Chapter 4 #3
“I’ve only talked to him a couple of times but know quite a few guys who’ve tried with him and haven’t gotten very far. The word is he doesn’t date. Not sure what that means.” He lifted a shoulder. “In any case he’s a nice guy. Always polite to everyone, really funny.”
Pri looked like Easton had just told her she’d won the ten-million-dollar Powerball.
“This is very promising. VERY,” she said, as she gave me a thumbs-up.
This was getting out of hand; I had to get Pri off of this. Mami did not need backup.
“Sure, he seems cool, but again, I can’t get distracted. I’m not interested in fucking around with random dudes.”
Right as I was done with my statement and feeling pretty good about my focus and determination, I saw Jude and Carmen walk in.
They had their heads together and looked like they were discussing something serious.
I was about to try and distract Pri when I heard her inhale loudly and then felt a hard pinch on my arm.
I slapped her hand away, glaring.
“?Cono! Pri, you gonna rip my damn arm off? The hell?”
“That’s him!” she said in the loudest whisper ever.
“I know that, but like I said, I am not here for that.” I made my point by taking a big gulp of my Beetarita, keeping an eye on Carmen and Jude as I swallowed.
I probably would’ve sounded more convincing if on my way here, I hadn’t been daydreaming about asking him out. I wasn’t even sure why I was being so stubborn, it wasn’t like there was a rule I had to be a monk to run a food truck.
Easton widened his eyes as he finished up his drink.
“I’m almost sad I have to get back to the office. This is certainly about to get interesting.”
He stood and slapped my shoulder. “Good to see you, man. I’ll be in touch.”
“Same here.” I nodded. “Come by the truck some time.”
“Will do.”
He gave Pri a big hug and a kiss and walked toward the door.
Carmen, who was standing with Jude talking to the tall man who’d come in after them, saw Easton heading out and then looked at the spot he’d left at the bar.
It took her a second, but as soon as she recognized me, she started waving her hand so hard her wrist looked loose.
She gave the man the ‘I’ll be back in a second’ hand signal, grabbed a slightly apprehensive-looking Jude by the arm, and came over to where Pri and I were sitting.
I refused to look at Pri as they came closer but could hear her giggles just fine.
“Hey! Look at you, only in town for a day and you already know one of the best spots! We just got out of work and needed to get a drink.” She turned toward the man she’d been talking to and waved him over. “My poor husband had to come down to pick us up.”
She pointed in Jude’s direction. “This one was working late, and I was catching up on a ton of paperwork, so we kept each other company.”
I looked at Jude and smiled. “Four times in two days. It’s got to be a record, even for a small town.”
He lifted a shoulder and gave me a bored look. “It all happened within the same four-block radius…so.”
“Oh, snap.”
Thank you, Priscilla.
For some reason his grumpiness made my pants tighten a little around the crotch area.
I felt an urge to get up and smack his ass, just to see what he would say.
He looked even sexier than this afternoon.
His clothes were a little rumpled, his hair messy like he’d been grabbing at it, and his lips were red like he’d been biting them.
I was staring.
Again.
After a moment Carmen’s husband, whose name was apparently Ted, walked up and she proceeded to make introductions.
She immediately started telling him about her work troubles and asking Pri what she was drinking.
Pretty soon the three of them were engaged in conversation, which left Jude and I staring at each other.
For a second I was unsure of what to do, because he was standing there silently, as if waiting for me to come out of my mouth with another asinine comment.
I was not one to push myself on a guy if my attention was unwanted.
So I was about to turn around and try to wedge into the conversation with the other three, when I noticed Jude making himself look away from my general direction.
He’d let his gaze land on my face and then run his eyes up and down my body.
After a few seconds he’d catch himself and look somewhere else.
He actually jumped a little, like he was telling his eyes to stop it with the staring.
It was fucking adorable, and it gave me the push I needed to put a lid on the last ounce of common sense I had left for the evening.
Before I knew it, I was standing up and moving toward him.
As I reached him, I took a moment to relive the speech from a few minutes ago when I told Priscilla about my priorities, and all the reasons why getting involved with someone was not in the master plan.
I took a deep breath and told the me from before to go fuck himself, because I was going to talk to this guy, hopefully buy him a drink, and let the evening take its course.
I stepped up to Jude, so close I needed to look down to see his face.
I smiled at him, held up my glass then asked, “Can I buy you a drink?”