Page 40 of Chasing Lyric
“Hi, Chase…” Her sickly-sweet voice grates on my every nerve. “It’s so good to see you here again. What can I get you?” She pushes her fake tits out farther, but he doesn’t take any notice as his eyes stay fixed on me.
“Thanks, Tiff. We’ll have the oysters to start. I’ll have my usual Wagyu steak for my entrée, and Lyri can have the salmon.” He raises his brow at me as if to ask if that’s okay.
What the actual fuck?
Is he ordering for us both?
I’m half impressed, half annoyed, half outraged—that’s too many halves.
I tense. “Ahh, no… Lyri is hungry and feels like eating something with substance. Lyri will have the Wagyu steak as well, medium, extra whatever comes on the side, please.”
Chase’s face brightens with an impressed look. “I’ll have what she’s having.”
“Double it all. Got it! Any dessert?” Tiff asks.
Chase stares at me for the answer, seeing as I seem to be taking the reins with this.
“Yes, Lyri will have whatever the biggest, sweetest thing is you have.”
Chase smirks. “Lyri is still talking in third person.”
I steady my shoulders. “Lyri is doing this on purpose!”
“You’re a strange girl.”
“Woman,” I correct him.
He dips his head. “Woman. Definitelyallwoman.”
Tiff clears her throat, gaining our attention. “Just one dessert… to share?”
“Yes,” Chase confirms.
“Hell, no. You think I’m sharing my sugar? Oh, Chase, youdon’tknow meat all.”
He shakes his head. “Just the one dessert, thanks, Tiff.” She nods, walking off as I fold my arms over my chest.
“Your loss, big man. No dessert for you.”
“We’ll see.”
“I’m more than capable of ordering for myself.”
He nods. “I know.”
My eyes widen. “That’s it. Just…I know?”
“Mm-hmm,” he mumbles with the biggest smirk on his freaking gorgeous face.
“You really do think you’re a Hallmark hero, don’t you? Acting all broody, while putting on those‘come-hither eyes.’I see you. I see you, sir!” I point at him, a little too dramatically.
He places his hands on the table in front of him, looping his fingers together like this is a business meeting. “I think I’m testing the waters… seeing how far I can go with you.”
“Why? Why not be yourself?”
He sits back in his chair. “I need to read people in my job, see if they’re really as good as they say. I can’t read you. You’re all over the place.”
Hecan’tread me just like Ican’tread him.
