Page 238 of The Last Good Man

“When did that happen?”

I take her off speaker and bring my phone to my ear.

“It just did,” I say cryptically.

I talked to Jax about this when we were having lunch today.

He took me to a fancy restaurant where we had shrimp ceviche, baked sea bass, mashed potatoes, and wine.

The food was delicious, but my focus wasmostlyon the manin front ofme.

I practically fawned over him, although he argued I was my usual self. We agreed to disagree. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, and he wasn’t that much different when it came to me.

We were like two teenagers in love.

Our chemistry had always been amazing.All that sexual tension we had pushed back had finally carved its way out.

But having sex had only poured gasoline on the fire, and establishing trust had made things spiral up.

We barely touched each other at the table.

His fingers brushed over minea couple oftimes, yet I felt like a fire charred my insides.

Taking me back was difficult to do. We walked to spend more time together.

This way we could stop along the way,pretend we wanted to look at the merchandise on display in a store window when all we wanted to do was see our reflection, his arm around my shoulders, his lips on my hair, temple, cheek, or lips.

I wanted to shout out my love for him to the entire world while his eyes let out things his lips refused to say, but it was soobviousto us and the casual onlookers that we were terminally in love.

I was nervous when I asked him if he could accompany me to the girls’ event.

I feared he'd say no orthat he'dsay yes and feel like it was an obligation.

I’m still not sure it’s such a great idea. As I’ve told Alice, things are too new to us, and introducing him to my friends will only add unwanted pressure.

He assured me he would survive acouple ofhours making small talk and not mentioning his background.

That should only be revealed on an ‘as needed basis’ if and when deemed necessary.

He had one condition, though.

He wanted us to spend the night at the hotel.

I said yes to that.

If things don’t work out, we can go upstairs, drink some wine, and have sex.

“You like him?”

“Mm-hmm.”

My eyes go to Mina, who mouthstome that she’s leaving. She gives me a wave, spins around, and vanishes down the corridor.

“Yes,” I say. “He’sdifferent than the others.”

“In what way?”

“He's just different. You’ll see him on Friday. I hope... if he doesn’t change his mind.”

---