Chapter Eight #3
“Hi, Chase…” Her sickly-sweet voice grates on my every nerve. “It’s so good to see you here again. What can I get you?” She pushes her fake tits out farther, but he doesn’t take any notice as his eyes stay fixed on me.
“Thanks, Tiff. We’ll have the oysters to start. I’ll have my usual Wagyu steak for my entrée, and Lyri can have the salmon.” He raises his brow at me as if to ask if that’s okay.
What the actual fuck?
Is he ordering for us both?
I’m half impressed, half annoyed, half outraged—that’s too many halves.
I tense. “Ahh, no… Lyri is hungry and feels like eating something with substance. Lyri will have the Wagyu steak as well, medium, extra whatever comes on the side, please.”
Chase’s face brightens with an impressed look. “I’ll have what she’s having.”
“Double it all. Got it! Any dessert?” Tiff asks.
Chase stares at me for the answer, seeing as I seem to be taking the reins with this.
“Yes, Lyri will have whatever the biggest, sweetest thing is you have.”
Chase smirks. “Lyri is still talking in third person.”
I steady my shoulders. “Lyri is doing this on purpose!”
“You’re a strange girl.”
“Woman,” I correct him.
He dips his head. “Woman. Definitely all woman.”
Tiff clears her throat, gaining our attention. “Just one dessert… to share?”
“Yes,” Chase confirms.
“Hell, no. You think I’m sharing my sugar? Oh, Chase, you don’t know me at all.”
He shakes his head. “Just the one dessert, thanks, Tiff.” She nods, walking off as I fold my arms over my chest.
“Your loss, big man. No dessert for you.”
“We’ll see.”
“I’m more than capable of ordering for myself.”
He nods. “I know.”
My eyes widen. “That’s it. Just… I know?”
“Mm-hmm,” he mumbles with the biggest smirk on his freaking gorgeous face.
“You really do think you’re a Hallmark hero, don’t you? Acting all broody, while putting on those ‘come-hither eyes.’ I see you. I see you, sir!” I point at him, a little too dramatically.
He places his hands on the table in front of him, looping his fingers together like this is a business meeting. “I think I’m testing the waters… seeing how far I can go with you.”
“Why? Why not be yourself?”
He sits back in his chair. “I need to read people in my job, see if they’re really as good as they say. I can’t read you. You’re all over the place.”
He can’t read me just like I can’t read him.
Was coming tonight a good thing?
He seems to sense my apprehension, and he suddenly sits forward, his hand rushing out across the table to take mine in his.
My breath catches.
Damn those fireworks.
His eyes meet mine. “Stop overthinking everything I say, Lyri. I haven’t met a woman like you before. Someone who knows exactly what she wants, but her life is a comfortable chaos. You’re a whirling dervish, and you’ve swept me up in your wake.”
“How very poetic of you.”
His eyes widen. “See? That! That right there is what I’m talking about. Your take-no-shit attitude. I throw shade at you, you bite back. I say something nice, you throw shit at me anyway.” He runs his free hand through his locks. “I gotta tell you, Lyri, you’re one in a million.”
I’m speechless.
Utterly speechless.
But I’m just not sure if it is a good thing just yet.
He removes his hand from mine, and I let out a long exhale.
“Thanks?” I reply, more like a question than an answer.
He chuckles. “You’re welcome.”
I sit back as Tiff brings over a plate of oysters and places them on the table. “Here you go, Chase.” As she bends, she thrusts her tits out obviously, but Chase’s eyes don’t leave mine.
This bitch, really?
“Thanks, Tiff,” Chase replies, eyes still on mine.
She flings her head around, stares at me, huffs, then turns, walking off like she’s annoyed.
I scoff. She’s pissed at me? The cow is hitting on my date.
Chase lifts his chin. “Jealousy suits you.”
I snap my head to him, my mouth dropping open. “Whatever! She is being ridiculous, though. Look at my boobs, Chase. They’re so fake and perky, Chase.”
He bursts out laughing, the sound so genuine it stops me in my tracks. “If it helps, yours are perky, too.”
My breath catches in my throat. “If it helps… your ass is perky, tight, and firm, and I could go on, but I won’t because it would be rude, Chase.”
He licks his gorgeous, plump lips. His eyes are locked hard on my lips like he wants to devour them. It makes my clit throb with need.
