He sounded amused when he noted, “Your silent treatment doesn’t last long.”
“I’m talking to the ceiling,” I told the ceiling.
“Is sixty bucks gonna fall outta the ceiling to pay for the pizza?”
Say what?
I opened my eyes and tipped my head to look at him again.
“What pizza costs sixty bucks?” I asked.
Grinning at me, he lifted his long, attractive forefinger upward and said, “The ceiling’s that way.”
I rolled my eyes and plopped again to my back.
“And we’re also getting boneless wings, cheesy bread and cannoli,” he informed me.
It was good we weren’t ever going to go on an actual date, or anything beyond that, because it was obvious if we did, I’d probably have to buy workout clothes.
One thing was certain, he didn’t simply consume protein shakes and unseasoned lean meats.
I heard a rustling, which I assumed was him getting out his phone.
“Evie,” he called.
When being forced to eat veggie pizza was not on the table, I was back to the silent treatment.
“Evie,” he called again.
Great eyelashes.
Great hair.
Great lips.
Great fingers.
And he had a great voice, especially when he said my name.
I let out an exasperated breath.
Fingers curled around my wrist, the ice was pulled away, and I had another close-up of his eyelashes because he was bent to my face.
Ugh.
“I know what she told you,” he said.
I forgot my silent treatment and asked, “Who?”
“Mac.”
I remembered my silent treatment.
“She told you that you needed to sort my shit.”
I stared into his eyes.
Was that blue even natural?
It was impossible!
“But all that shit you spewed about your family,” he went on, and I tensed, but he smiled. Wide and white. “Mac is no fool. This isn’t about you sorting my shit. It’s her setting me up to sort yours.”
This, I did not put past Lottie.
And thus, I decided, when I saw her again, Lottie would be getting my silent treatment.
Though, hopefully I’d be better at it by that time.
I wanted to be wrong, but I was pretty sure I growled.
That only made him grin even wider before he touched my nose with his finger (touched my nose!), put the ice back and disappeared from view.
I heard nothing until I heard his phone clatter on my coffee table.
He then said, “I got us cheesecake too.”
Gluh.
I had, until then, prided myself that I never, not ever, put on a pair of yoga pants.
But Athleta, here I come.
“Now, babe,” he continued, his voice fading in the direction of my kitchen, “you got any beer?”
Chapter Three
Storage and Such
Evie
I’d fallen asleep.
Not good.
But before that happened, Mag had done an about-face after he found I had beer (though I didn’t like to think of it as beer, as such, considering it was only technically beer seeing as it was ale) and brought us both opened bottles.
It was then, proving he could be a decent guy, or at least he could pretend to be one, he’d shared that on any normal first date that was going to last at least six hours, for some of it, we’d be engaged in activities that didn’t require us carrying on a conversation to get to know each other better.
I ignored his double entendre after he suggested we eat pizza while we watched a movie.
I could use a reprieve from his attention, so I’d jumped on that with barely veiled enthusiasm.
Something he found amusing, and didn’t hide, so I hid how I liked that I amused him.
After I agreed, I ignored the squishy, warm feeling I felt when he asked if I’d seen any of the John Wick movies, saying he’d seen them all, but wouldn’t mind watching them again.
I’d seen them all.
And wouldn’t mind watching them again.
This indicating we might have the same taste in films, which, for me, was huge.
I then was forced to converse with him while icing my forehead and alternately sipping the beer he’d brought me.
During this, I learned his parents were still together, he had a younger sister, they all still lived back in Minnesota where he’d grown up, and his younger sister was imminently marrying a guy Mag was not altogether fond of.
He did not dive deep into that.
He also shared, not surprisingly, he was a high school football star who a couple of colleges had wanted to give a scholarship.
But as he had not been “super hyped to spend another minute in a classroom,” he’d gone against his parents’ wishes and enlisted in the Marines.
However, parlaying this information changed his affect so much, seeing it manifest itself in