“Are you done?” he asked, pointing at her nearly empty bowl of noodles.
Gina glanced down like she’d forgotten it was there. “Oh, yeah.”
Rick grabbed the check and quickly paid the bill, leaving a generous tip for their waitress.
“That was amazing, thanks,” Gina said as he led her back outside and to the car.
“My pleasure. I can’t believe you’ve never eaten here before. I’m glad I was here for your first time.”
She glanced up at him, startled by his choice of words. So was he. But he couldn’t seem to stop baiting her. Getting a rise out of her was quickly becoming one of his favorite pastimes. And it was only fair to get a little payback for the near-constant rise she got out of him. Mentally and physically. The woman was going to be the death of him. And he’d probably enjoy every single second of it.
He was one sick, twisted puppy, no doubt about it. “We’ll have to give up truck stalking tomorrow night.”
“I’ll rope Jared into watching it. That boy needs to get out of the house and off his computer anyway.”
“Jared?” The twinge of jealousy that stabbed him at the mention of another man’s name was a surprise. An unwelcome one. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been jealous. And they weren’t even dating. How much worse would things be if they were?
Gina, thankfully, did not notice anything. “A friend of mine. He helps out at the bakery sometimes, does all our advertising and marketing stuff.”
“Ah. And he won’t mind sitting on a rooftop watching a truck all night?”
She laughed. “It probably wouldn’t be his first choice of ways to spend a Saturday night, but he’ll do it for me if I ask nice enough. It might cost me a date with one of my friends or something. But he’ll do it.”
“Good. Well, then.” They’d reached the bakery and got out of the car, but now Rick was suddenly at a loss for how to leave. Before that night he’d just…left. But after what had happened, driving away felt wrong. He didn’t want to leave her. He wanted to take her back to his place and continue what they’d started on the roof. But that couldn’t happen. Yet.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, her voice as hesitant as he felt.
He gazed down at her, into those big brown eyes of hers. Fuck it. He pulled her to him, covering her lips with his own. She responded instantly, parting her lips to welcome him inside. He kissed her until she was breathless and swaying against him. And then he released her.
“Until tomorrow.” He gave her one last swift kiss, then got in the car and drove away.
While he still could.
Chapter Ten
“Wait a second,” Jared said. “You’re going to meet the family? You? Who is this guy again?”
Gina glanced up from her coffee and muffin to glare at Jared. “Don’t start.”
Jared grinned. He was not one to steer from a conversation because it made the other person uncomfortable. In fact, that made the topic all the more juicy to him.
“Jared, leave her alone,” Eric said.
“Thank you, Eric. I always did like you.” Gina gave her best friend’s husband a grateful smile.
Nat, her BFF and business partner, gave a short laugh. “Oh, please. You couldn’t stand him when you first met.”
“Well, that’s only because I thought he was using you and trying to steal your dream away. He’s grown on me.”
“Ah, that’s because she figured out that I was her dream, huh?” Eric said, reaching out to grab his wife around the waist and pull her down to his lap.
“Well, ‘dream’ is kind of a strong word…” Nat started, her words cut off with a yelp when Eric went on the attack.
Gina shook her head and averted her eyes from the sudden and very thorough display of affection Nat and her hubby had devolved into.
“Seriously can’t take these two anywhere,” she muttered to Jared.
He took a sip of his coffee. “That’s why we hang out here. Can you imagine them in public?”
Nat and Eric came up for air and glared in mock irritation at their respective best friends. “You’re just jealous,” Eric said, kissing his wife again.
Yeah…maybe we are. The thought startled Gina. She’d always been happy with her single status. She’d had a boyfriend or two who could have gotten serious, but it never took long for irritation over all her issues to set in. Though maybe it was less her unwillingness to commit and more her unwillingness to settle that was the problem. She’d never met anyone who’d sparked even a third of the interest that Rick did.
Maybe it was a forbidden love kind of thing. There was no way they could ever make a relationship work. Rick was a freaking cop who lived every second of his life by a rule book. Gina could never live like that. And she’d agreed to meet his family. His big, boisterous (if they were anything like the one sister she’d met) family. What the hell had she been thinking?