“Why are you looking at me like that?”
My gaze flicks to Trey, but he’s completely oblivious to Jules and me, too caught up in whatever Tate is saying. My hand slides under the table, finds her leg.
Her breath hitches.
I brush my thumb over the material on her thigh, slow. Purposeful.
“Just remembering,” I murmur, locking eyes with her.
Jules swallows hard, then reaches for her beer, but I don’t miss the way her fingers tremble slightly against the glass.
And for the first time all night, she doesn’t look like she’s so sure about anything.
I pull my hand away from her and cross my arms over my chest. Tate has maybe three bites left before we can get the hell out of here.Thank God.
“So, what do you do for a living?” Trey asks, directing his attention toward me.
Before I can answer, Jules cuts in smoothly, “He works for his dad.”
“Thanks,” I deadpan, shooting her a look, but I don’t miss the way her lips curl into a smirk.
“Account executive,” I clarify. “Advertising.”
Trey nods. “Oh, so you sit behind a desk all day?”
“Sometimes.”
“I couldn’t do it, man,” Trey says, shaking his head. “I’d get so bored.”
Yeah? Try raising a kid and making sure he has everything he needs.
“Well,” I reply, keeping my voice even, “when you have a mortgage, health insurance, a kid to feed, and new clothes to buy every six months because he won’t stop growing, you don’t get the luxury of complaining about boredom.”
Trey chuckles. “I just couldn’t do it.”
And yet, here you are trying to date a woman whose entire world revolves around the kid I provide for.
“Yeah,” I mutter, pushing back from the table. “Working a nine-to-five is a real buzzkill.”
Jules gnaws on the inside of her cheek, a sure sign she’s uncomfortable.
“Well,” I say as I stand, “we really do need to get going. Tate has school in the morning, and I have a boring job to prepare for.”
Jules stands too. “I’m going to walk Tate out.”
Trey nods, then turns to me, extending his hand. I take it, if only because Tate is watching. “Nice to meet you,” Trey says.
“Yeah.” I raise an unimpressed eyebrow. “You too.”
I nod to Kona on my way out, then step into the cool night air. Jules already has Tate settled in the car and is waiting for me.
“Well,thatwas awkward,” she says with a half-hearted smile.
“I wouldn’t have ordered from here if I knew you were going to be on a date.”
Her smile disappears. “I know.” She crosses her arms, shifting on her feet. “I should go with you to drop him off at school tomorrow. It’s his first day back after the… fight.”
I open the passenger side door, setting the pizza down before glancing at her. “Let’s play that by ear.”
