Page 30 of Seeking Two Lovers

She hadn’t even looked at the menu, so I did as suggested, choosing the grilled halibut with smashed fingerlings and tomato butter for her. Lily made a low sound of appreciation in her throat.

“And for you, sir?” our waiter asked.

“I’ll have the Dungeness crab cioppino.”

“Can I have a glass of water too, please?” Lily asked as our waiter gathered the menus.

“Of course.” He left us after a brief nod, and I turned my focus back on Lily, some unnamed part of me pleased as hell that she’d asked me to order for her.

“Do you enjoy spending time at the beach?” I asked, praying like hell she’d say yes since my back yard consisted of one and I spent a lot of my free time riding the waves.

“I’ve been known to hang out one too many hours baking in the sun and cooling off in the salt water, yeah. Haley and I both. She’s my cousin. We share an apartment over on Danson Street.”

“How long have you been on the West Coast?”

“Am I that obvious?” she asked with a light laugh.

“You have a slight accent that sounds a hell of a lot like Philly.”

“I do not.”

“You do too.” I grinned and repeated a word she’d said twice in the last few minutes. “Wooder.”

“Water.”

“Exactly,” I said with a chuckle.

She laughed along with me. “I did grow up in Philly. You?”

“Boston. New Hampshire in the summers.”

“Do you miss the East Coast?”

“Not one bit,” I admitted without hesitation. “I hate the snow, the cold.”

Lily fake shuddered. “Me. Too. I’ll never move back there. You couldn’t pay me to.”

I wondered if that ex of hers had any bearing on her dislike of the eastern part of the US but wasn’t about to bring back in that seriousness from earlier. “Your write-up said you’re a teacher.”

“Mmm.” Lily swallowed her sip of wine and nodded.

“I’m guessing you like kids.”

“I enjoy teaching them, but I have zero interest in having any of my own, if that’s the info you’re probing for.”

Score another point for the near-perfect woman with the gorgeous eyes.

“Your mom isn’t on your ass to give her some grandkids?”

Lily waved her hand. “My two older sisters already took care of that problem.”

“So, you’re free to live your future however the hell you want.”

“Yep.” Again with that popped P, her eyes lighting with…life.

I found myself leaning forward, wanting to know more—learn everything I could about Lily who didn’t hold back with her thoughts. She didn’t play games, which I could appreciate, and until we finished our dinner, I decided I had to hang onto her until Blaine was ready again.

I hadn’t mentioned him.

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