something to eat? I really want a crab sandwich. I always try to get one when I come here.”
“Sure, give me the name of the place you want to eat and we can go there.”
Roman
“Okay, you’re seriously going to eat that?” I asked when the waitress set his food down in front of him. “I mean it was bad enough that the calamari still had little legs—”
“Tentacles, squid have tentacles, not legs,” he said, grinning.
“Whatever. The point is, they looked like something out of a horror movie, and now you’re eating something that looks like deep-fried spiders on a bun.” I shivered.
“Weren’t you raised here? How could you be from this state and never see a soft-shell crab sandwich before now?”
“I was raised in the state but not on the coast, and that is disgusting.”
“As opposed to your crab cake? It’s the same exact stuff you know.”
“Nope,” I insisted, shaking my head. “Mine does not have legs.”
He laughed and stuck his sandwich towards me. “Come on, take a bite, try it.”
I leaned as far back in my chair as I could so he couldn’t touch me with the creepy sandwich. “Uh uh,” I said, shaking my head.
“Fine, but you don’t know what you’re missing.” He took a big bite of his sandwich and let out an exaggerated moan. “Mmm, so good.”
He smiled at me. His real smile. Not his fake public one—but the one that caused little crinkles to form near his eyes and lit them up so they shone this unbelievable bright blue. He really was a gorgeous man, and the more time I spent with him like this, unguarded and real, the more I liked him. He was funny and sweet, and he cared about people. I wished he had friends and family around him who valued him for who he really was. He deserved that and so much more. We had chosen pier seating, and I watched as the boats moved by. If you ever doubted how powerful the wind was, all you had to do was watch a sailboat to see what it was capable of.
“So you said you sailed. Like that?” I asked, motioning towards a beautiful boat sailing by.
“I could, I guess. Our boat is smaller, and one person can manage it easily. I wouldn’t want to try to sail one like that alone.”
I pictured him out on the water, hoisting sails, and grinned. “I bet you could handle it. I’ve never been, but I always thought it looked like fun.”
“It’s actually nerve-wracking close to shore. There are so many boats, and sometimes large ships, but when you’re out to sea, it’s amazing. It’s not so bad upriver either, but yeah, out on the ocean is the best. I can’t imagine ever living where there isn’t water.”
I glanced back out over the water, and I could see his point about it being hard to navigate. “I’m more of a lake person, I think, mostly because of the people. There are so many people here in the summer.”
“You seem like a lake person to me,” he agreed. I looked back over at him. He had a little bit of the sauce from his sandwich at the corner of his mouth, and without even thinking, I reached over with my thumb to wipe it off. The second my thumb touched him, I realized what I’d done and froze.
I jerked my hand back. “You have some, umm, sauce. Here.” I motioned to my face where the sauce was. He blushed and grabbed his napkin, wiping it off. It was the first time I’d seen him blush, and it was adorable. Adorable was bad. Adorable was like my kryptonite. He could be stunningly handsome, and naturally, I would notice, but it wasn’t something that pulled me in. But adorable—now that was a dangerous thing.
“Anything else you need to do before we head back home? To the pool house, I mean. Anything you want to do before we head back to the pool house?” I needed to get a grip. I’d been with him too much was all. Next time Ryan called and asked if I needed a break, I would have to take him up on it. I pictured Garza laying out by the pool. He would be totally taken in by Trey’s good looks, and he was a horrible flirt. It wouldn’t even matter if he didn’t know Trey was gay. Garza flirted with everyone—it was just his personality. So not Garza. I would take him up