Page 23 of Coulda

“I just had myself tested two weeks ago. I’m clean. Is there anything that I should know about your health?” Rio asked softly.

Amber stared at him for a few seconds before replying, “What? No!” as she tried to understand what he was sharing and asking. Casting a furtive look around the restaurant, she made sure no one was listening.

“No one is interested in anything other than the deliciousness on their plate. Would you like to try this?” he asked, holding the fork out to her.

Automatically reaching for it this time, Amber accepted the utensil and put the bite in her mouth. Savory, sweet, crunchy sensations captivated her taste buds. “That’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten!”

“Then we share,” Rio suggested, taking back his fork.

She saw him notice a dribble of syrup on his hand, deposited most probably when she’d hesitated to accept his fork. Amber couldn’t keep herself from staring as he lifted his tattoo-decorated hand to his mouth and licked off the sweet concoction. Clenching her thighs together as fantasies exploded in her mind, she heard Rio groan and her gaze jumped to his suddenly serious face.

“You are going to kill me, baby,” he muttered, before adjusting the fly of his jeans and drawing her attention to his growing bulge.

When she focused on his reaction, Rio lifted her chin, dragging her gaze from his crotch. “If you don’t want to walk out of here with me fully erect, stop thinking what you’re imagining and eat,” he growled.

“Oh! Sorry!” Amber cut another bite of her pancake and shoved it into her mouth. As she chewed, the mental image of all the diners watching as they walked through the room blossomed in her mind. Unable to stop, she tried to stifle the laughter that welled inside her.

“Remember this, Little girl, when I take my revenge and keep you on the edge for longer than you wish,” he told her softly as he placed a bite of chicken on her cinnamon pancake. “Try that combination. Sample everything that delights you.”

Was he saying what she thought he was? Internally, Amber nodded to herself. Nothing would be off limits with Rio. Things she’d never been brave enough to ask for.

Rio nodded and urged, “Try it, Ella. Tell me if you like it.”

Amber stabbed the chicken and pancake combination and dabbed it into the syrup. Putting it in her mouth, she chewed. It was good, but not the same.

“Sometimes, an original combination is perfect and can’t be improved.”

She studied his face. There was no mistaking that his words had more than one meaning. He wasn’t just talking about chicken and waffles.

Deciding just to ask rather than wonder, she asked, “Do you think we were perfect?”

“Not then. You needed to experience the world, and I wasn’t the man I needed to be. Now, I hope we’re as close to perfect for each other as possible.”

“So… What does that mean? You want to date? Go to breakfast? Screw around?”

“When we’re intimate, it will be because we’re ready to make a commitment to each other. You tell me when you’re ready to explore all that we can be. Until then, we date and spend time together.” He held another bite of chicken and waffle to her lips.

Allowing him to feed her, Amber considered all he summed up tidily. She chewed slowly before swallowing. “Are you going to disappear again?”

“I’ve put down roots here and hope you will, too.”

She wasn’t going to allow him to skirt the question. Amber needed to hear him answer clearly and directly. “What does that mean? I need for you to tell me whether you’ll leave. I don’t want to risk my heart if you decide you need to disappear for my own good.”

“The last time I left tore me apart, Ella. All my efforts to do the right thing were decimated by that one decision. I plan to be selfish now and keep you for myself.”

Studying his face once again, she nodded. Amber had seen Rio evade many pursuing women by tweaking the truth. His excuses were never complete lies, but not entirely accurate, either. She knew how to read his expressions—or she did twenty years ago.

“Okay. I’ll trust you.”

“Thank you, Amber.”

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Amber noticed a group of ladies a few tables away holding an animated conversation. From time to time, they would turn to look at Rio and then lean in together to whisper furiously.

“I think more people than me are glad you returned to town,” she commented wryly.

Rio followed her line of vision and nodded at the group, who called their good mornings. His attention refocused on Amber. “What shall we do today? You have a reunion dinner and dance tonight,” he recalled.

“I do. I don’t suppose you could go with me?”

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