“Oyster?” he asks as he leans forward, grabbing a shell.
I groan in frustration while reaching for the seafood I’ve never tried, but I figure now is as good a time as any to start. I pick the shell up, assessing it. He’s watching me like a hawk. I don’t want him to know I haven’t done this before, so I just do what I do best.
Fake it till I make it.
Here goes nothing.
I bring the shell to my mouth, tipping it back. I wince a little at the coldness as the slime-ball slides into my mouth. Oh my God! I grimace at the texture, not to mention the weird-ass taste my mouth has suddenly encountered.
Chase chuckles.
Guess I’m pulling a face, but I pull up my big girl panties and try to chew on it. This thing squishes in my mouth, the flavor something I can’t even explain, but the tough and horrible texture assaults me at the same time. It makes me think of mucus, and I immediately want to barf.
Chase’s having a wow of a time. “Enjoying that?”
I can’t back out now.
I have to see this through.
“Mm-hmm,” I murmur as I try to consume the lump of incredibly awful goop. Inhaling through my nose, I prepare myself. Mentally building myself up, I count down in my head.
On the count of three.
You can do this, Lyri.
One. Oh God.
Two. It’s so slimy!
Three. This is the worst thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. Ever.
I close my eyes and swallow.
As it slides down the back of my throat, I feel my gag reflex kick in. I cough a little, and when I open my eyes, Chase has his arms crossed like he’s impressed I got through that awful ordeal. I stick out my tongue, showing him it’s gone.
He brings his hands together in a slow clap. “That was quite the performance, Miss Griff—”
“What?” I sit taller, defensively. “I loved it.”
You’re an idiot, Lyri.
I already know what he’s going to say before he even opens his gorgeous mouth. “Oh, really? Then by all means…” he pushes the plate closer, “… have another.” His smile is as wide as the equator, and I want to burn him just as hot.
But it’s a dare.
I can’t back out now.
I’m in too deep.
I plaster on some fake enthusiasm. “Mmm… delicious!” I lick my lips, picking up another of the disgusting little pieces of slimy snot ball.
Dammit! Why do I have to be so stubborn?
“Down the hatch…” I tense my stomach muscles, preparing for the onslaught. I tip the shell up to my mouth, letting the oyster slide in. My body shudders with the intrusion as I close my eyes, pretending to enjoy it. “Mmm…” I moan, but it comes out as more of a cry for help than enjoyment.
I start to chew, and suddenly Chase bursts out laughing, making my eyes open while he shakes his head at me. I’m momentarily distracted from the foul taste that’s lingering as I take in his hysterics.
“Jesus, Lyri! You’ll do anything to be an independent female, won’t you?”
My eyes bug open, which causes me to chug down the nasty thing. I gasp as my stomach churns from the intrusion. “What the hell does that mean?” I ask, then stick out my tongue trying to rid the god-awful taste from it.
He hands me my champagne flute.
I take it quickly, have a sip, and swirl it around my mouth to try and wash away any of the disgusting remnants.
“You’ve never had oysters before, have you?”
I swallow a large mouthful with a huge gulp while tilting my head. “What makes you say that?” I question defensively.
He picks up an oyster and puts it to his lips. It falls into his mouth, then he swallows it in one go.
No leaving it in his mouth.
Definitely, no chewing.
Wow! I had it all wrong.
He places the empty shell back on the plate. “A delicacy. A mouthful. Down in one go. Something you’d know if you’re a connoisseur.”
I slump back in my chair, rolling my eyes. “Well, fancy pants, not all of us are into aphrodisiacs.”
A slow smile creeps up his gorgeous face. “You think that’s why I got them?”
I shrug. “Isn’t it?”
He points to a sign over the bar.
I squint to read the small writing—World’s Best Oysters.
“Oh…” I sink into myself.
“I wanted to give you the best of everything tonight. Including the world’s best oysters.”
“Oh…” I repeat.
“You said that already,” he mocks.
“Don’t be a dick!”
He leans forward, reaching for my hand again. “Let’s start over.” He pushes the oysters aside with an exhale. “I wanna do this right.”
I link my fingers with his. The feeling of our hands being joined is strange, but it’s a good strange.
“Well, then… hi, Chase. I’m Lyric. Nice to meet you.”
“It’s terrific to meet you, too.”