the sheets—she lived off them, damn it.
Savannah picked up the water glass on the table and took a long swallow. “What about you?” she asked smoothly. “Have you always wanted to be a lawyer?”
With an enthusiastic nod, Tony began explaining how law was his biggest passion, only to be interrupted by the arrival of their waiter, a twenty-something-year-old guy with spiky brown hair and hazel eyes.
“Are you ready to order?” he inquired.
Savannah noticed the waiter had glued his gaze to her cleavage. She suddenly wished she’d brought a cardigan or something. The way this kid checked her out was almost criminal.
“No, we need a few more minutes,” Tony said.
The waiter turned to Savannah, but his eyes never reached her face. He just kept ogling her tits like a horny teenager. “Something to drink then?”
“A few more minutes,” she echoed.
With one last lingering look, the waiter walked off, while Savannah rolled her eyes and said, “I hope he doesn’t roofie my drink. I’m not in the mood to be sexually assaulted tonight.”
Tony gave her a blank look. “What? Why would he put drugs in your drink?”
She grew flustered. “He wouldn’t. He was just looking at my…I was making a…whatever.”
Her date was looking at her in such confusion she almost laughed out loud. But then Tony’s face brightened and he continued his recitation of all the reasons he’d chosen to become a lawyer.
Savannah tuned him out, still thinking about how he’d completely missed the sarcasm in her tone. Matt would have appreciated the sardonic remark. Like the day they’d been lying side by side on the bank floor, when he’d laughed at her whispered barbs. They’d joked back and forth that day as if they’d done it for years. She still couldn’t believe he liked—and got—her sense of humor.