I held Spencer's dark brown eyes, and despite the perfection of that sentence, I couldn't seem to make my heart flutter. What the hell was wrong with me? This was perfect first-date material. He was a mastermind. Maybe there really was something wired wrong in my brain, and traditional dating would never work for me. I gave him a warm smile. "Beer, please, and your spiciest taco."
We removed our coats and sat on the bench, and I took in the charming scenery with its reaching vines and blooming rainbowof flowers. Spencer handed me a taco and a beer, and as I unwrapped it, rain began to fall against the windowpanes. I gave him a significant look. "Bonus points for aesthetic."
Spencer winked, unwrapping his own taco. "I didn't think the French restaurant was your style."
I bit into the beef taco, and then I moaned because it tasted like cilantro and fresh guacamole which dampened the heat of the salty beef perfectly. "Mhm," I groaned with my mouth full. After I'd chewed and swallowed, I asked, "Out of curiosity, what is my style? Give me your first impressions."
Spencer wiped sour cream from the corner of his mouth, and his eyes widened as he chewed. "Oh snap. Coming right out the gate, huh?"
"It's probably why I'm single."
Spencer gave me a sobering look, tilting his head to get a better look at me. "My first impression? There's no way you're still single." I guffawed, but he continued seriously. "No, I mean it. It beats me, but you're fun and smart. You play video games and you can take a joke here and there. Not to mention—" he gestured up and down with his taco. "You know. All of that."
I looked down at my cream sheath dress that I'd paired with thigh-high, velvet boots. "All what? Oh," I looked back up and quirked an eyebrow. "You mean, the taco body?"
Spencer choked on a laugh. "Taco body?"
"Yeah, it takesa lotof tacos to get this body," I said with mock gravity.
"And what else?" Spencer grinned, clearly willing to pivot to accommodate my joke.
"Croissants," I listed off, "spicy candy, chicken pot pie, and churros."
"I'm both horrified and fascinated," Spencer said. "What the hell is spicy candy?" Before I could answer, his phone went off,chiming several times in rapid succession. He looked down with a frown. "Sorry, I forgot to silence my phone."
Ding. Ding. Ding, ding.
I looked at his pocket with a hint of amusement. "That isn't serious, is it?"
Spencer wiped his hands on a napkin before fishing his phone out and glancing at the screen. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Define 'serious.'"
"Uh… patients dying?" I guessed.
"Oh, well, yes, that would be serious," Spencer agreed, tapping out a message on his phone before switching it to silent. He slid it back in his pocket, his attention fully on me again. "No, not that serious. My friend is having a crisis."
"Which friend?" I asked with a suspicious squint of my eyes.
Spencer gave me a placid smile. "Since you bring it up."
"Oh boy," I muttered, but humor lifted my cheeks. I gestured for him to continue before taking another bite of my taco.
"Let's talk about your roommate. How are things withthe situation?"
I was a little surprised Spencer wanted to talk about Knox on our first date, but then again, we were both his friends. Weren't we? Somehow "friend" didn't feel quite right when I thought about Knox. But "roommate" was starting to sound too impersonal, too. Puzzling over that in the back of my mind, I shrugged and said, "He has some plan to marry me or be fake engaged or something. I don't know. Either way, it's a no from me."
Spencer nodded, cracking open his beer. "It is kind of an unbalanced plan, for Rook. He's usually more level-headed."
I frowned, wiping my mouth with my napkin. "What do you mean? It seems like the logical choice. It's just that I don't want to ruin my reputation with my job, you know?"
"Logical?" Spencer snorted. "Logical would be staying at my place and looking for his own house while you live in the apartment for two years. Marrying you is not a logical plan."
"You… offered him a room?" My reality tilted on its axis. I’d never even considered that Knox had other options.
Spencer took a swig of beer. His dark eyes took on a mischievous glint I'd either never seen before or had missed completely. "I didn't. But he knew it was there."
I tapped my finger against the taco wrapping paper, thinking. "And this is what's making you angry with him?"
"No." Spencer's phone continued to blow up with texts, buzzing in his pocket. "At first, it was that he was being weirdly territorial over you. I like you, Gemma. You're gorgeous and single, and it was a no-brainer for me when I saw you."
