“Tonight? As in tonight, tonight?” I ask, as if any form of clarification would help his request make sense.
He scratches the back of his head, dare I say, nervously. “We’re a team, right?”
“Right.”
“So yeah. I have dinner with my teammates all the time. Especially the Monarchs, since we’re new. Helps us be more… comfortable around one another, and therefore, helps us play better.”
“You wanna play with me?” I ask, confused.
When he doesn’t immediately respond, I hear the mental playback of what I just said and how it could have sounded. “Uh, I didn’t—” I scramble.
He chuckles. “Dinner, Morales. After Anna goes to sleep, we can order pizza or something. Promise not to make you eat the carbless prepackaged meals I have in the fridge.” He nods toward his refrigerator.
“Dinner. Yeah. Sure. Why not? Ha.” Real fucking smooth, girl. “I’ll, uh, yeah. Be here and so will you, and we shall eat. Later. Tonight.” I curtsy.
I fucking curtsied.
Then I spin and jam my finger into the elevator button more times than necessary. Why can’t I magically disappear as easily as Mateo does when he’s done mindfucking me? I swear he has the elevator timed in his head, so he knows exactly when to retreat. Yeah, that’s it.
“Isabella.”
Fucking hell.
“Yep?” I squeak.
“Do you have something against pizza? Should we order Thai instead?”
I can hear the humor in his voice but turn my head anyway and spot the smirk overtaking his handsome face.
My eyes narrow a bit, and right on cue, his smirk widens into a blinding smile.
The elevator doors finally open, and I launch myself inside.
“Pizza is great. Can’t wait. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I salute him.
I know he’s far too pleased watching me squirm, but I just curtsied, so I have no choice but to flee at a time like this.
The doors close to the sound of Mateo’s soft laughter, and I can’t help but join him.
I don’t think this is a normal crush.
My body shouldn’t be short-circuiting every time he’s near.
Especially if we’re entering a new phase of our relationship where we have dinners together. Alone. Without Anna.
I grab my phone and lightly smack it against my forehead a few times.
What am I going to do? I’m clearly not equipped to handle this alone.
I need backup. Hell, I need an arsenal of tools at my disposal if I have any hope of surviving.
Shit. I need girlfriends.
Without overthinking it, I shoot off two text messages before I hit the ground floor. I don’t know if either will reply, since I have a terrible track record when it comes to keeping up with friends lately.
But by the time Hank is driving out of the underground garage, I’ve gotten two responses, and a group chat is created for the three of us before I even reach Anna’s school.
I sigh in relief as both Denise and Nikki quickly go through introductions and start offering up ideas for a girls’ night out.
