He grinned at Big Mac before lowering himself into the seat across from me. The smugness from a minute before had evaporated from his eyes, leaving an unexpected warmth in them when they met mine. “You don’t have any allergies, right?”
“Isn’t that a question you should’ve asked before you ordered whatever you just did?”
“Nope. If I’d asked you in front of him, it would’ve been pretty fucking obvious that I don’t know very much about you. Who marries someone if they don’t even know about their allergies?”
“I could’ve been a mail-order bride,” I suggested.
He smirked. “That’s not really my style. Call me old fashioned, but I’d at least like to know if shellfish is going to kill a person before promising to spend the rest of my life with them.”
“Would that be a deal breaker for you?” I asked. “Being allergic to shellfish?”
“Absolutely.” He grinned again and there was a hint of a dimple in his left cheek.
Damn it. Because that makes it better. Fucking dimples.
“I don’t have any allergies.” I focused on the sun setting over the ocean instead of the stupidly sexy man sitting with me. “Do we have to eat together? I was just going to grab a bite before going to bed.”
“You can still do that,” he said, folding his arms on the table and leaning forward. “I’m not going to keep you here against your will. I’m not a kidnapper either.”
“Good to know.” I kept my eyes on the water and the gorgeous streaks of crimson and amber in the sky.
Jaxon reached over and touched my hand to get my attention. It was nothing more than a brush before he withdrew again, but it still felt like I’d been zapped with awareness of how good his skin felt against mine.
“Okay, look, I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have pried.” He sounded so genuine that I actually believed his apology. “I won’t ask you any other questions about your relationship or your wedding. Deal?”
“Why did you?” He didn’t exactly seem the type of guy who offered women a shoulder to cry on and a tub of ice cream. Then again, I didn’t know whether he was that kind of guy. I didn’t know much about him at all.
He cocked his head, lifting one of his shoulders as he kept those beautiful eyes on mine. “I was curious. I’m sorry if my comment offended you. I have a habit of calling things like I see them and I often forget that my observations aren’t always welcome.”
“Thank you. I appreciate the apology.” I couldn’t blame him for being curious, but I hoped to the highest of heavens that he kept his promise. “But we already have to live together. Do we really have to eat together too?”
Sitting back, he wagged his eyebrows at me. “Married people usually do, don’t they?”
“Yes, but you’re forgetting the fact that we’re not actually married.”
He lifted his hand slightly and pointed a finger before circling it. “You’re forgetting the fact that everyone here thinks we are.”
“The staff sure do seem to know everyone.” A waitress who greeted us as Mr. and Mrs. Flinn proved my point when she came to get our drinks order. As she left, I caught Jaxon’s gaze and smiled. “So, Mr. Flinn, what are we going to do about our little conundrum?”
“I’d really have preferred it if you were Mrs. Scott.” He pursed his lips into a mocking pout. At least I thought it was a mocking one. If it was real, the dude had issues.
“Next time, you can make the reservations then,” I said. “Since I made this booking, we’re the Flinns.”
“Fine.” He sighed but I didn’t miss the humor shining in his eyes. “I guess I could be the new-age guy who took his wife’s last name.”
“Look at you, being all progressive.”
He winked. “As long as I get to call the shots in our marital bedroom, you can call me whatever you want.”
“You just have to have the last word, don’t you?”
“Yep.”
The waitress delivered our drinks, and I laughed when I realized Jaxon’s was a cocktail served in a massive pineapple, complete with pink umbrellas and a purple bendy straw.
“That drink kind of stole your thunder there,” I said.
“When in Fiji.” He shrugged and stirred the bright red liquid inside the carved-out fruit. After sticking the straw between his teeth and taking a sip, he let out a low groan. “I’ll definitely be having a lot more of those. Want to try it?”