“Er,” he swallows. Am I having some kind of effect on him? I lean a little closer to him, pretending to inspect the photos on the counter and hear him catch his breath. “Probably flowers.”
“I’d go with these.” I smile to myself, enjoying his nearness now that I don’t feel threatened by him, and select four photos of flowers, all different kinds and colors, and arrange them in a square for him to see.
“Perfect.” His smile lights up his face and I can’t help but smile back. “You’re very talented.”
His compliment takes me back for a second and I feel my cheeks flush.
“Thank you.”
Luke pays Mrs. Henderson, and then follows me as I start to head out of the store and to my car.
“Where are you headed?” he asks as he catches up to me.
“Well, that was my last delivery, so I’ll be heading home.”
“Or,” he says nonchalantly, “I could take you out for coffee.”
My stomach tightens excitedly. He’s still interested! Am I? He could be an ax murderer. Or worse.
“Happy hour?” he continues.
I smile and look away from him, still striding toward my car.
“Dinner? Can I buy you an ice cream cone?” He runs his free hand through his messy hair and I mentally hug myself.
Somewhere public should be safe, so before I can put too much more thought into it, I hear myself saying, “Let’s go get a drink. There’s a bar one block over that has a good happy hour.”
“Lead the way!” Damn, I would do just about anything for that grin.
“Don’t you want to take your sister’s photos to your car?”
“I walked.” He shrugs.
“Here, stow them in my car.” I open the trunk of my Lexus SUV and pull the door up for him.
“Nice car.” He says, surprised. His eyebrows are raised as he gazes at me.
“Thanks,” I flip the lever for the door to close and lock the car again as we continue down the sidewalk.
Luke pulls his aviator sunglasses from the neck of his soft white t-shirt and puts them on, looking around him as though he’s making sure no one is watching him and I frown. Is he embarrassed to be seen with me? If so, why did he ask me out?
I’m still puzzling over this as he holds the door to my favorite Irish Pub open for me and we walk into the cool bar.
“Hi! Welcome to the Celtic Swell.”
A young server smiles at both of us, paying special attention to Luke, and I mentally roll my eyes. “It’s a beautiful day out there,” she continues, “Would y’all like to sit inside or outside?”
I glance up at Luke and without pausing or asking me what I’d prefer he says “Inside.”
“Sure thing, follow me, handsome.”
She winks at Luke, ignoring me completely, and leads us to a booth near the back of the bar.
We are seated, and Miss Flirty points out the happy hour menu displayed proudly on the table, smiles broadly at Luke again, and then leaves us alone.
“Are you embarrassed to be out with me?” I am determined to get to the bottom of this.
Luke gasps, takes off his sunglasses revealing his wide blue eyes, and looks horrified. The knots in my stomach slowly release.
“No! No, Natalie, not at all. In fact, I’m thrilled to spend time with you.” He looks so sincere. “Why do you ask?”
“Well…” I gratefully sip the water the waitress has set down before me. “You just seem…”
“What?”
“Quiet all of a sudden.” It’s the best I can come up with. Damn, why does he make me so nervous?
“I’m happy to be here, with you. I just…” he shakes his head, runs a hand through that beautiful hair. “I am a private man, Natalie.” He exhales quickly and closes his eyes like he’s struggling through some difficult internal debate before turning his bright blue gaze back to mine.
“It’s okay,” I hold my hands up in front of me as if in surrender. “I was just checking. No worries.”
I smile reassuringly and grab the happy hour menu before he can say any more. His change in mood and the reasons behind it are none of my business. We’re just out for a drink.
Let’s keep it light.
He smiles at me and I’m rescued from having to start small talk by Flirty Waitress taking our orders.
Luke raises an eyebrow in my direction. “What would the lady like?”
“A margarita, on the rocks, no salt, extra lime.” My eyebrows climb when the waitress’ cheeks redden and the only acknowledgement to my statement is her scribbling ferociously on her notepad.
Luke is hot, I can’t blame her for paying attention to him, yet something primal in me wants to scratch her pretty brown eyes out.
And he’s not even mine.
Luke chuckles. “Make it two.”
“You bet. Anything else?” she asks Luke, pointedly ignoring me, and I smile to myself as Luke hardly spares her a glance before muttering, “No thanks.”
“I deserve a margarita after the day I’ve had.” I sip my water.
“And what kind of day was that?”
Luke leans forward and I love that he genuinely looks interested.
“Well,” I sit back look up at the ceiling like I’m deep in thought. “Let’s see. I couldn’t sleep much last night, so I decided to take an early morning walk to get some work done. At which point, I was almost mugged.” I look back at him and give him a sarcastic look of horror. Luke laughs, a full out belly laugh, and my own belly clenches down again. Holy Jesus, he’s so beautiful!
“And then…?”
“And then, after I made my very daring escape,” I smile at him and he is grinning from ear to ear, his chin resting in his palm. “I went home, had breakfast with my roommate, then took a short nap.”
“I would have loved to see that.” His eyes have narrowed and I feel myself blush.
“Loved to see me have breakfast with my roommate?”
“No, smart ass, loved to see you nap.”
“I’m sure it’s not that exciting.” I thank her for my drink and take a long sip. Oh, that’s good.
“And when you woke up?”
“You really want to know about my whole day?”