Page 22 of Last First Love
"Tacos, Lily. Do you want soft or hard tacos?"
"Oh." Well, I wasn't expecting that. "Did you make tacos? Are you seriously that domestic?" I abruptly feel very deeply inferior because my kitchen skills basically stop at soup and a sandwich.
He laughs, and then keeps laughing because that's apparently our thing now. Him laughing at me. Great.
But when he sees the look on my face, he quiets down immediately and reaches for my hand, twining his fingers around mine. "Hey, no. I'm only laughing because I'm the absolute worst cook at the station. The guys have all starting chipping in for pizza when it's my shift to cook."
He shakes his head, a little smile teasing at the corners of his mouth. "I would never inflict my cooking on you. This is carry out from Mi Ranchito."
"Are you kidding me? I love Mi Ranchito. Please tell me there's chips and salsa in there."
He lights up at my response. And the simple act of making him happy, stirs up something inside me, just behind my ribs. Something that I'm not ready to think about too hard because if I fall for Daniels, I know I'll end up hurt. There is absolutely zero chance of this working out between us. I know it, he knows it, and literally everyone in town will line up to tell us so.
"I'm pretty sure you also wanted queso. As in the most delicious form of cheese dip ever invented." He lets go of my hand long enough to start pulling out items from the picnic bag.
And apparently, he thinks we're going to spend the next week out here eating. He's brought enough chips for a family of twelve, along with salsa, queso, and guacamole. And that's before he even starts unloading the tacos. But the best part is when he pulls out two large styrofoam soda cups.
"Oh no, I don't drink soda." I wave it away.
He pushes the cup toward me more insistently this time. "Just taste it. I had it specially made for you."
I frown at him but go ahead and poke the straw in and take a sip. Number one, there is a mountain of tequila being sold in the margaritas at Mi Ranchito. As in, it's a good thing I'm sitting down already. Number two, I'm not sure what flavor he ordered but it's perhaps the most delicious thing I've ever tasted in my life.
I finally remember to open my eyes. "Yum," I let the word stretch out between us. "I've never tasted this flavor before. What kind is it?"
"I don't know which one I handed you. It's either blackberry lime or strawberry pineapple." He smiles again, his eyes sparkling. "If you want to have them both, that's fine too."
I bat my eyelashes at him. "Why Mister Daniels, are you trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?"
We pause, the air heavy between us.
"What happens if I say yes?"
With those few words, the air leaves my lungs in a whoosh.
Ken
I'm kidding, obviously. Unless Lily is about to say anything like yes to me, in which case the front porch romantic picnic grand gesture will be relocated to the nearest available horizontal surface, and I'll proceed to eat her sweet pussy like it's my last meal on earth.
I figured she would laugh my words off. I'm used to people not taking me seriously because I'm not particularly serious natured. It's been my entire life's mission to always make the people around me laugh, and I'm usually pretty good at it, even when it involves me taking things to the lowest common denominator.
Here's the thing though. Lily sees right past every lewd joke I make and I feel like she's actually looking at me. She knows that I'm mostly full of shit, but she never gets offended or anything about it. She gets along with me exactly as I am, and she doesn't try to change me to make me more polite or socially acceptable.
All for the best because I don't think I have a socially acceptable bone left in my entire body at this point. It's too easy to be the clown instead of the guy that people take seriously. I don't need to be taken seriously ever again in my life as far as I’m concerned.
I guess that's why it hit me right in the feelings when Abernathy asked me to be his best man earlier. I have that same kind of sense of honesty with him, like Elliott and Aaron, my other bros. Like he sees past all my crap to the person underneath, and that maybe he actually likes me for the underneath parts. Not the always kidding and ready to have a good time parts that everyone else seems willing to settle for.
At any rate, I hear that pause in her breathing when I half-jokingly tell her I'd like to take advantage of her. And I'm only half joking because while I'd definitely like to do every wicked thing I've ever imagined with Lily, I'm not the kind of guy who would get a girl drunk to get her to bed. Hard pass on all of that.
But right now, when she's staring at me like this, I'm half afraid she's going to tell me to go to hell and half afraid she'll tell me that we can totally make that happen. And because either of those is scary, I'd better lighten up the mood out here as quickly as possible.
I waggle my eyebrows at her. "What do you say, baby?" I give her a completely over the top leer. "If tacos and queso won't win your affection, I don't think tequila will either, but I'm willing to let you prove me wrong."
And finally, finally, Lily laughs. It's only for a brief moment, but it's like the clouds have parted and there's finally sunshine again.
She's so freaking pretty. And it's multiplied by about a million when she laughs. I love seeing her happy and relaxed. It's definitely not her usual mood from what I can tell.
"So, is this okay?" I lean my head onto my hand so I can resist the temptation to take her hand in mine again. I love touching her, but I don't want to ruin this by pushing too hard too fast.
