“I’d be a fool not to,” he replied smoothly, and she offered the man one of her pretty smiles. “There’s a nice place called Bennigan’s Steakhouse. I’d like to take you there.”
Bennigan’s Steakhouse? Silas hated the hell out of that place, with their shit chipotle sauce and tendency to overcook every dish. You’d only take someone there if you wanted to work on your Heimlich maneuver when they inevitably choked on a tough piece of brisket.
“What?” Christian asked Silas, turning to him, and Silas realized he’d harrumphed very obnoxiously.
With no way to play it off as a clearing of his throat, Silas diplomatically said, “Bennigan’s isn’t my favorite, that’s all.”
“Well, it’s mine, and it’s great,” Christian said to Raven. “So what do you say? Have dinner with me?”
“I can’t,” she replied with a sympathetic head tilt, and the tension in Silas’s jaw he’d not noticed building relaxed. “I’ve got a lot on my plate right now,” she explained.
“You’re killing me here, Ray.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But if I’m here in the fall, and you’re still interested, ask me again.”
“Oh, I will,” Christian said, tapping the table as if his hand were a gavel and he was making his intentions legitimate.
“Good to go now?” Silas asked.
“Yeah, let me use the washroom real quick, though,” Christian said.
When he disappeared down the hallway, Raven wildly gestured toward the electronic mess on her desk and said, “Okay, now to finish this.”
“How’s the setup going?” he asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he tried to ignore the sway of her hips as she moved about.
“I’m hopeful I can get it up and running early this afternoon,” she said before she ducked under the table to fiddle with wiring.
Silas could’ve called out goodbye and waited for Christian outside, but he unexplainably stayed put.
“What’s your favorite place?” she asked when she popped back up.
“Sorry?”
“You said the steakhouse wasn’t your favorite, so what is?”
“There’s a Brazilian restaurant an hour out of town that I like,” he replied.
“Huh, I don’t think I’ve ever had Brazilian food,” she said, pausing in her work.
“Unacceptable. You need to fix that as soon as possible.”
She looked at him and slowly smiled. “You’re not trying to ask me out, too, are you?”
Her question was obviously in jest, but it threw him. He struggled to come up with an appropriate response.
“Oh, I was kidding,” Raven said, her eyes widening. “I know you weren’t—”
“Yeah, no, I got it. I didn’t think you were…” Silas said quickly, and before he had to consider how to fill the awkward silence, Christian reappeared.
“Have a great class,” Raven said to them, and Silas acknowledged her farewell without meeting her eye.
ChapterEleven
Raven watchedSilas from the front window of the cabin as he taught a class. She couldn’t make much out from where she stood beyond identifying him from his stature and clothes, but he held her attention.
“Are you going to get that?” Halo asked and brought Raven back to the present where the photocopier she was standing in front of was blinking and beeping for more paper.
Raven quietly chided herself as she fed fresh sheets into the tray.
