Chapter 14 #2
“Got no complaints, darlin’. Business is good, and Ralph hasn’t driven me to murder yet, so I’d say I’m on the winning side.” She propped her hands on her hips and gave us a knowing look. “So, is this a date?”
My cheeks immediately flushed, and Trick spoke before I could say a word. “Christ, Sally. Not you too.”
“Hey, what can I say? It’s a small town. Not much else to do but gossip. So…?”
“It….” I paused, turning to look at Trick before finishing my sentence. “Yeah. It is.”
The woman’s face split into a grin so big I worried her face might freeze that way. “Ralph!” she hollered back to her husband. “Ralph! You’re never gonna believe this!”
“Damn, woman!” Ralph returned on a yell. “You determined to shout this whole place down?”
“Oh, quit your bellyachin’ and get a load of this! Trick and Nona are here on a date!”
“You don’t say!” His big bearded face popped up through the pass-through. “Well I’ll be switched!” His eyes bounced between the two of us, and he declared, “Another one bites the dust! Welcome to the club, my boy. It’s a freakin’ blast. If you catch my drift.”
“Don’t be crass, Ralph!” Sally chastised loudly.
“Told you a million times, woman! My diner, my rules. Which means I’ll be as crass as I wanna be!”
Ralph disappeared from the pass-through as Sally grumbled under her breath before morphing back into the best waitress on the planet. “What can I get you two to drink?”
“I’ll just have a water with lemon, please,” I said through a giggle.
“Iced tea for me,” Trick added. “Thanks, sweetheart.”
“On it. Be back in just a flash.”
I began scanning the menu and encountered the same problem I always ran into every time I came to the diner. Ralph had daily specials on top of the regular fair, but every single thing tasted so good that it was impossible to choose.
“What’s got you frowning so hard?”
At Trick’s question, I looked up from the menu. “I can never decide what I want when I come here. Everything Ralph makes is delicious.”
“I used to have the same problem.”
My lips pulled into a grin. “Yeah? So how’d you fix it?”
“I just started going down the line. Every time I come in, I get the item right below the last one I ate.”
My head fell back on a deep belly laugh. “That’s really smart. So what’s today’s choice, then?”
He looked down at the menu, dragging his fingers along the rows. “Looks like it’s gonna be the mushroom and swiss burger.”
My stomach immediately let out a rumble. “That sounds perfect.”
Sally returned with our drinks a moment later. “You guys ready to order?”
“Yeah. Two mushroom and swiss burgers, seasoned fries for me,” Trick told her.
I usually loved the seasoned fries, but sometimes Ralph got in the mood to fry up a whole onion that had been cut into slices that was to die for. “Hey, Ralph!” I shouted, leaning to the side. “You got that deep fried onion today?”
“Sure do, darlin’!” he yelled in return. “Even made up my own special dipping sauce!”
Sitting up straight, I turned my attention back to Sally. “I’ll have that with mine.”
“You got it.”
Then she proceeded to holler our order to Ralph, and despite the chaos, I knew he’d remember every word, and that it would taste absolutely wonderful.
My burger had been demolished, and nearly all of the fried onion was gone. “Oh my god,” I groaned, leaning back in the booth and rubbing my stomach. “I’m so full I think you might need to roll me out the door.”
Trick pulled some bills from his wallet and tossed them to the table. “So how’d this one rank on your scale of first dates?”
I shot him a playful grin. “Well, the last first date I went on was back when I was nineteen. The food wasn’t nearly as good, but it was actually pretty similar to this one.”
Trick’s head fell back on a pained groan. “Ouch. That hurts. I really dropped the ball, didn’t I?”
“No,” I answered with a laugh. “You didn’t. I’ve been having a good time.” Reaching across the table, I placed my hand on top of his. “A really good time. Thank you.”
“Second one’ll be better, I promise.”
“Look at you, thinking you’ll get a second date. It’s adorable.”
“What can I say?” The gray in his eyes sparkled like silver. “I like my chances.”
Hooking my purse over my shoulder, I pushed out of the booth and shook my head. “All right, Casanova. Let’s go. I’ve got a cut and color in a few minutes, and if I’m late, you can bet I’ll be blaming you.”
Trick drove me back to the salon, and I was still floating on cloud nine by the time we arrived. He met me at the passenger side and helped me down, staying close once my feet hit the ground and caging me just inside the door.
“You in this with me, beautiful?” he asked soft and low, his sultry voice turning me into a puddle of goo. He was so close that all I had to do was stand on my tiptoes to feel his lips against mine.
I was having trouble thinking straight with him standing that close, but I somehow managed a stuttered “I th-think so.”
“Good. ’Cause if you weren’t, all those women staring at us through the window right now would be seriously disappointed.”
My head jerked around, and sure enough, there were at least ten faces pressed to the front window of my salon. The second I caught them gawking, they scattered like flies.
“Freaking busybodies,” I grumbled under my breath, wanting to do each and every one of them bodily harm for ruining a perfectly good moment.
“Baby.” I turned back to Trick to find his eyes alight with humor. “Kiss me so I can get back to the station and you can go deal with them.”
My body reacted instantly, and I went up on my toes to give him the kiss he’d just demanded.
The instant our lips touched, I melted against him, and he took over.
It was much shorter than I would have liked, but no less hot as his mouth opened over mine, his tongue dipping inside for a quick taste that made my knees wobble.
All too soon, he pulled away, and I had to force my eyes open to look up at him.
“The kids are coming back to me this weekend, but I still want to take you out. Think you could get a sitter for Thursday evening?”
“It’s Tris’s birthday,” I announced in a breathy voice. “I take them to The Groves every year to celebrate their birthdays with a fancy dinner. It’s tradition.”
“Okay. We’ll find another night.”
I had to admit, I felt a pang of disappointment, but I loved that he was so willing to compromise.
And it was for that reason I found myself asking, “Do you… want to join us?” Realizing that asking him to be part of a family celebration might be putting the cart about a hundred miles before the horse, I quickly added.
“You don’t have to. I mean, it’s not a big deal.
It’s usually only the three of us. But they really like you, so if you wanted—”
“Sounds great, baby.”
A girly voice inside my head let out a squeal of excitement. “You sure?”
“Absolutely. What time’s the reservation?”
“Seven,” I answered immediately.
“All right. It’s a date.”
“Yeah.” I smiled so big my cheeks began to ache. “It is.”