Lucie was so moved by the way Reid was indulging the young boy she almost didn’t realize he was speaking in reference to her. “Oh! Yes, that’s a great idea. Would you like me to use your phone?” she asked the father.
The man’s face fell as he looked at his son. “Sorry, kiddo, but I left my phone at home so we wouldn’t be interrupted at dinner.” He went on to explain to Reid, “I only get him every other weekend so I don’t like anything interfering with our time together.”
The disappointed look on the boy’s face was enough to rip her heart out. “How about I take the picture with my phone and then I can e-mail it to you. Would that work?”
“Yes, it would. Thank you so much.”
Reid posed with the boy and his dad for a nice picture in front of the gigantic fish tank, and then he suggested a fun picture with just him and Austin. She laughed as Reid crouched down to Austin’s level and they held up rocker hands and donned some sort of fighter face with their noses scrunched up and their tongues hanging out.
After getting the e-mail address and ensuring both pictures had no problems sending, they said their good-byes to Austin and his dad and left the restaurant.
As they walked to the car she studied him from the corner of her eye. Suddenly he stopped and bent to pick up a discarded bag of food from the ground she’d been about to step on. Telling her to hold on, he jogged back to the entrance and tossed it into the garbage can.
When he returned she said, “That was really wonderful of you, Reid.”
“What, that? I didn’t want you to step on it. Besides, I can’t stand littering. It’s lazy, and I hate lazy people who, for instance, refuse to put forth the little bit of effort it would take to throw something away properly.”
“I was talking about what you did for Austin and his father.”
“Oh, that,” he said, smiling. “I’m not as benevolent as you think, Lu. I get just as much of a kick out of meeting them as they do me. Especially the kids.”
“Don’t you worry about the impression extreme fighting could make on young children?”
He slipped his hand into hers and she was surprised at how natural it felt. “A lot of people have issues with the sport of MMA. They call it human cock fighting. But they don’t pay attention to the extreme discipline and technical aspects of what we do, or the incredible sportsmanship it takes to shake the hand of a man who just literally beat the shit out of you. As long as kids are made aware of those things, like Austin obviously was, there’s nothing to worry about.” He shrugged. “There’ll always be people who misunderstand it. But I’d like to think they’re the minority.”
They arrived at his car and like the gentleman he was, he opened her door. Before climbing in she turned, tilting her head a little to the side as she studied him. “You really love it, don’t you?”
“I’ll always love the sport.” For a moment he raised his eyes to the horizon before returning his attention to her with a bit of a sad smile. “How much I’ll love being in it remains to be seen.”
It bothered her a great deal to see him without his usual to give him a kiss. She’d intended for it to be on his cheek, but the wine must have messed with her aim because she landed square on his luscious mouth.
For several seconds they stayed like that, frozen in time, lips pressed together, until the sound of someone’s car alarm brought her senses back. She pulled away and touched her fingers to her lips as if she’d just been caught doing something scandalous
“Not that I’m complaining,” he said, “but what was that for?”
She studied her feet in the strappy heels before looking up from under her lashes. “Because you’re a good man. And to thank you for a wonderful day.”
His wicked smile was breathtaking under the light of the moon. “Well then in that case, Miss Lucie Miller, I’m going to make sure you have a whole slew of wonderful days.”
Lucie laughed and climbed into the car, but her amusement screeched to a halt before he even made it around the car. If that wasn’t her most recent lesson in high-def, she didn’t know what was. Yep, she’d just witnessed a master flirt at work. And totally fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
Now she knew what it felt like for those women who Stephen turned his charm on for. She couldn’t wait to be on the receiving end of his dimpled smile. The one that said he couldn’t wait to devour his latest catch instead of the buddy version she’d always gotten. Yes, sir, the doctor wasn’t going to know what hit him the next time he saw her. She could hardly wait.
Chapter Seven