even care about my faux pas. I just shrug. “I mean, not some standard stuff out of the bottle. Homemade. Pickle, onion, white vinegar, cornstarch. Sugar.”
David makes a face.
“I promise it’s good. If I had made this burger, that’s what I would have done.”
“It’s nice to see you confident. Unusual, but nice. You cook?”
I decide to ignore the first part of his statement. “Yeah, I enjoy it. Actually, our parents own a diner so I kind of grew up around food.”
“Interesting,” he pauses to grab a fry, dipping it in barbecue sauce. “So that’s how you got interested in cooking. You do it a lot?”
“Yeah. I like to create my own recipes. I keep them all in this one notebook.”
“Ah yes. I remember,” he chuckles, “I thought you were kidding about it being recipes. I thought it was a journal.”
“It kind of is. I think food and emotion are strongly linked. My compositions come from emotional places. There’s something for every mood. Romance. Family. Comfort.”
“Hm. I never thought about it that way. So what’s your parents’ spot called? The Parkhurst Grill?”
“It’s Parkville!” I say, annoyed, before realizing that he’s joking.
“Parkville, Missouri. I remember. And I know that you’re still living there with your parents.”
“How did you know?!” We’ve barely talked about anything personal up until now and I definitely didn’t tell him I still stay with Mom and Dad.
“Your sister mentioned it.”
I flash back to Deanna’s comment. She’d asked how much money I had saved and I’d told her 20k. Her biting response drums through my brain now—I guess it’s easy to save up when you’re still living at home with Mom and Dad.
“Right. I forgot.” I can hear how disheartened my voice sounds at the memory. I put my half-eaten burger down and wipe my hands on a white linen napkin.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed by,” David says quickly. “I lived with my mom until I was 23.”
“Really? And then you got your own place?”
“Then I moved to Vegas.”
“You weren’t born here?” This revelation astounds me. David is so cool and calm and in control here. He’s stylish and elegant, and used to the lavish lifestyle of Las Vegas. I’d just assumed he grew up here. He just fits in this town.
“I grew up in a town that’s probably a lot like Parkville, actually.” He grins at my surprise. “Born and raised in Jamestown, Kentucky.”
My jaw literally drops and I’m thankful I’ve already swallowed that bite of burger I had in my mouth a moment ago.
“I’ve never heard of it,” I admit.
“There’s no reason why you should have. Population is about ten-thousand.”
“That’s twice what we’ve got in Parkville at least.”
“Jesus, you live in a town with only five-thousand people?” David shakes his head, but probably seeing the hurt look on my face, stops himself short. “Well, Vegas must be quite the shock after that.”
“It’s definitely different. I haven’t even been here a full week and I’ve already seen things that I never saw before in Parkville.”
“Like what?” His eyes are already lighting up in anticipation.
“Well, a burger served on a silver tray, for one thing.” I gesture towards our food. “And on my first day I saw a guy dressed up like Elvis walking hand-in-hand with a woman dressed like Marilyn Monroe. She was so beautiful. I mean, all the women here are beautiful.”
“Well, the plastic surgeons here keep busy getting them that way,” David remarks with a flick of his brow. “There’s pretty girls, yes. But natural beauty is hard to find.” His eyes pause on mine as he says the last words…and I feel that familiar tingle between my legs.
“That’s actually what a guy at the pool used as his pickup line.” I giggle. “He told me that he hadn’t seen a pair of real tits in years.”
David bursts out laughing and I feel a warmth in my chest at the thought that I’m the one who brought this out of him. “Sounds like quite the Prince Charming,” he gets out the words between laughs. “I guess you didn’t mind Mike chasing him away after all.”
“How did you know that Mike was the one who intervened? I thought you said you were too busy with work all day to monitor me constantly.” I look at him slyly.
“Well, I did happen to catch that one incident on the security monitors.” He holds his hands up in a mock defensive stance. “You got me. I stopped by the security hub where we monitor all activity right before my lunch