Page 22 of Always Knew It Was You

“That guy you were talking to was so gorgeous,” one of them hisses at me as I take their next drink order. “Is he your boyfriend?”

“Uh, no,” I say, glancing back to the counter. Micah’s on his way out and throws me another wink as he leaves. It makes at least one of them sigh.

“He’s just a friend.”

I gape at the statuesque building in front of me, the name of which is embossed in gold letters.

“Juvia?” I turn to Micah in shock. “That’s the ‘halfway decent’ restaurant you were talking about? You got reservations to Juvia?”

Micah shrugs. “What, like it’s hard?”

“Uh, yeah. The place is very trendy on social media and they typically have a waitlist that’s months out. You’ve only been in town a single night; how did you get a reservation?”

“I’m Micah Landing,” he says as though that explains everything. He settles his hand on my back and leads me to the front door, where a hostess takes his name and then leads us indoors.

Unlike the Tiki Bar, which has that rustic vibe, and smells like hamburgers and fried fish, this place is the epitome of sophistication. Dim lighting, velvet booths, and plants growing through the sleek wooden floors. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It also has the perfect temperature and a subtle scent I can’t put my finger on.

The hostess leads us to a booth on a dais that faces a stage, where a man plays classical music on a piano.

That’s when I discover that not only did Micah get a reservation, he got a VIP reservation. Last minute.

I stare at him incredulously as he pulls out my seat.He must be a bigger deal than I thought.

“Thank you.” As I sit, I take a measured look around the room and suddenly feel weird about my dress. It’s the dress that I almost wore to the party, the polyester one that nearly drove Rachel catatonic. And now I see why she didn’t want me to wear it.

I feel out of place.

Micah wraps his hand on mine, drawing my attention back to him.

“Hey,” he says. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I sigh. “I just wish I knew where we were going sooner. I would have made an effort to look more presentable.”Not that I could afford to get anything nicer than this dress.

“You look great,” he says. “More than great actually.” His eyes run down my form again and he bites his lip, making desire coil inside me. He’s been throwing me looks like that since he picked me up at Mrs. Peach’s house, and it’s slowly driving me nuts with lust.

Something is definitely happening tonight.

In the next five minutes, a bottle of wine comes around, and a waiter silently pours two glasses. He places the menu down and then leaves, as I murmur a thank you.

Then I reach for the glass, needing something to help me relax.

“Oh, there’s something I wanted to ask you tonight,” Micah says, picking up a menu.

“What is it?” I tip the glass into my mouth, the cool, smooth liquid a balm for my parched tongue.

“What do you think about marrying me?”

CHAPTER EIGHT

MICAH

Wine sprays across the table, hitting me right in the face. The people at the tables surrounding us fall silent.

Luckily, I close my eyes in time, but some of it still gets me in the mouth. Not that I mind too much. It’s Carly. She could probably spit straight in my mouth and I wouldn’t care.

Now there’s an idea we can try later….

Holding that thought, I finally open my eyes to find Carly gaping at me pale-faced. Shock and horror fight for dominance in her expression. I wait for one of them to take hold while I take a napkin and wipe my face clean, trying not to crack up.

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