Page 71 of The Blind Date

"Oh, thank God!" Logan exhaled in relief as he approached our table with two large wine glasses and our bottle of fine red wine. "I was starting to think that I had imagined it all but hearing you two argue like this is reassuring that I haven't gone absolutely crazy."

“I would hardly call that arguing,” I laughed as he poured us both a glass.

"You're right. It's more like bickering like an old married couple,” he chuckled before excusing himself to get back to work, informing us that our starters wouldn't be long.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” I frowned as I watched Logan leave, suddenly looking rather chipper.

"What?" Cedric asked, a knowing grin on his face. "That we argue? Or that we resemble an old married couple?”

My frown deepened. “Both.”

“Well, we do. Don’t we?” He shrugged, his lips twitching at the corners, a tell-tale sign that he was holding back his signature smug smirk.

“I would hardly describe us as an old married couple.”

Cedric murmured something under his breath, but I missed it.

“What did you say?” I asked him to repeat himself, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.

“Nothing.” He tried to deny it but when I sent him a pointed look, he chuckled, giving in. “If we bickered less, maybe people would stop referring to us as old and married.”

I pursed my lips and thought for a moment. “As appealing as that sounds, I can’t imagine not bickering with you. You’re just so annoying.”

“Ouch!” Cedric made a show of holding his hand over his heart and gasping, back with the dramatics once again. “But if it’s any consolation, I can’t imagine not bickering with you either.”

“I guess we’re just meant to spit fire at each other all the time.”

"I certainly wouldn't want it any other way." Cedric smiled widely. "Believe it or not, I find arguing with you so exhilarating. There's not a single person out there that would talk to me the way you do or anyone I’d allow to talk to me that way. It's refreshing and surprisingly humbling. You’re constantly keeping me on my toes. I like that about you, darling.”

"You say that as if it's a good thing,” I snorted but couldn't keep the slow grin from taking over my face. "But I get what you’re saying, and I feel the same way. It's strange and doesn't make much sense to me, but I love the way you get under my skin. Though it never fails to anger me in the moment."

“Well, I’m glad that’s settled,” he grinned. “I’m glad we agree that we both rub each other up the wrong way, both physically and metaphorically.”

I narrowed my eyes at the innuendo but couldn’t bring myself to rebuke him. Not when he had merely voiced aloud what I had been thinking. Plus, it was funny.

Despite this being a re-do of our blind date that we refused to acknowledge as our first date, the quick-fire back and forth refused to cease. If anything, it was even more heated than before, but I didn’t want it any other way.

After we shared our three starters, we enjoyed a second glass of wine as we waited for our main meals to arrive. Medium-rare ribeye steak and vegetables for me and a chicken pie with mash and gravy for Cedric. When he wasn't looking, I helped myself to some of his creamy mash, but when I got caught in the act, I had to give up a bite of my steak to make up for it. Of course, when I was grumbling about Cedric biting off a huge chunk of my steak, far more than what was warranted for stealing a forkful of his mash, Logan chose that moment to drop by and check up on us. He didn’t look the least bit surprised.

Cedric was right. Coming back here to re-do our first date was a great idea.

“Did you always know that you wanted to go into technology?” Cedric asked, casually leaning back in his chair as he sipped at his wine, already finished with his pie.

“No.” I shook my head and paused to finish the last bite of my steak. “Believe it or not, when I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher.”

“A teacher?” His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I didn’t expect that from you.”

“Why is that?” I asked curiously.

“You’re not exactly the most patient person, and dealing with children can require quite a lot of that.”

“So does dealing with you.” I grinned, my lips tipping up even higher at the corners when he looked surprised at my comeback. “What about you? What did you want to be when you were younger?”

“A firefighter.”

“I can totally see that,” I murmured, cocking my head slightly to the side as I studied him, my mind wandering to how he would look in a firefighter uniform. And then it moved on to how he would look underneath the uniform.

Though I didn’t need to imagine that part.

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