Who's the Boss? - Erin McCarthy Page 0,61
the restaurant made me feel fantastic. Hell, the name had brought her to tears. I hadn’t intended to show her so much of myself, but what she’d seen, she seemed to like. Both of me as a man and the restaurant. So I guess opening up really did work, go figure. I wanted her to like me. Hell, at this point, I needed her to like me.
“I love it,” she said, as I showed her the small back patio. It could only fit six tables, but in the summer months when the population swelled, it would be great to capitalize on the extra space. “What kind of menu are you thinking about?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I’m trying to gauge what is missing in the area and how to balance being creative and innovative with what the town will support.
She reached out and ran her hands over the brick wall. The courtyard was fully enclosed by it, matching the front exterior of the building. “I love old things.”
“That’s why you like me,” I joked. “I’m forty, remember?”
Isla made a face. “Forty is not old. If you were ninety years old like this building, that might be different. Carla was after you, by the way. So stay away from her or I’ll have to hurt you.”
“That’s not even something you have to warn me about. I’m not interested in Carla. I’m only interested in you.” I was. For the first time in years and years I could think past today, past the latest hookup, latest date.
Damn, I needed to get a grip. Seeing Isla turn in a circle and take in the entire patio, a visual popped into my head.
Me. Her. Sadie’s. Running the restaurant together. Having a house. A kid or two.
It was overwhelming but in the most compelling way possible.
I’d always said I wasn’t going to go looking for forever.
But maybe it had gotten into an elevator with me.
“Carla just wants your body,” Isla said. “You should be grateful I saved you from being used purely for sex.”
That made me grin. “Oh, yeah, that would have been a fate worse than death. But I wasn’t ever attracted to Carla, even to be just a vehicle for her pleasure. Just so you know.”
“Can we just stop talking about Carla?”
“You brought her up. I haven’t even mentioned your little taste-test flirtation with Colin, the server who looks like an underwear model.” I reached out and pulled Isla close to me. I gave her a kiss, coaxing her lips open, so I could sweep into her mouth with my tongue and tease her.
“Who were we talking about?” she murmured when she broke off the kiss. Her lips were shiny, her voice low and a little breathless.
I loved how her voice softened when I got her aroused.
“No one. Should we try one of the local restaurants?” I asked, before I tried to talk her into sex against a brick wall in fifty degree weather. “Grab some lunch and see what’s what. Last summer I went to the pizza place, but I know there is a bar that serves pub style food that I’d like to try.”
“I can always eat.”
“Be honest,” I said as we went back through the empty store. Looking around, I realized how much work it was going to take, but instead of being overwhelmed by that, I was excited. “Admit it, you were dressing sexy to get under my skin. You wanted me.”
“To get under your skin? Yes. Did I want you? No. Not willingly anyway.”
“You wanted me unwillingly?” That amused me. She wasn’t going to give me an inch. It was a very Isla thing to say.
“Basically.” Isla bit her lip as I locked the front door behind us. “I feel like I should tell you something.”
“What?” I didn’t like the way she was looking at me. “Do you have a boyfriend in Canada?”
Isla laughed. “No. Shut up. No, it’s just that the first night we were in the bar, when Nico thought I quit and I said I absolutely did not want to quit, he texted that if you quit I was fired.”
I thought she was going to say more but when she didn’t I just nodded. “I’m not surprised. He sent me the same text. I had to play nice with you or lose my brand-new job.”
“Really? He sent you the same text? Interesting. Anyway, that’s what dressing sexy was all about. I wasn’t trying to get you to want me for my own satisfaction. It was more