CHAPTER 9 #2
“No meat to cook.” Arwen winked at her. “You usually get your food faster.”
“Another added benefit,” Iro said.
The appetizers arrived right after the waiter had finished pouring their wine, so he set all the plates between the two of them and left them alone again.
“What should we try first?” Iro asked.
“Try the hummus. I’ll try the rice. Then, we’ll switch.”
“Or…” Iro faded out before she picked up a piece of the country bread served with the hummus, dipped it, and held it out for Arwen to bite into.
Arwen leaned over and tried her best to take a delicate bite so as not to make a mess. When she started chewing, she couldn’t believe how good it was.
“It’s amazing,” she noted as she held a hand over her mouth to cover her chewing from view.
Iro dipped the remaining piece of the bread and took a bite herself.
“Yes, it’s excellent,” she said when she was done chewing. “Your turn.”
“I never thought I’d be one of those people,” Arwen joked to try to reduce the intensity of the moment somewhat as she took a piece of the crispy rice that resembled sushi and held it out for Iro to taste.
When Iro took the whole thing and ended up touching her fingers with her mouth before leaning back to chew, Arwen leaned back as well because that was, embarrassingly, the sexiest thing she’d ever done in her life, and yes, she was including all the times she’d ever had sex.
“Delicious,” Iro said, looking at her in a way that made her swallow. Then, Iro wiped her mouth with the provided tan cloth napkin that had been in her lap and asked, “You’re not going to have one?”
“Oh, yeah. Right.”
Arwen cleared her throat and felt like she’d been doing that a lot lately before she picked one up and bit into it.
“Just eat the whole thing, Arwen. You know you want to.”
‘I would happily eat you up,’ Arwen thought to herself before she took the other half into her mouth and chewed. She smiled through it because, damn, if this wasn’t the best vegan food she’d ever had.
“We have to come back here,” she suggested. “It’s so good.”
Iro held up her wineglass and nodded to Arwen, who did the same.
“To many more dates like this, and as many of them as you want here,” Iro said.
They clanked glasses, and Arwen took a sip as she processed that statement. Most people hesitated to even commit to a second date while still at the beginning of their first, but Iro was suggesting they not only have one more, but many.
“How is it?” she asked Iro about the wine.
“It’s surprisingly good. As I said before, I’ve never had vegan wine. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it’s enjoyable.”
“Not six thousand dollars of enjoyable, though, right?” Arwen teased.
“Did you look it up?”
“Zara did. She told me the next day that what you gave her was close to six thousand dollars a bottle. She finished it, by the way, and she loved it.”
“I’m glad,” Iro replied. “I’ll get her another, and she can drink it on a special occasion.”
“What? No,” she said, laughing a little. “You don’t have to buy my friend expensive wine, Iro. I’ll go out with you again without it.”
“Arwen, remember what I told you about having money? I have it. I like to spend it on things that matter. Good wine matters. I’ve had a lot of bad wine in my life, which is why I don’t usually care for it, but good wine is special and should be shared with people.
If Zara can’t afford good wine, I can at least get her a bottle to keep for a special occasion.
Perhaps, she’ll even open it on her wedding day with her future spouse. She’s unmarried, yes?”
Arwen laughed a little and said, “Yes, she’s unmarried. I swear, sometimes you sound like an old British person from Shakespearean times.”
Iro looked around and asked, “Where did you go to law school?”
“No segue? Okay. I went to Ohio State. Virginia for undergrad. Then, Ohio for law school. Graduated and moved here when I got the job at my firm.”
“You’ve been there since law school?”
“I had a professor who knew I wanted environmental law, and he was old colleagues with the firm’s founding partner. He got me an interview. I got the job. I liked it and never left. I’ll be a partner next year, maybe, or the year after. It just depends on how this case goes.”
“Case?”
Arwen picked up a piece of the bread, dipped it into the hummus, held it out for Iro, and asked, “Do you really want to be bored?”
“I can’t imagine anything you’d say would bore me, sweet Arwen,” Iro replied before taking a bite and licking her lips as she stared deeply into Arwen’s eyes.
◆◆◆
“That was the best meal I’ve ever had,” Arwen shared when they arrived on the sidewalk.
Iro’s free hand was on the small of her back while her other was holding her phone to her ear.
“The car is on its way. He got stuck a few blocks over.”
“No problem. It’s a nice night,” she said.
“Yes, it is,” Iro replied and turned to her, moving one hand to Arwen’s hip and the other to her cheek. “Remember how I said I’m old-fashioned?”
“Yes,” Arwen said.
“Well, I am, but you look so beautiful right now, Arwen. Will you please allow me a brief kiss? Just something to hold me over until–”
Arwen cut her off by leaning in and gently pressing her lips to Iro’s.
She’d only meant it to be a chaste kiss, but she couldn’t stop herself from deepening it when Iro seemed to want the same.
They stood there, on the sidewalk, as people walked by them, and Arwen wrapped her arms around Iro’s neck.
Iro’s went around her waist, pulling her closer.
When Arwen felt Iro’s tongue slip into her mouth, she moaned.
She was in public, and she moaned. She couldn’t believe this was happening.
As much as she wanted to take this further, though, she knew she wasn’t ready for that yet, and it appeared Iro wasn’t, either, because she pulled out of the kiss after it ended naturally and pressed her lips to Arwen’s forehead.
“Wow,” Arwen said, unable to stop herself.
Iro pulled her in tighter, and they were hugging on the sidewalk now, with Arwen pressing her lips to Iro’s neck and Iro pressing against hers.
“Yes, wow,” Iro whispered softly into her ear before she pulled away when the car arrived.