"What?" I sputtered. "Why didn't you just tell me?"
"Because I wanted breakfast."
"But what does that have to do with anything?"
He took a casual drink of his coffee. "You might've said it didn't count."
"The apology? Why wouldn’t it count?"
"Because he wasn't there to hear it."
Some might say that Jack had a point. But his claim had a serious flaw, and I couldn’t help but smile. "Just admit it. Breakfast had nothing to do with it."
He speared a piece of pancake off his plate. "Why do you say that?"
The restaurant was crowded and noisy with the clatter of dishes and the sounds of people talking. Still, I lowered my voice to say, "Because you weren't so eager to get down here, that's why."
He grinned. "Yeah? Well neither were you." He popped the bite of pancake into his mouth and winked. "Don't blamemeif you're more tempting than breakfast."
I wanted to giggle. And, I wanted to toss something at his head, like maybe a napkin or possibly my panties.
He was quite literally the sexiest person I'd ever met. And he was flirting like crazy.
I'd never seen him like this, playful and happy.
I was happy, too. I loved spending time with him, in publicandin private. Even now, my toes were tingling from our pre-breakfast distraction.
"Speaking of temptations," I said, "do you know how frustrating it is not to pummel you with questions?"
He arched an eyebrow. "You can't betoofrustrated."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because you haven't stopped asking them."
"But that's not true," I protested. "You might not believe it, but I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping them to myself."
"You're right." He grinned. "I don't believe it."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Oh, stop it." I recalled our original deal, the one where I agreed to stay on as his guest under that "no-questions" clause.
I said, "Can I ask you something? It's about our deal."
"What about it?"
"Surely it doesn't mean that I can't ask youanyquestions." My face grew warm as I considered the events of the past day. "I mean, that would be a little unnatural, don't you think?"
He leaned back in the booth. "So what is this?" he said, looking surprisingly intrigued. "A renegotiation?"
"It's just a clarification, that's all. Like, let's say I wanted to ask you about the weather. Are you saying that I can't?"
He smiled. "What's with you and the weather?"
"It's just something people talk about, that's all."
His gaze met mine. "I think we both know the weather isn't the issue."
"See?" I said. "That's my whole point."
