Page 14 of Gone for You

“Probably not.”

“I think I’ll leave the list of names and the details as to how you got them for another time. Feels more like second or third date conversation.”

She gives me a shy look at my assumption that I’ll be seeing her again, which would seem impossible to accomplish since she’s currently sporting chipmunk cheeks, but she somehow pulls it off. Liv nods, covers her mouth to finish chewing because the bite of frosting covered dough wasthatmassive, mumbles, “Debibity.”

“What was that? I think you tried saying definitely but you were too busy eating.”

“I can’t help it! It’s delicious,” she says much more clearly now.

She drops her hand, takes a sip of her now spicy tomato juice. Makes a loud “Ahhhh,” noise. Finally settled, she watches me carefully as I tear off a hunk of roll with my fork.

Not wanting to be outdone by her show, I provide one of my own. I slowly lift it to my lips with her watching me, slide the fork into my mouth, licking the thick frosting off seductively, moaning like it’s the best damn thing I’ve eaten in a year. Which, I have to admit, it is pretty freaking amazing. My tongue snakes out, tasting the sweetness left on my upper lip. Heat flares in her eyes. Her tongue mimicking my own. I don’t even know if she’s doing it on purpose or just caught up in the moment. “You’re right. This cinnamon roll is fucking delicious.” I get another bite on my fork and aim it in her direction. She opens up, thoroughly amused. I place it in her mouth, her full lips close around my fork, our eyes never stray from one another’s. Liv sits back just slightly and I pull the fork out of her mouth, then lick off the last of the frosting. “Mmm. Even better.”

“Oh my gosh! Eth!” I love it that she calls me Eth instead of Ethan. No one calls me Eth and now it’s just for her. She fans her face and looks around, plops her elbow on the table, drops her head in her hand. Her shoulders are shaking and she’s trying not to laugh, which makes her snort in the process, which then makes her laughter grow until it becomes contagious and both of us are practically doubled over.

Amber comes over with a tray, giving us the side eye and probably wondering if we added a little vodka into our juice. She sets our plates in front of us, moving things around on the small table as best she can to make room for the plethora of plates.

Olivia works hard to suppress her laughter but she’s doing a shit job of it. And so is Amber, who finally just walks away, looking confused but completely entertained by us. Not only does it look like we’ve ordered a buffet of food, but we’re also staring at each other like a couple of love struck idiots.

After she walks away, Liv blows out a breath, eyes taking in the extreme number of plates. “We might be here a while.”

“Fine with me.”

“Yeah? Me too. So are you ready for this?”

“Ready for what?” she asks, eyes scrunched together in confusion.

“Our first official meal together.”

“First. I like that.”

“I do, too.”

Chapter 4

Olivia

“I’m tapping out.You should call it before you throw up.”

“No! You can’t! We’ve still got…” my voice drifts off as I take in the amount of food left untouched. I throw down my napkin and lean back, wishing I could undo my button on my fake jeans. I should have worn my Thanksgiving pants but I really didn’t expect to go completely psycho on ordering half the menu. “You might be right.”

“What’s that?” he asks, turning his head to the side and cupping his ear.

“Know of anyone who enjoys leftovers?”

His answering grin is smug as he stretches his arm across the chair next to him. “But, you wore your stretchy jeans and everything!”

“Apparently there’s a limit to the stretch I was previously unaware of.”

He throws his head back in laughter. It’s low and rumbly and delicious sounding. I want to curl up in his arms and let his chest rumble against mine tofeelthat laughter. When I walked through the door and saw Ethan, my stomach flipped over, my nerves getting the best of me. Hence, me ordering enough food for an army.

“More coffee?” Amber asks, snickering at how full our plates still are.

“Please,” we say at the same time. She fills us up and asks if we’d like a pallet of to-go boxes to load up our food. I kind of like her and how much of a smart ass she is.

I look to Ethan to answer. I don’t have anywhere to bring them since I’m leaving to go back home tomorrow. Which usually doesn’t bother me but right now it just makes me a bit sad. “Yes, that’d be great. Thank you.”

“Sure thing. I’ll be right back with the bill also.”

---