Page 30 of Cognac Secrets
“That this won’t turn into a whole lot of benefits without much friends. I’ve been burned… a lot,” I confessed.
“It’s okay,” he said. “You don’t have to believe me. I’ll prove it. Just enjoy the ride.”
I gave him one long slow blink and said, “I’ll try.”
“Good enough,” he said, and his expression was inscrutable.
I shifted a bit nervously and asked, “You aren’t mad or offended, are you?”
“No,” he said simply. When I continued to fidget, he expanded and said, “Not at all. I promise.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Why are you so nervous all of a sudden? Are you uncomfortable?”
“Yes,” I uttered, telling the truth.
“Why?” he asked simply and gave my fingertips a light squeeze. I froze and told the truth.
“You’re next to impossible to read, and it puts me on edge.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “Rough upbringing?”
“Kind of,” I murmured. “Is it that obvious?” I took my hand back and tucked both between my thighs under the table, hunching my shoulders a bit.
“No,” he said. “That one was a lucky guess.”
“Ah,” I said. “Sorry,” I stammered. “I’m not really good at this, I guess.”
“You’re fine,” he said. “I like that.”
“Yeah?” I asked with a bit of a laugh.
“You’re something else,” he said. “You’ve got this sweetly innocent and almost childlike glee with the way you operate in the world around you. Like you haven’t lost your sense of wonder. But, at the same time, you know things. You’ve seen things, but you haven’t let it change you. I like that about you. I like that about you a lot, actually.”
I stared at him without blinking, my fidgeting stilling as I drank in his so-serious face.
Holy shit, he’sdeadserious, I thought to myself.
“Thank you,” I murmured. “That has to be one of the nicest things anyone has said about me to me.”
“No problem,” he said.
Our waiter returned and set our food in front of us.
“Can I get you anything else?” he asked.
“No, thank you,” I muttered.
“I’m good,” Bennie told him.
“Be back to fill your drinks when they get a little lower,” he said.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
“No sweat,” he said and he turned and bustled off to another table.
We started eating and it morphed into a fairly comfortable silence… but for my heart beating so rapidly in my chest.
