Page 36 of Lethal Seduction

“No worries at all.” He jumps out of the car and hurries around to the passenger side and opens the door for me. He reaches for my hand and helps pull me up to stand.

That’s a first.

My belly flutters with nerves. We walk through the lot holding hands until we reach the entrance where he holds the door for me like a perfect gentleman.

“Thank you,” I say and go inside.

He follows close behind and tells the hostess it’s the two of us and asks if we can get a booth. We follow her through the mostlyempty establishment and take a seat and begin looking through the menus.

“I’m not sure if you’ve been here before, but their guacamole is to die for,” Michael says.

“I think I’ll order the guac, chips, and salsa. Do they have queso?”

“Yes, it’s delicious.”

The waitress comes by and asks if we’re ready to order.

“Chips, guacamole, salsa, and queso dip, please,” I say.

“Should we share?” he asks.

“Absolutely.”

“I’ll share with him, but can you bring me a margarita.”

She scribbles it down on her pad. “Blended or on the rocks?”

“On the rocks, please,” he says. “What do you want, Patrick?”

“Mojito, please.”

“You got it,” she says and walks away.

A quiet settles over the table, but not in a bad way. Usually, when the conversation stops, I would look for the nearest exit and run away. Something about this feels different. Nice.

Our waitress brings the food and drinks, and we begin eating the chips in earnest. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was,” I say.

“Must have been all that dancing.” He plops a chip in his mouth and washes it down with a sip of his drink. “I like your moves.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.” I laugh. “For someone so tall, I didn’t expect you to have that much hip action.”

We both laugh now.

“I took ballet in high school. My mom thought it would be better for me than football, although my dad let me play my senior year.”

“Ballet, huh?” I wiggle my eyebrows. “Still have that tight booty?”

The twinkle in his eyes and the mischievous half smile he tries to cover with his drink, tells me everything I want to know. He likes the way I flirt with him, and he wants to show me just how tight that booty is.

“How about you?” he asks. “Any sports?”

“With a hard body like this? I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count.” I laugh. “Just kidding. Unless jumping to conclusions and running my mouth count as sports, I didn’t do much other than play cards at lunch.”

“To be honest, I envied the kids who didn’t play sports. Don’t get me wrong, I loved playing, but the early morning practices got to me sometimes. Not to mention, my parents’ expectations often outgrew my ability to meet them.”

“Lucky for me, my folks didn’t expect anything from me… and that’s exactly what they got.”

“Now, don’t say that about yourself. Look at you. You’re handsome and kind. You’re pursuing your dream of becoming an actor. Personally, I think it’s refreshing.”

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