“Yes, please.” Luke sips his drink and I watch his lips pucker over his straw. Oh my.
“Um…” I clear my throat and Luke grins again, enjoying my reaction to him. “I had a photo session at noon, it wrapped around two. Then I made some deliveries around the neighborhood and ran into this handsome mugger I know, whom I am now enjoying a drink with.”
“I like that last part the best.”
Oh.
“And what did you do today, sir?” I ask and rest my elbows on the table, happy to have turned the attention back to him.
“Coincidentally, I couldn’t sleep well last night either, so I got up early to take a walk and enjoy the water.” He pauses to take a sip.
“Mmm hmm…”
“Then I made an ass of myself with this incredibly sexy and beautiful woman that I ran into.” I gasp and bite my lip.
Sexy and beautiful? Wow.
Luke’s eyes narrow on my lips.
“Did she forgive you for being an ass?” My voice sounds breathy.
“I’m not sure. I hope so.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I walked home to do some reading.”
“What kind of reading?” Mmm, this margarita is delicious.
Luke frowns a bit then shrugs. “Just some reading for work.”
“Oh? What do you do?” I motion to Miss Flirty for a refill, raise my eyebrow at Luke and signal for his refill as well at his nod.
“Why do you want to know?” He whispers this and suddenly looks ashen.
What the fuck? Is he really a serial killer? A spy? Is he unemployed and looking for a sugarmama? I dismiss that last thought, he wouldn’t be able to live in this neighborhood if he were unemployed.
“Well, now I’m intrigued.” I lean forward. He looks so uncomfortable; I decide to put him out of his misery. “But it’s really none of my business. So, you read, and then?”
Luke visibly relaxes, and I can’t help but be more than a bit disappointed that he won’t tell me what he does for a living.
“I also took a nap.”
I grin and look him up and down. “To be a fly on the wall.”
Oh, I almost forgot how much fun it is to flirt!
He laughs and it tickles me, making me laugh too.
“Then I went shopping for my sister’s birthday gift, and found the perfect thing.”
“Oh? And what was that?” I tilt my head to the side enjoying this flirty game, sipping my delicious drink.
“Well, there’s this brilliant local artist that takes beautiful photos, and I was lucky enough to find some of her work.”
He almost looks proud and it gives me a warm, happy glow.
“That’s great.” I don’t know what else to say.
“So, you had a photo session today?”
Whoa… change of topic.
“Yes.” I think I need another margarita if this conversation is about to take the turn I think it is. I signal to Miss Flirty and without asking him order him one too.
He raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you did portrait photography.”
“Why did you think that?” I ask with a frown.
“Because you said so this morning during our most unusual meeting.”
“Oh, that’s right. I don’t do traditional portrait photography.” I clear my throat and look around the bar, anywhere but at him, praying he doesn’t ask his next question, and grimace when he asks anyway.
“What kind of portrait photography do you do?” He looks confused.
I take a deep breath. Crap.
“Well, it varies. Depends on the client.” I’m nervous again. I don’t tell many people about this side of my photography business; I find that most people are too judgmental, and it’s honestly no one’s business but mine and my clients’.
“Look at me.” His voice is low and serious, and he’s not playful anymore.
Shit.
I look into his eyes, and swallow.
“You can tell me, Natalie.”
Oh, he’s so… sexy. And nice. Is that possible?
“Perhaps one day I will. When you tell me what you do for a living.” I smirk and kick him under the table and his mood immediately lifts.
“So there’s going to be a ‘one day’?”
Oh, I hope so! “If you play your cards right.”
“Sassy little thing, aren’t you?”
“You have no idea, Luke.”
“I’d like to learn, Natalie.” And there is that serious face again, making me squirm.
“You’re quite the charmer, aren’t you?”
Luke grins, his wide, gorgeous grin. I smirk again, and finish my third drink.
My head is getting fuzzy and I know I’d better stop with the alcohol.
“Another drink,” Luke starts to call for Miss Flirty, but I shake my head.
“I’d better go back to water.”
“Of course. More water for my lady friend and I, please.” The overly friendly waitress
saunters
away,
deliberately swaying her hips, hoping to get Luke’s attention, but he’s staring at me, ignoring her.
“What kind of movies do you like?”
Huh? Is he asking me out to the movies?
“I don’t watch a lot of movies.”
He tilts that beautiful head to the side and looks at me like I just told him that pigs fly. “Really?”
“I don’t have a lot of time for it.”
“Who’s your favorite actor?” He smiles, and I feel like this is some sort of test, but I haven’t been given the study notes.
“I don’t even know who’s popular right now.” I sit back into the booth seat and purse my lips, thinking about it.
“When I was a teenager I loved Robert Redford.” I shrug.
Luke looks like he’s been kicked in the
stomach
and
I’m
suddenly
embarrassed. Then that beautiful face transforms into his smile and his eyes soften as they take me in. “Why? Isn’t he a little old for you?”
I giggle. “Yes. But I saw The Way We Were with him and Barbara Streisand when I was fifteen and fell in love with Hubbell. He was dreamy. I don’t pay a lot of attention to movies.
There’s too much drivel out there.”
Luke laughs. “Drivel?”
“Yes! If I see a trailer for one more stupid vampire movie, I’m going to kill myself.”
He frowns again, looks around the bar and back to me, his eyes narrowed and apprehensive.
“What? What did I say?”
“Nothing.
You’re
just