asked for is to spend time with me. He’s not a bum and he’s definitely a decent person since he didn’t wake me up for sex that first night we met.
What have I got to lose? If things don’t work out between us then we’ll just go our separate ways. No harm done.
I come back out of the bathroom with my mind made up. But when I get back to the table, Vin is gone. Deflated, I sink down into the booth.
“You must have finally scared him off, you little cock block,” I mutter as Edward regards me with judgy eyes.
Then I see a crowd gathered around another table singing loudly. I sit on my knees in the booth to see better but it’s not until someone moves that I see a familiar silhouette in the center of the melee. Vin is belting out Happy Birthday at the top of his lungs. Then he switches to singing in Italian to the delight of the crowd, who end the song with whistles and cheers.
Our waitress, the one who just a few minutes ago was completely disinterested, is now beaming at Vin like he’s the answer to all of life’s problems.
“I can’t believe you just did that.”
“Why? It’s your birthday! Everyone should have a song on their birthday.” He waves at everybody before coming back to our booth.
His eyes light up when he sees I’m back.
“There you are. I didn’t want to start without you but it was a struggle. The food smells fantastic.”
He gestures to the huge platters sitting in the middle of the table. The ribs special consists of a half rack with grilled corn, macaroni and cheese and bread on the side. Everything here is delicious and guaranteed to give you a heart attack at some point. Not exactly the kind of food I’d expect him to be into but then again, he’s been surprising me every step of the way.
I settle back into my seat as he joins me.
“You have a nice voice.”
“Thank you. I was just trying to put a smile on her face. Working on your birthday is no fun.”
“No. It’s not.” The fact that he noticed someone else’s unhappiness is exactly the kind of thing that makes him so different.
He’s a genuinely good person. The kind that does the right thing because it’s right and not for points.
The kind of guy worth taking a chance on.
As we eat, he asks more questions about my life. What I like to do when I’m not working, what my hobbies are, what I’ve been reading. Then he tells me about himself. He’ll be twenty-six at his next birthday so he’s almost exactly a year older. He loves his family, football (or what I call soccer) and hates spiders.
We discover that we have a lot of things in common, more than I would have guessed.
He hates to cook.
He enjoys decorating shows.
Edward didn’t scare him off.
And that’s the moment I realize I might be falling in love.
The time passes too quickly.
He’s making a visible effort not to talk about anything heavy, I can tell, but he’s not hiding his interest either. I guess he could tell his destiny speech might have scared me off earlier today so he’s trying to keep things light. But nothing can disguise the burning intensity in his eyes when he looks at me.
After dinner we take our time poring over the dessert menu before deciding to get several to share. When Vin asks if I mind moving Edward so he can sit next to me, I find that I actually don’t.
“I guess Edward can sit alone. Maybe I’ll put him down for a little nap.”
He smirks. “Lullabies always worked when I was his age.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
After relocating Edward to the other side of the booth, Vin slides into the seat next to me. The booth that seemed so spacious only a few minutes ago has suddenly shrunk down to the size of a matchbox.
“That’s better.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering as they brush my cheek.
“Hi.”
Suddenly shy about having him so close, my fingers twist around my napkin. I wouldn’t have thought there was anything indecent about sharing a booth seat with a man but the way he’s looking at me makes me feel naked.
It’s unexpectedly intimate sharing the heat from his body. He smells crisp and clean like fresh air but something about it is completely unique to him. It makes me want to bury my