Page 13 of Where There's A Will
Dinner was a sure-fire way of doing that. Then after, we could share a dessert and I’d give her the goodnight kiss to make sure she would be dreaming of me.
It was a decent plan.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. Again. As it had been for the last few minutes. Surreptitiously, I shifted and tried to take a look at the screen.
Roman. A string of messages and now a few missed calls.
I also saw it was almost half-six. Shit. No wonder he was pissed. I should have been at 230 FIFTH thirty minutes ago.
Montana shuffled next to me, trying to hide the fact she was glancing in the direction of my phone. “Do you have somewhere you need to be?”
No. Absolutely not. Right here, right now, with you, is exactly where I want to be.
“Give me a sec.” I typed out a quick reply to Roman, making something up about Mitch needing me to work at the last minute because someone else called in sick. Then, for good measure, I switched the phone off and tucked it back in my pocket. “Dinner then. We should go out,” I repeated.
“Are you kidding?” She leaned back against my arm. “I’m in no condition to go out. I’m about a glass of wine away from seducing you.”
My brows rose at the same time my dick’s attention piqued. Did she really say that? The bottle was indeed empty and unless we got another rather quickly, the seduction would be off. “I’m good with being seduced. So…” I let my voice trail off for a moment to let the words sink in. “More wine?”
I was ready to rush back to my place and get another bottle. Or two. Or however many she needed to make good on that promise of temptation. My heart was pounding in my chest so hard I was sure Montana would be able to hear it. And all I could keep thinking was we’d only met properly a couple of hours ago and she was probably still on the rebound from that douche from the restaurant. Fuck it. I should go with it and see what happens.
“No,” she said firmly. “No more wine.”
The initial excitement withered like a balloon at the end of a child’s birthday party. No more wine equalled no seduction. Another part of me took on the appearance of the balloon too. I wasn’t doing a great job of hiding my disappointment.
“You’re totally right. It’s Sunday night. You have work tomorrow. I have an audition.” I was blabbering on, pretending everything was fine, that this didn’t happen to me all the time.
Montana turned to me, the corner of her mouth quirking up. “We should totally order in dinner though; I’m starving.”
Then she smiled at me and everything resumed its original status. As her grin widened, I noticed her teeth were purple from the wine and I swear, I thought she’d never looked more beautiful. She tried to get up, her hands resting on my shoulders, and I almost held my breath as I reached out to steady her.
“Whoops, that wine has gone to my head.” She giggled to herself as she sashayed to the kitchen where she pulled out a binder.
I screwed up my face. What the hell was that?She has a checklist of things she needs to do before ordering takeout?
Montana held the binder out to me. It was plain black, but covered in cutesy stickers of food, including a burger winking, a slice of pizza holding onto a telephone and even a smiling ice cream sundae.
“Pick,” she said, as I took it from her.
Bewildered, I opened the file. She had organised all the takeout menus by type and then alphabetically, according to which could be delivered and which were pick up only. This was a whole new level of organisation. One I totally appreciated.
“Oh my God. Will you marry me and organise my life?” I was only half joking. And obviously she didn’t take me seriously as she merely laughed.
She shrugged. “What can I say? I told you I had exceptional organisational skills.” She dropped down onto the floor next to me again, her hand resting on my knee. “What shall we get?”
As we browsed through the various menus, my stomach growled in anticipation. When Montana’s did the same, in answer to mine, our eyes met and we both laughed. The gaze lasted for a minute too long and I had to look away before I did something I was going to regret. Or would be slapped for.
“Steak?” suggested Montana.
The takeout leaflet was for my restaurant and I didn’t think ordering from there was a good idea. I shook my head. “I was thinking something lighter. How about sushi?”Perfect for sharing,I added silently.
“Great suggestion! I love sushi.” She flicked through the flyers, locating the right one within seconds.
We chose several dishes, salmon and tuna nigiri, avocado maki, crunchy California rolls, sashimi and some ramen noodles. Montana grabbed her phone and tapped our order into the app.
“It’ll be here in half an hour,” she announced as it pinged her a response.
“Sexy Fish.”
