Page 35 of Top Shelf
“Please.”
“Any requests?”
“Surprise me,” I say, my stomach growling at the smell of food.
He nods, then steps up to the counter. “Can I get two Deluxe, two Special, two Cheese, two fries, four tartar, and vanilla and chocolate shakes, please?”
The worker’s fingers fly over the screen as they punch it all in, and I’m amazed they could even understand everything Gavin just rattled off. I certainly didn’t. I’m still too stunned by the whole deal to notice him handing them a black credit card.
“What are you doing? I can pay for my own dinner,” I protest, reaching into my purse for the cash I was handed before I left the bar.
“I know.”
“Then let me pay.” I hand him a wad of bills, unsure what the total is but knowing this should cover it.
He looks down at the money like he’s offended, then turns his hazel gaze back to mine. “I said I know youcanpay for your own dinner, not that I’m going to let you.”
He turns back to the worker, who hands him his receipt, then spins to grab our food. Everything moves so quickly, and before I know it, we’re given our giant bag of burgers and fries and our two shakes. Gavin juggles it all, refusing to let me help. I’m as frustrated as I am endeared by it.
He points to two unoccupied chairs across the room. “Is over there okay?”
“Sounds good,” I mumble. I don’t care where we sit. I just want food. For the second time tonight, my stomach lets out a loud grumble as we settle into the chairs.
Gavin’s brows inch together. “Do they not feed you at the bar?”
He seems concerned by this. Mildly annoyed even. I have a brief vision of Gavin storming into Top Shelf, demanding to speak to a manager, and giving them a stern talking-to about lunch breaks and how I need to be properly fed during my shift.
I shake the thought away. “They feed me. I just had a salad today, and that was a lot of hours ago. Guess I learned I’m going to need a little more sustenance if I’m going to be on my feet for so long.”
He nods like he understands. “I had to learn that with hockey, too. I ate my poor parents out of house and home when I was a teenager. It was like no matter what I had to eat, I was still starving every night before bed. Didn’t take long to realize I wasn’t getting enough protein throughout the day. Now I make sure that’s not a problem.”
“Hence the five cheeseburgers?”
He chuckles lightly. “That and because even though it’s just a basic burger that can be slapped together anywhere andabsolutely nothing to write home to your family about, it’s still a damn good burger.”
“Hmm. I’ll be the judge of that. Burger me.”
He smiles as he pulls the food from the bag, setting it between us on the countertop. He holds up the two shakes next. “Vanilla or chocolate? You seem like a chocolate person to me.”
“What if I said strawberry?”
Instantly, his chair is scraping across the tile, and it takes me all of two seconds to realize what’s happening.
I grab his arm, stopping him. “No, stop. I wasn’t being serious.”
“Are you sure? Because I’ll go get you strawberry if that’s what you want.”
The sincerity in his eyes is disarming, and I have no doubt if I said I wanted strawberry, he would go up there and get me one without a moment of hesitation. Neal would never. He would make me feel like crap for wanting the things I did.
It’s weird. I never realized our relationship was like that until I had time to reflect on it. I think I was so in love and so invested in what we had that I had blinders on to all the things that should’ve been red flags.
“Thank you, but I’m perfectly fine with chocolate,” I say as Gavin settles back into his seat.
“Perfectly fine with or that’s what you want? Because those are two totally different things.”
He’s right. Those are two totally different things, and I love that he recognizes that.
“Chocolate is what I want. I promise.”
