Page 25 of Siren's Heart

"I think it's a tiny waffle," Kayla takes her fork and moves a brown piece of food on her plate around inquisitively, along with some hopefully edible flowers. I was way too lazy to push all of them off my food. I’m still rolling the dice, though I’d prefer the night not to end with me having food poisoning. "And ice cream, if I had to guess."

"Okay." I take a deep breath. "That’s fine. I can do that." Pushing all of it onto my fork, I raise it like a glass for a toast. "To finishing this wonderful and very extensive meal."

"To that." The others do the same, and we all eat our last dessert together. It tastes nice. Really delicious, even. But holy shit, I am so fucking full I cannot take another bite.

"Wonderful." Kayla sighs and leans back into her chair, staring at the ceiling. "Now I fear it’s time to face the music. Please excuse me while I take my manager's fiftieth call." She gets up and quickly walks off, leaving me alone at the table with Luca and Asher. The latter one stretches with a loud groan, then sinks into himself and looks at Luca and me with narrow eyes.

"So, did you exchange phone numbers already?" Luca pushes his elbow into Asher's ribs. "Ooof, sensitive area, if you don’t want me to barf, bro. I'm just trying to help you out here, man."

"You're very pushy," I point out with a tilted head making his forehead wrinkle in surprise, before I let my eyes wander to Luca. "Is he always like that?"

"Sadly, yes." He tries to hide his laugh at Asher's outraged expression unsuccessfully.

"Well then, we better do as he says," I say with a giggle and hold out my hand. "Give me your phone, and I'll save my number."

"Make sure to call her," Asher adds suspiciously and in a loud whisper that’s meant for me to overhear, trying to peek at what I'm typing into the phone. "To make sure it's actually her number."

"Asher, if I didn't want to give Luca my number, I wouldn't have pretended to." I shake my head disapprovingly and hand it back to Luca. Our fingers touch for a moment, and it's like a bolt of electricity shoots through my whole body.

He catches my eyes, and for a moment, we just look at each other. Did I mention that he has a nice smile? He’s got beautiful teeth, but they’re not pearly-white-perfect. His incisor teeth are a bit crooked, making them stand out like a cute vampire.

I wonder if there’s anything particular he notices about me.

Moments later, I hear Kayla's footsteps approach, and within a split second, the magical moment is gone.

"Alright, everyone listen up. I talked to Naroa and the plan is to make the paparazzi think that only Asher and I are here because it seems they don’t even know about the two of you. Asher and I are already plastered over social media, so there’s no use trying to get out of here separately.” She pushes out a heavy sigh while Luca and I shoot each other a short look. Then, when her words settle, I glance back at Kayla. I can’t put my finger on it, but something in her voice sounds off. “On a serious note, I love that for you two. If you date, you really shouldn’t hard launch your relationship; be a bit more inconspicuous next time. And don’t try to fool us. We have eyes, and we can see what’s happening.” She leans down and gives me a half hug to whisper in my ear, "I'll wait for you at your place."

"Alright, Mom," I giggle, and she lets me go, walking to the exit and stopping, turning around to shoot Asher a look I can't quite decipher. Meanwhile, I make a mental note to ask her about the call to Naroa later on.

"Alright, let's go,” she calls for him like he’s a dog waiting for her command to follow.

And just like a puppy, Asher jumps up, and the two of them leave.

"Do you want me to hold your hand again?" he teases her, and I hear Kayla starting to answer him, but by then, they're too far away to make out exactly what she's saying.

I eye Luca, and curiosity gets the better of me. "What was that? Is there something going on between our friends?"

"Not that I know of," he chuckles and pulls the chair that Asher sat on closer to himself, patting the backrest invitingly. "But who knows? Maybe Cupid struck now that they've actually talked to each other instead of about each other in the media." I take the unspoken invitation and round the table, plopping down next to him. Very close next to him.

He smells really good. I hadn't realized it in the car or on our way in here, but his scent reminds me of walking over a field just after it's rained. It takes way too much willpower not to bury my nose in his shirt.

"Well, let's give them a few minutes head start before we leave," I propose and get more comfortable in the seat, which coincidentally causes our thighs to touch. Not so coincidentally, I keep my leg right there.

Both of us stay silent, but this time, it's a comfortable silence, both of us following our own thoughts. Well, until Luca's phone starts to vibrate in his pocket. He takes it out, checks the name on the screen, then slides it back in without answering. Just as I’m about to let curiosity get the better of me, Logan turns the corner and waves us over to him.

"We have a taxi waiting for you at our back entrance. Come with me, right this way."

"They have a back entrance?" I hiss at Luca, my eyes jumping from where Logan is leading us to the front of the restaurant. "So why the hell did Kayla and Asher have to leave out front? All of us could have left in peace." The wheels turn in my head until it finally starts to make sense. "Oh, Naroa, that sneaky bitch."

She knows well that Kayla being seen with a new man is going to be a huge thing and bring the good kind of publicity. If I’m seen with a new boyfriend… not so much. But I can’t even be too mad, because, like Kayla said, hard launching a potential relationship on the first date isn’t the way to go.

"You can rip her a new one later," Luca says soothingly, trying to calm me down. Then he lays his hand on the small of my back again, and his soft weight there manages to distract me until we step outside.

"Oh, I will," I grumble and climb into the car, waving Logan bye-bye. I just hope Kayla will be alright.

Luca

The Gods must be smiling down on me. How else would I explain to anyone that within a day, I not only have the chance to get to know her, but also have two chances to be alone with her? I could kiss their manager for sending Asher off with Kayla!

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