Page 7 of The Lucky One
Then Silas tells me about all his favorite pizza restaurants all over the country. I like hearing about them, and it’s probably good for my English.
Even though I am a loner, I can admit that this is more fun than going home alone and watching Finnish TV, which is what I often do.
And the restaurant is lovely tonight, with little candles on every table. Chiara is more beautiful than ever.
In a perfect world, I would like to take her out to a restaurant like this sometime. Not this one, of course. Somewhere else, just the two of us.
“Why don’t you ask her out?” Silas says in a low voice as I watch her open a bottle of wine for another table.
My chin snaps back in his direction. “Sorry?”
“You should ask her out,” he says. “On a date.”
“No,” I say in response.
“Why not?” he asks with an irritating smile. “Why wait? I asked my girl out practically the day we met.”
“She said yes?” I ask.
“Nope. She said no for weeks.” He shrugs. “But you can’t hear a yes unless you ask.”
“I will not hear a yes at all.” I shake my head. “That chain around her neck now holds a diamond ring. She does not wear it on her finger while she works.”
His face falls. “Really? She’s engaged?”
“Yes sir.”
He sits back in his chair, as if shocked. “You missed your window! How did this happen?”
I shrug. “He got there first. I wanted to learn the language before I asked her out…”
“Why? You two could just speak the language of looooove.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “But in all seriousness, I don’t get it. It’s mutual, my dude.”
“It’s…what?” I don’t understand that word.
“You likeeach other. It’s not my imagination. She wants you.”
“Not when she has his ring around her neck.”
Silas looks like he’s about to argue. But Chiara is approaching our table with a sway of hips, a toss of hair, and two dessert plates. “Gentlemen, two chocolate lava cakes.”
When she sets them down in front of us, the scent of warm chocolate rushes up to meet me. It’s wonderful.
“Marry me,” Silas says, looking up at Chiara and batting his eyelashes.
She gives a sniff. “Your pop star girlfriend would have a few things to say about that, wouldn’t she?”
“Probably,” he says with a smile. “But you can’t blame a guy for trying.”
I have the worst urge to kick him under the table. Just because I never got the chance to flirt with Chiara doesn’t mean he should get to.
“Enjoy,” she says. Then she sets down the bill folder. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
When she walks away, Silas gives me a grin. “Okay, I notice a couple of things. First, she knows you’re a professional hockey player.”
“Yes? And also you.”
“Well, chicks dig hockey players.”
