Page 61 of Ronen
“Well, not an ideal flower for a bouquet.”
“No,” I chuckled, “definitely not. You could show up Monday with some half price chocolate, if you really want to make it up to me.”
“That I can do. What’s your poison?” He held the door open for me, and we found ourselves immersed in a throng of people. “Milk, dark, white?”
“I was kidding,” I shook my head at him, as he gently pulled me behind him, cutting a path to the hostess stand.
“Shhh, I’ll just bring you a mix.” He decided, and I rolled my eyes, while he relayed our reservation to the hostess. She grabbed two menus and instructed us to follow her to our table.
“Not white,” I declared, as he held my chair for me.
He settled into his seat, smiling at our server as he took his menu from her.
Flipping my own menu open, I looked at the mouth-watering options. “It’s way too sweet and doesn’t have any cocoa solids. Which means it also has barely any caffeine. I say it’s not even real chocolate, but alas it is. But just no.”
He quirked his lips at me, trying not to smile too broadly at my aversion to what I considered fake chocolate. Sorry, scientists could say what they wanted, in my book it wasn’t real chocolate and should just take its too sweet ass home. “Duly noted.”
Our server, who had patiently been waiting to get our drink order, also looked like she was trying hard not to laugh at my aversion. Instead, she told us, “We have a heart shaped pizza on special tonight.”
“That won’t be necessary,” I responded, not looking up from my menu.
“This is our first date,” Mason felt some need to tell her.
“Ohhh,” she seemed extra excited by this information, enough to make me look up from my menu. “How fun to have a Valentine’s first date!”
“Valentine’s is tomorrow,” I deadpanned, only to see her face fall.
Mason tilted his head at me, giving me a look that said I was being rude or something, but his eyes held the slightest hint of amusement.
“Ronen, I know your parents raised you with better manners,”Gigi appeared in the empty seat to my left, and I made sure to keep my eyes locked on Mason’s. Even though I wanted to respond so badly to her. Why was she even here? I didn’t need a chaperone for fucks sake.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized softly to our server, and even added a smile. The smile seemed to take her back for a minute, as she just stared at me, eyes wide. “First dates make me nervous without the added pressure of a romantic holiday.”
Never mind that we had already gotten naked and dirty with each other well before this first date. More than once.
“Another one ensnared by the Sinclair smile,”Gigi sighed.
When the server continued to say nothing, I looked to Mason for help, but he was also staring, eyes wide.
What the fuck is wrong with everyone tonight?
“Ronen, I told you, that man has heart eyes every time he looks at you. But now I swear, I see hearts above his head too. He gets that dopey look on his face whenever you smile at him. That’s what happens when you are always Mr. Grumpy Pants. When you start smiling, people have no idea what to do with themselves.”
Our server finally seemed to remember she had a job to do and shook her head like she needed to clear it. “Would you like to hear the other specials we have tonight?”
“Sure,” Mason told her, and she rattled on for five minutes about…well, I stopped listening after the second word because I already had chosen what I was having and couldn’t be bothered to care. That and Mason stared at me the entire time she talked, his amber eyes soft and tender. His look made my body heat up, warmth spreading throughout, clear down to my toes.
At the end of her spiel, he told her we would need a few minutes, and we placed our drink orders–a beer for him, and a glass of their house red that I knew was good–for me.
“We do have some games on the table for couples to play for fun while you’re waiting for your orders,” she pointed to two decks of cards. “Since it’s your first date, you should probably use the pink deck if you want to play. The red one is geared more for mated couples, or couples that have been dating for some time.”
When she hurried away to get our drinks, I sighed softly. “We’re in Valentine’s hell.”
Mason picked up the pink deck, doing an impressive shuffle of the cards. “Stop being so grumpy all the time.”
Gigi tossed her bright red head back and cackled, clapping her hands together.“Oh ho, Ronen, he’s got your number. This is going to be fun! I need to go tell the others!”
She disappeared and I could only assume she had gone to gather her band of misfit ghosts. Fucking hell. At least they had made themselves scarce when we had been fucking.
