Page 34 of Wrong Number, Right Valentine

“I’ll have what he’s having.” The guy at the next table jerked his head at me as he spoke to the server.

“I can recommend it.”

“If it puts a smile on my face similar to yours, I’ll come here every night.” He squeezed his companion’s hand.

The food would be delicious, but unless he had a Reg in his bed tonight—which he wouldn’t—his evening wouldn’t be as good as mine.

Patsy woke, and I fed her with a muslin cloth over my shoulder. One of my office colleagues told me a story of how she was at the hairdresser when her newborn woke and needed to eat. She’d had one of these long cloths with her so was able to feed the baby while having her hair done. And now I never went anywhere without one.

“May I join you?” Reg arrived with a server who placed our food on the table and left. “You’re never more beautiful than when feeding our daughter.” He took my hand and kissed it.

Damn! I was prepared for more eating jokes, but now I gulped back tears. Not quite good enough apparently, as some slid over my cheeks and plopped onto Patsy.

“Babe, it wasn’t my intention to make you cry.” He dabbed at my tears with a napkin.

“I’m happy, love.” I gave Patsy to him, and he patted her back while I took a mouthful of pasta. “So yummy.”

“As good as last Valentine’s Day?”

“The food? Even better, the night will blow my mind because I slept alone last February 14.”

“Me too.”

“And we weren’t parents.” So much had happened in a year.

I wished Patsy and I could stay here until my mate was done or that he could come home with us, but he wouldn’t be finished for hours.

When we’d eaten dinner, I told him I should get Patsy home, but he took the stroller and pushed it toward the storeroom.Memories came flooding back of me imagining him taking me in that room.

Much as I wanted my mate naked and inside me, I wasn't going to put Patsy in there while we rolled around on the floor or the old sofa.

But when he opened the door, the room had been transformed. It was now an office and another larger space was the store room. Reg left a sleeping Patsy in the stroller and held up his phone with the baby monitor app.

“Where are we going?” He dragged me out the door.

“You told me this morning you wanted to recreate our meeting, so I thought you might like to get wet and dirty and wash dishes.”

I hugged him and peppered kisses over his face.

“I’d like nothing better than to get wet all over.” I wriggled my ass and headed for the kitchen, but not before my mate grunted. I giggled, knowing what I was doing to him.

“It’s our favorite dishwasher.” Ian bowed and so did Chef and the rest of the staff.

They were very generous considering I only performed the job once a year.

The night passed in a blur of me scrubbing pots lined with baked-on cheese and burned potatoes. Patsy slept the entire time, and I joked to Reg that we should come to the restaurant more often.

“Or…” My mate snuck up behind me.

Goosebumps pranced over my sweat-soaked skin as I waited for Reg to tell me what followed “or.”

“We could pretend we’re meeting for the first time on a blind date. That was what led you here last year.”

“Okay. But not here.” Though it was late and everything was winding down, I wasn’t about to wait until the restaurant closed. And I was filthy and exhausted.

“And not tonight.” Reg yawned. “But tomorrow we could role-play after Patsy goes to bed.”

“I can’t wait.” We shared a kiss as I held my gloved hands out to the side.

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