Page 62 of Ronen
“I’m not!” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest in a defiant manner.
He waved the deck of cards at me, “Your body language says the opposite. And I was just thinking I liked this side of you I was seeing tonight.”
Narrowing my eyes at him, I asked, “What side?”
He dealt me five cards and did the same for himself before answering. The waitress brought our drinks and asked if we were ready to order. When Mason gave me an inquiring look, I nodded my head.
“I’ll have the shrimp and scallop scampi, please,” I ordered, and she turned to Mason after writing it down.
“The lasagna, please, and an order of garlic bread for the table.” When she hurried to her next table, he gave me a small smile. “I love lasagna, but a whole pan is too much for even me. I tried freezing it once, but it just wasn’t the same.”
“How do we play this game you’re forcing on me?” I asked, not knowing how or if I should respond with my opinion on lasagna. It was fine, once in a while, but I could take it or leave it.
Mason looked at one of his cards, reading it. “I think it’s a get to know you game. It looks like we ask each other questions? There doesn’t seem to be any instructions, so I’m just winging it here. I don’t think the game police will stop us if we end up doing it wrong.”
Taking a sip of my wine, I picked up one of my cards, reading the question. “What if I don’t like a question?”
“Do you not like it for any other reason than you think it’s dumb, and that you want to be a complete pain in the ass?”
If I narrowed my eyes any more than I was at him, I might as well just close them completely. How did this man know exactly what I was thinking?
“No,” I finally conceded. “But what’s your favorite color is just...” I waved the card at him, “trite.”
Mason’s lips were doing that pursed, trying not to laugh thing they did. “Why yes, Ronen, that question is overused and lacking originality, but it’s also a very important question when you are getting to know someone. What if say, I were to buy you a gift and instead of getting your favorite color, I buy a color you don’t like. And stop sprinkling words in your sentences just to see if I know what they mean. It’s rude.”
“Fine,” I sighed, putting the card down. “Mason, what is your favorite color?”
“Thank you for asking,” he said sweetly, “it’s blue. But I’ve recently developed a fondness for green. At least green eyes. Now, I think we should both answer the questions, so Ronen, what is your favorite color.”
“Also blue,” I rolled my eyes at him, then said, “no yellow. If you were to ever buy me anything, that is. I don’t like yellow. It’s so sunny and…joyful. Blech.”
Mason barked out a laugh. “Well, we wouldn’t want too much joy now would we?”
Chapter Nineteen
Mason
Ronen made me laugh.
One, because he was genuinely funny, though admittedly, he had a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor. Some people might not get it, but I appreciated it. And his patience for people was genuinely thin.
And two, because he always looked like he was in a pissy mood, or annoyed by the world, and I liked teasing him. Even if he didn’t smile, his green eyes would light up with silent laughter, and I loved seeing that look in his eyes.
Oftentimes, I managed to get his eyes to light up with fiery anger, and I had to admit, I liked that look on him too.
“My turn,” I told him, shuffling my cards, taking my time to ponder which one I was going to ask him. Moving the order of them around in my hands, I peered at him with a serious look on my face.
“This date will be over by the time you ask whatever nonsense you are going to ask,” he took another sip of his wine, and drummed his fingers on the tabletop. The restaurant was quickly filling up around us with couples, and I was glad I had opted for a six o’clock time, planning the movie for after dinner.
“Am I boring you?” Picking a card, I held it out to read it.
Ronen sat up straighter, and blinked at me, some kind of realization crossing his face. Whatever it was, he looked stunned by it.
“No, actually you aren’t,” he admitted, sounding slightly baffled by the fact that he wasn’t bored.
Hmmm, I had a feeling Ronen got easily bored by a great many things. The man was smart–really smart–that much was obvious if you spent any time around him. Not for the first time, I wondered what he was doing, spending his days in a library.
Not that there was anything wrong with being a librarian, because there wasn’t. It was kind of a dream job in my eyes. But then I loved books. Ronen clearly loved books too. Enough to dedicate his career to them.
