Page 51 of The Himbo and the Lord
I look around again.
“Did you buy the entire restaurant for the evening?” I ask, and the brilliant smile that reaches his beautiful green eyes gives him away.
I suck in a breath. I know how much it costs for one person to eat here, so I have an idea how much it would be to buy every seat. It would be several thousand pounds for sure, maybe up to ten thousand given the short notice. That’s a lot of money to say sorry.
“Thank you,” I whisper. I’m extremely impressed, and it seems I’ve seriously underestimated him. I’m left wondering who exactly Nate Waterford is.
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
Nate
Two simple words,and they have so many damnemotionsblooming inside me that I’m using the word “blooming” in my thoughts, for fuck’s sake.
“You really shouldn’t thank me, this is the least I can?—”
“This is more than anyone’s ever done for me,” Ru says simply, cutting me off and leaving me speechless for a moment.
I guess it’s not too difficult to imagine that. It’s way more than anyone’s ever done for me too, but I’ve never been in a relationship. And okay, we’re not in a relationship either, but Iwantus to be...
“I guessed you’d like fancy restaurants, and I thought it’d be a good way to impress you. At least long enough for you to hear my apology,” I admit.
“You guessed correctly.”
I beam at him. Couldn’t stop myself even if I wanted to.
It took some planning, a very special favor from Chase Knightly, and of course more cash than I ever thought to spend on a date, but looking at him now, I know he’s worth it.
He’s worth this and so much more.
I would’ve cooked the meal myself for the chance to have him looking at me like he is now—like I’m someone worth his time, like he stared at me that first night we hooked up once he was done rocking my world.
Aaaand it’s better if I don’t remember that night too much or my pants will get uncomfortably tight.
Instead, I decide to get my head back in the game. This might be the date Ru deserves, the least he deserves, but I have an apology to make, and I rehearsed it a million times with Noah, with Seth on FaceTime since apparently my romantic trials are the only thing in the universe that can make him smile these days, and since—brat or not—she has proven to be smarter than me on numerous occasions, with my sister.
I owe you not only an apology, but also an explanation.I remember the opening of my monologue and open my mouth to begin, but the waiter comes over right then with a bottle of Castillo Otero—an amazing Rioja I’d specifically requested—and pours us each a glass while he tells us the menu we’ll be served tonight.
“I’ll be back with the first entree in a few minutes,” he says quietly, then leaves quickly.
“I love this wine,” Ru says after tasting it, and spins the bottle carefully to look at the label.
“Me too,” I tell him, as I watch his interested expression. “I owe you not only an apology, but also an explanation,” I blurt before I’m ready.
But I guess my brain decided Iamready, and with that same interested expression now aimed at me—though darker this time—I know it’s time to face the music.
“I want to say, just right off the bat, that pretending I didn’t know who you were in front of my friends was cruel and nasty and simply not who I am at all. There are a lot of factors that lead me to feel so panicked that I reacted in that way that night, but it’s still unacceptable no matter all the baggage I have. So for that, I can only say I’m sorry, and I can promise to never do something like it again. It’s not who I am. It never has been. And I regret it more than anything I’ve ever done in my life.”
That bit of the speech comes out exactly as I planned, but when Ru’s face doesn’t react in any way, well... I basically go off the rails.
“I mean, I even regret it more than the time I got high on mushrooms in Bali and had the worst trip ever. I saw glasses melt, and the ocean was upside down, and I was talking to a whale and trying to convince it not to eat me, but it just kept poking me and saying how delicious I looked. I cried for seven days straight according to my friends and they almost took me to a psychiatric hospital. Then there was the time when I went to the zoo, and Seth dared me to?—”
“Nate.” Ru stops me with a touch of his hand. I mean, he spoke pretty loudly too, which has me wondering if he called my name before and I just didn’t hear? But his hand on mine...
How can just the feel of his skin warm up my whole body?
“Thanks for stopping me. That’s not what I rehearsed.” I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a moment. I really need to get back on track here or he’s never going to want to see me again. A weird choking sound from Ru has me opening my eyes fast, though. “What?” I demand, worried for a second because he’s doing a weird twisting thing with his mouth and— “Are you laughing at me?”
I think I might actually be offended... but then he bursts out laughing.
