Page 16 of Romancing the Rude Guy

Holding up two forks, I grin. “Strawberry pie. Let’s dig in!”

Marcus is a bit of a pie hog.

I don’t hold that against him and let him have the last forkful, relishing the pleased look on his face, while wishing I had the courage to lean forward and kiss away the bit of gooey red filling dotting the corner of his lips.

“That was delicious.”

“So good you want to save some for later?” I tease.

His eyes drop to the scraped clean container, and I laugh. When his eyes snap to mine, I point to the corner of my own mouth.

He gets the idea and knuckles the spot clean, and I mourn my missed opportunity.

I never realized how much I depended upon men to make the first move on dates. Ours was probably the first I ever had that I hadn’t been kissed.

It made me wonder what was holding Marcus back.

“Are you a cancer?”

Setting the empty container next to him, he turned his head slowly. “Excuse me?”

“Cancer? Your astrology sign.”

Deep brackets slash the sides of his mouth as he frowns. “I never paid attention to that. Why?”

“What’s your birthday?”

Marcus crosses his arms and keeps his lips pinched shut.

“Come on and humor me,” I plead. And when that doesn’t work, I resort to guilt. “I fed you pie.”

He lowers his arms. “It was incredibly good pie.”

I beam. “It was my grammy’s recipe.”

“You made that?”

Laughing, I rub my elbow against his side. “Don’t sound so surprised.”

“Sorry, it’s just with your line of work that I’m surprised you have the time to bake.”

I could see how he’d think that. “The company I work for is big on work/life balance. I do put in some late nights on occasion, but the weekends, barring any major crisis, are wholly mine.”

“You’re very fortunate.”

That I’m fully aware of. We sit and stare at each other before I give his side another gentle dig. “You still didn’t tell me your birthday.”

His deep, rich laughter rolls over me and a shiver of want works through my body.

“I was hoping you had forgotten.”

“Why? Is it some super-secret? Are all your passwords set to it?” I slap a hand to my cheek. “The ego you have Marcus, oh my.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “I’m not that foolish, Ms. IT specialist.”

“That’s Ms. Assistant Director. Thank you very much.”

Still chuckling, his arm presses a little harder against mine and that want that’s still moving through me skyrockets at the connection.

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