Falling for the Ghost of You(24)

"That's what it—oh, the extra one came off!" I hold up my finger to show him the slight back smudge on it.

To my utter shock, Zane grabs that finger and rubs his thumb over the mark until it disappears. Then he wipes his hand on a napkin. "I've been to two hundred dollars a plate restaurants before, and this ain't it," he says, balling the napkin up and tossing it on the table.

It takes me a while to find my voice again. I put my hands in my lap and force a casual smile to my lips. "So, what are you getting?"

"Chicken," he replies, without having looked at the menu. "You?"

"I think I'll get a bowl of clam chowder."

Zane raises an eyebrow. "That's it? I thought you were hungry."

Yeah, until you started in with the casual touching. Now I'm freaking out!

Out loud, I say, "I had a big lunch at work."

The waitress finally comes by to take our order. She seems to recognize Zane, and greets him warmly. I might as well not be there. Zane has to tell her my order because even though I say "a bowl of clam chowder" at least three times, she continues to ignore me. That really irritates me!

So, it may or may not have been an accident when she trips over my foot. I think I have anger issues.

After our orders are taken, Zane turns back to me. "So, how was work?"

Feeling strangely nervous, I start babbling about my day. I even tell him about the magnet "vagina" mix-up. That makes him laugh, and I feel like the wittiest person ever. He’s a good listener. Even when our food comes, he doesn't take his eyes off of me.

"So, what about your job?" I ask him. "Do you like being a software engineer?"

He's slouched back in the booth, one arm resting along the top, and the other hand holding his glass of water. He keeps swirling the ice around, then staring into the glass.

"It's a job," he says with a shrug. "The good thing about working for Cronus is they allow me a lot of freedom to develop my own projects."

"Oh," I say inanely. "Uh, how's it going with the one you're working in on now?"

"Finished it last week," he says with a smile. I'm relieved he doesn't go into detail about it because I would be so lost.

"So does that mean you're going back to L.A.?"

"Nope. As far as work is concerned, I'm still figuring out the bugs. How's your clam chowder?"

Of course he waits until I have a huge bite of bread in my mouth to ask me. "Good," I choke out.

He laughs. "Make sure you leave some room for the cinnamon rolls."

I groan. "No way! I'm too stuffed."

"So we take them home." Zane drops his fork on his plate, and squints over at me. "How do you feel about scary movies?"

"Love 'em," I say promptly.

"I got a copy of 'House of Bone and Blood.' Wanna see it?"

My eyes widen in disbelief. "That doesn't come out for two weeks. How do you have a copy of it already?"

"I know a guy who knows a guy," he replies casually. "Do you want to watch it, or not?"

"Yeah!" I shout enthusiastically. Then I pause uncertainly. "With you?"

"Yeah, with me. You got an objection to that?" he asks teasingly.

"Well, that depends. I like watching scary movies in the dark," I say. I take a sip of my iced tea. "I don't know, it might be too...intense for you."

What? I'm not flirting, I'm being playful, in a strictly platonic way.

Zane tilts his head to the side, amused. "Oh, really, little girl? Maybe you'll be too afraid to sit next to me in the dark."

The way he says it, with that rough sexy voice of his is so...hot! Is he flirting?

I pretend to sneer while my heart bangs crazily against my chest. "Yeah, right,” I say to both him and myself. “Just don’t jump like a girl at all the scary parts.”

“I’ll try not to.” He grins and motions the waitress over. She’s comes a-running. “Let’s get out of here.”

Zane orders two cinnamon rolls to go, then pays for it all, despite my protests. When I try to argue, he just gives me a look. I know it’s not a date, and he was just being nice, but still. I can’t help the giddy feeling that washes over me.

Or maybe he knows I wasn’t going to tip that horrible waitress.

On the way home, we discuss favorite movies. We’re both surprised to discover that we like many of the same ones because they’re mostly older ones: “The Princess Bride,” “Big Trouble in Little China,” and “Boondock Saints” to name an eclectic few. I love movies, almost as much as books. I could talk about them all day, and I can’t believe Zane seems to feel the same way. I would think he’d be too busy charming the pants off girls to go to many movies. When I tell him that, he just grins and says he can do both at the same time. Then I mutter something about porn.