Page 16 of Cautious

“You called me Blake,” I point out softly, finding I don’t like her silence one little bit.

“I did? Well, damn.” She gives a relieved smile of her own, happy to be on safer ground.

“Thank you for agreeing to come tonight.” I can see my words surprise her.

“Well, it’s not like you gave me much of a chance to say no, now did you?” She laughs.

“I don’t mess around when I see something I want,” I admit.

She looks a little awestruck at that, which is crazy. Doesn’t she know how fucking spectacular she is?

She coughs, flustered, looking back down at the menu before speaking. “What’s good here?” she asks quietly, deflecting the attention away from herself.

I’m guessing her spread out on the table is not the answer she’s looking for. Although maybe for dessert… I shake it off. It’s too soon. And Callie, well, I get the feeling, she’s worth waiting for.

“This is my first time here too, but when you come to a steakhouse, baby, you order steak,” I reply.

“Is that a rule?” she questions with a chuckle.

“It should be.”

“Well, it makes being a vegan really freaking difficult.”

I freeze, kicking my own ass for not asking her beforehand if she ate meat. Hold on a minute. I remember her eating a burger at the office the other day. I glare at her but find my lips twitching when she throws her head back and laughs.

“Now, that was just mean,” I tell her with a laugh of my own, the melancholy from before forgotten for now.

A waiter approaches from one of the nearby tables, his eyes firmly on Callie as he holds up his pad and pen.

“Hello, I’ll be your server this evening. My name is Ricco. Are you ready to order?” he asks her, ignoring me completely.

I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from saying anything, not wanting to make a scene and ruin our date over this chump. She shifts in her seat and looks at me for confirmation, so I nod before turning back to glare at him.

She places her order of steak, baked potato with sour cream, and a portion of green beans, all while Ricco’s eyes are fixed on the V of her dress. By the time she has finished, her arms are crossed over her chest, her body language screaming “Back off.”

When he finally turns to look at me and sees the furious glare on my face, he visibly swallows.Little pissant.

“I’ll take the same, and we’ll have the original waitress back, thank you,” I order in a clipped tone, somehow managing to keep calm enough to stop myself from smashing my chair over his head.

“Sorry, sir, that’s not how it works,” he protests, his voice petulant and whiny, his tone suggesting that I’m the one who has offended him. I crick my neck and remind myself that there are too many witnesses here to get away with murder.

“I came here to spend the evening with my girl, not for her to be made uncomfortable by some punk-ass, snot-nosed teenager staring at her chest,” I bite out quietly so the surrounding tables don’t hear us.

“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he retorts indignantly, turning his wide eyes to Callie as if to say, “Why is this man overreacting?”

I wait for her to call me an overbearing asshole, but instead, she surprises the ever-loving shit out of me.

“Don’t do that.” She shakes her head, frowning. “You should have put your hands up, owned it, and apologized. Now youlook like a dick. He’s right. You did make me uncomfortable. How would you feel if it were your sister or mother and some strange guy did nothing but stare at their chest?” she asks, not as quietly as I did, therefore garnering the attention of the two tables beside us. “Now that we’ve established I have breasts, I think it’s important to point out what I don’t have is steak,” she says, making him flush as he turns and stalks away.

I stare at her in shock. I can’t remember any woman I’ve dated taking my back like that.

She must feel my eyes on her because she looks up, her eyebrows quirking in question. “What?”

“I’m so hard right now I’m ready to get to the locking you in the basement part of the date,” I respond immediately.

She pauses for a moment before her lyrical laughter rings out over the restaurant, drawing eyes and soft smiles her way.

I am so fucked.

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