Chapter 16
They spent lunch at a lovely café in a Craftsman-style cottage that had been at Hope’s Turn for the past forty-five years. Run by the same family and now in the hands of a talented husband and wife team, Lorelei’s made comfort food full of flavor and not shy on calories.
“I am going to have to run extra tonight.” Damon patted his flat stomach.
“You’re running?”
“Slowly, nothing but a light jog. But yeah. I’m healing fast.”
“That’s good.” She wanted to focus on him, but her meal was stealing her will to do anything but eat. Marlie didn’t know where Damon put it all, but she couldn’t blame him. “You seriously have to try this meatloaf.”
“If you insist.” He leaned over the table and opened his mouth.
She put a forkful of food between his lips, fascinated with the way he chewed his food. Man. How the heck did he make eating so sexy? And why did it feel normal and not weird to feed him from her own fork?
“This is fantastic.”
“Right?” She smiled. “I like food.”
“I can tell.”
“Really?” she asked wryly.
He flushed. “That’s a compliment. I like that you like food. I do too. Not that you’re big or anything. I mean, you’re tall. Great rack. But you’re muscular. Though I wouldn’t care if you were big, just as long as you have boobs.”
“Such a flatterer.”
He grinned. “Yeah, I’m smooth. Like butt-ah.’
“Emphasis on the ‘butt.’”
He snickered.
An old man walked slowly by their table, his shoulders hunched, his hair snow-white. He frowned at Damon. “You suck, Demon.”
“So does your mother.” Damon flipped the old guy off.
Marlie watched in shock.
The old man harrumphed and returned to his wife, grinning. “Did you see that? He gave me the finger!”
“Way to go, Henry. You’ve still got it,” his wife encouraged.
Marlie shook her head at her obnoxious date. “Totally making friends everywhere you go,” she deadpanned.
“Nah. I know the type. They want the tough-guy interaction.” He lowered his voice.
“Plus, I know Henry. He lives a few blocks over from my folks. Used to own a gas station on the south side of town. My sister saved his dog from a coyote once and got free slushies for a year. You’d think he’d like me for that alone. ”
“I have got to meet your sister.”
He grunted. “You’d like her. She’s super bossy.”
Marlie grinned.
He grinned back. “You like me. Admit it.”
She couldn’t help laughing. “So what if I do?”
“Oh, are you trying to pick a fight, Ms. Mean?”
“Why? You going to shove me into the boards if I do?”
“I would, but there aren’t any boards around here. Now if we could just find a headboard, I’d shove you all kinds of ways.” He wiggled his brows.
She couldn’t help blushing. “Stop it. There are kids in this place.”
To be fair, Lorelei’s served breakfast and lunch and had all but cleared out. Still, a teenager sat nearby.
“And how exactly do you think those kids came to be? Pretty sure the stork didn’t actually bring them. What are you teaching in school?”
“You are so annoying.”
He seemed too pleased with himself, so she let him think he’d won their verbal skirmish while she polished off her meal. “I admit I was impressed with your coaching.”
“Yeah? You’re the expert. What could I do better?”
Surprised he seemed to mean the question, she thought about it. “Well, I’d be a little less heavy on the insults. You don’t need to call your players dipshits all the time.”
“Noted.”
“But the positive reinforcement was nice. The examples too. A lot of people have trouble with instruction. Seeing a demonstration helps a lot. Too bad you couldn’t have showed them yourself. But using my brothers to beat up on each other was inspiring.”
“That was for you, you know. An early Christmas gift.”
She blinked at him prettily. “Oh, Damon. Thank you so much!”
He chuckled. “Anything for you, honey bunches.”
“Outstanding. I want cake.”
After they’d ordered the restaurant’s famous date cake, she toyed with her drink while he studied her.
“Speak,” she ordered. “I can see smoke coming out of your ears, you’re thinking so hard.”
He rolled his eyes. “What are your plans next week? I figure you’ll probably see your brothers win tomorrow.”
“Confident much?”
“Um, yeah. They don’t call me Demon Sinclair because I’m a nice guy.”
“Oh? I thought you had fans who can’t spell and confused the A and the E.”
He tried not to laugh, but she caught him.
“Look, Ms. Mouth, I—”
“Ms. Mouth, not to be confused with Ms. Mean.” This time, she rolled her eyes. “Not very creative.”
“Shut it. I’m trying to ask you a damn question,” he growled.
The teenager sitting near them stared with wide eyes.
Marlie turned to the boy and pointed at Damon. “This is what law enforcement calls ‘stranger danger.’”
Damon covered his eyes in embarrassment and groaned.
The teen grinned and said something to his father, who laughed.
“What’s that, dear? I didn’t hear you,” Marlie said sweetly to Damon, having the best time.
He lowered his hand and glared at her with that mean-guy look that made her ovaries sit up and take notice. “Are you done?”
She mimed zipping her lips.
“I was going to ask you to recap what exactly you want. You want a bad boy, right? Do I tie you up and spank you? Call you dirty names when I’m sexing you up? Will there be whipped cream involved at some point?”
She saw the teen grinning from ear to ear while his father asked for the check and pushed the boy with him toward the front.
“Damon, shush.”
“Hey, I’m trying to get to know you.” He grinned at the teen’s approval before the boy’s dad yanked him out of the room.
Marlie groaned. “I live here, you know.”
“And with any luck, that kid will tell all his buddies that you’re taken by Demon Sinclair. Then no one will ever mess with you again.”
“Up yours, Demon,” Henry called out as he and his wife shuffled to the front.
“Yeah, totally intimidating,” she muttered.
“Keep walking, old man!”
“Did you hear that honey? He’s scared of me.” Henry and his wife laughed as they left, so that only Marlie and Damon remained in the dining area.
Damon leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. He had his sweatshirt pulled back to his elbows, revealing strong forearms. Marlie couldn’t lie. Physically, Damon was totally her type. Large, strong, and powerful. But his brain and sense of humor turned her on as well. What to do about that?
“Now that we’re free to speak our minds, tell me. What exactly do you want from me? And how bad am I allowed to be?”
The bazillion dollar question. And one they couldn’t have here.
“They’re closing up. Grab some cookies to go. We’ll discuss this at my place. And wipe that grin off your face. We’re going there to talk. With our mouths.”
His grin grew wider. “Excellent.”
She felt her cheeks blazing but could do nothing but laugh at him. “You’re such a pain in my ass.”
“With any luck, that’ll be date number four.”
“Gah.” She left him with the bill and waited outside by her car while she took the time to cool off. She’d have to make sure not to lose him while he followed in his truck. Back to her house.
Where they’d be all alone.
Date number four? Hell, she couldn’t wait to see how date number two ended before they definitely got to date number three.