Hunter’s eyes flashed to me. I squinted back, and somehow we had a two-second wordless conversation. “Watching is always good,” he said. “But you might want to watch pro ball so you don’t pick up bad habits from high school kids.”
I tried not to smirk. Of course I’d let her go to the game instead of shopping with me. She was fifteen and belonged with her friends.
Hunter looked in the rearview mirror at Izzy. “What time is the game?”
“It just started.”
“On second thought, watching might be good. You can watch for things they’re doing wrong as part of learning.”
Izzy pepped up. “That’s what I’ll do. Could you drop me off, Hunter?”
“Don’t you want to go home and change?” I said. “You’re in your uniform still.”
“It’s a basketball game. There are two teams in uniforms.”
“I don’t mind dropping her off,” Hunter said. “Besides, it will give us a chance to discuss the business we didn’t get to yet.”
I furrowed my brow. So Hunter clarified. “Pros and cons.”
***
Hunter waited at the front of the school until Izzy walked inside and then turned to me. “Your place or mine?”
“I’m not having sex with you.”
“Do you mean now or ever?”
“You said…” I deepened my voice into a husky impression of him. “…your place or mine, and that usually refers to whose house you’re going to have sex at.”
“So it means it’s off the table now, but not forever then?”
I laughed. “Why don’t we go have some lunch? I owe you at least that for coming to two basketball games and giving up your Saturday morning.”
“Alright.” He put the car into gear. “I’ll take lunch. But know that it didn’t feel like I gave up anything this morning, and also…I’m paying.”
***
I’d eaten a pretzel at the game, so I wasn’t that hungry. “I’ll have a Caesar salad.”
The waitress turned to Hunter, who looked at me. “Do you like calamari?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll take an order of fried calamari.”
“Okay.” She scribbled it down on her pad.
He looked to me again. “Do you like eggplant?”
“Yes, but I’m not really hungry.”
“Me either. Let’s share.”
“Okay.”
“We’ll also take an order of eggplant rollatini.”
“Umm…can you cancel my Caesar salad then?” I asked the waitress.
After she left our table, I opened my napkin and draped it over my lap, then took a drink of my water. Hunter watched me intently.
“What?”
He shrugged. “Just looking at you.”
“Well, don’t do that.”
“Don’t look at you?” He arched a brow. “It’s kind of hard to sit across from someone and have a conversation without looking at them.”
“I meant don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“All smoldering and stuff.”
“I’m smoldering?”
I exhaled. “Can we just have lunch as friends? No sex talk, no you looking all sexy and staring at me, no pressure.”
“I’ll try. But the looking all sexy thing just comes naturally.”
We laughed, and it seemed to break the tension—until my cell phone rang and I looked at the caller ID. Super flashed on the screen.
“I’m sorry. It’s my building super. I need to take this.”
I answered, assuming it was Jimmy, the regular maintenance guy. “Hello?”
“My favorite tenant, I hear you need my services?” The voice on the other end made my skin crawl. It wasn’t the super. It was the creep who owned the building.
“Oh. Hi, Damon. I called the super this morning because of a small issue. But it’s not a big deal. I don’t think you need to get involved.”
“Are you home?”
“No, actually, I’m out.”
“What time will you be home? I’ll come take a look at that drain for you.”
I had no idea what time Izzy would be home, and I tried to avoid being alone with him at all costs. “Umm…. I’m not sure when I’ll be back. Probably not for a few hours.”
“How about five?”
Ugh. Why couldn’t the super just fix it for me like he’d do for every other tenant? “It’s really not a big deal, Damon. Jimmy can fix it when he has time. I can use the bathroom sink for now.”
“I’ll see you at five.”
“I might be a little later.”
“Call me when you’re back at home.”