“Hmm…” I say. He sets his mouth in a firm line, but I know he’s trying really hard not to smile. “No dessert for you,” I say. He balks.
“But they have the best tiramisu here!” he fake whines and pretends to throw a mini-tantrum. Bria starts to laugh hysterically. He just nods. “Fine,” he says, sighing.
Bria goes back to drawing, and he’s still smiling at me.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get some tiramisu, and you can have some,” I whisper, hoping Bria doesn’t hear me.
His eyes relax, crinkling. He winks at me, and my heart stops.
We finish dinner in a relatively good mood, although Nick refuses to let me see his cut, and he eats with his left hand—something that amuses both Bria and I. He is so stubborn. And he’s right. The pasta carbonara is amazing. So amazing that I let him have half of my tiramisu. Bria doesn’t notice.
We surprise Bria with a cupcake and candle, and she says that five is already so much better than four, which makes us laugh. So much wisdom already at five years old. Nick refuses to let me pay for my meal—of course—and we all walk out laughing. I’ve completely forgotten about my run-in with Dan and Mia until I see Dan sitting on a bench just outside of the restaurant. Mia is next to him, and she’s brushing his hair away and putting an ice pack on his eye. It takes me a second to realize that they’re there, and when I do, Nick steers me away suddenly before they see us.
I watch, horrified, as Mia lifts the ice pack and examines his swollen, bloody eye.
Holy shit.
Dan’s eye.
Nick’s knuckle.
How did I not realize sooner?
Nick grabs both Bria and I and steers us towards the parking lot. A couple of valet guys yell at us. One of them comes running after Nick.
“Sir! The valet line is here,” he says, pointing to a stand about five feet away from where Dan sits with Mia. Now I know why he pulled us away so fast.
“I see my car right there, and we’re in a hurry,” Nick says, pointing to the grey Porsche and waving his valet ticket at the guy. The guy takes Nick’s ticket and runs back over to the stand, grabbing Nick’s keys.
“Here,” he says exasperatedly, handing Nick his keys. Nick hands him a twenty.
Smooth.
And all so I don’t see that Nick Wilder just punched my ex-boyfriend.
I look down and smile.
Oh, Nick Wilder totally has feelings for me.
*
I say good night to Nick and Bria when we get back to the house, promising Bria that I’ll watch Beauty and the Beast with her tomorrow.
Honestly, I’m afraid of what I’ll say to Nick. I know now that a normal employer would definitely not punch their employee’s ex-boyfriend.
Definitely not.
I’m confused, though. Really confused. It’s not that I don’t feel the same way, but I’m just overwhelmed. Nick Wilder overwhelms me. The way he makes me feel overwhelms me. The way his eyes crinkle when I say something funny overwhelms me. The way he’s always paying attention to the little things, like how I take my coffee, overwhelms me.
The fact that he punched my ex-boyfriend and didn’t want me to know about it overwhelms me.
“Night,” I call to Nick before I close my front door without looking back.
I know he’s watching me. I want to stay back. I want to put Bria to bed with him, and I want to forget that this is my job, and I want to pretend that he’s just some guy who thinks I’m pretty and who took me out for a nice dinner.
But I can’t.
Because this is my job, and he isn’t just some guy who thinks I’m pretty and paid for my dinner. He’s Nick Wilder.
And he just punched my ex-boyfriend.
He just crossed the line.
And I’m not sure if I’m ready to join him on the other side.
Everything is changing. I have to be careful.
*
I pace in my bedroom for a few minutes before deciding that I want Nick to know that I know. I’m not sure if he saw me see Dan, and I want him to know.
I don’t know why, but I do.