Jake signaled the waitress for another beer. “I’m not hung up on her.”
“Yeah, right. That’s why you practically bit my head off that day she came by the garage. And that’s why you’re sitting there right now like someone ran over your dog.”
“I don’t have a dog.”
“You don’t have a girlfriend, either. So why don’t you ask her out?”
The waitress set his beer down. “In case you hadn’t noticed, she’s out with another guy.”
Mark twisted around again. “Doesn’t look that serious to me. Looks like a first date, in fact.”
That’s what Erin had said. “How can you tell?”
“The guy’s in a suit. Believe me, it’s a first date. And if you get up the balls to ask her out yourself, there won’t be a second date.”
He shook his head. “I’m not asking Erin out.”
“Why the hell not?”
He lifted his mug and took a drink, thinking of the nightmare that had woken him up that morning. “I’m not relationship material right now.”
Mark hooked a thumb towards the booth across the room. “And you think that guy is? He looks like a smarmy prick to me.”
Jake glanced over again, and realized why he looked familiar.
It was a guy he knew from high school. Patrick Fowler was a jock who’d spent most of his time talking about the girls he’d slept with—and he tried to sleep with all of them.
The thought that Erin might go home with a guy like that made him want to hit something.
“You want to switch seats?”
He frowned at Mark. “What?”
“So you don’t have to eat your heart out all night.”
“Funny.”
“You’re saying it doesn’t bother you?”
Jake shrugged. “Erin’s personal life is none of my business.”
“Uh huh.”
Jake waved the waitress over again. “Let’s order another plate of wings.”
He couldn’t help keeping an eye on Erin’s table. She and Patrick only ordered drinks, so they’d had dinner somewhere else and come here after. Which probably meant dinner had gone well, right?
He could tell Patrick was into Erin. Really into her. He leaned forward and smiled a lot, totally focused on whatever they were talking about.
No surprise there. Erin was easy to talk to. Something about her just made you feel comfortable. Like you could be yourself.
She seemed to be having a good time, but she wasn’t doing any flirting. As far as Jake could tell, her body language was the same as it would be with a friend. Of course it was only their first date. Considering her sexual history—or lack of it—she probably didn’t go too crazy on her first dates.
He closed his eyes. He wished he didn’t know she was a virgin. Because now he couldn’t stop thinking about her first time, and wondering who it would be with.
When he opened his eyes again, Erin was staring straight at him. She was standing up, slinging her purse over her shoulder as Patrick put money on the table to pay their bill, and her eyes looked right into his.
When Erin saw Jake sitting across the room her first, uncensored response was a sudden rush of feeling, an effervescence in her blood that left her tingling.
She looked back at Patrick and wondered why she couldn’t respond that way to him. The guy she was actually on a date with.
“Can I walk you to your car?” he asked, and she could tell he was thinking about a good night kiss.
She’d had a decent time tonight, but the thought of kissing Patrick left her cold. It would probably be better to say goodnight in here.
“No, that’s all right. I’m going to say hello to some friends before I leave. Thanks for dinner, Patrick. I had a nice time.”
“So did I,” he said, leaning in. She made sure it was just a quick peck, but even so, the thought that Jake might be watching made her stomach tense.
“Can I call you again?”
“Um, yes,” she said, distracted, seeing Jake out of the corner of her eye. Was he still looking this way?
“Goodnight, Erin.”
“Goodnight.”
As soon as Patrick was gone she made her way over to Jake and Mark’s table. She and Jake had looked right at each other, so she should at least say hello before she left.
“Hi, Jake. Hi, Mark. I didn’t know you were here.”
“Hey, Erin,” Mark said with a smile. “We saw you come in but we didn’t want to interrupt your date. Is it still going on, or can we buy you a drink?”
She hesitated. “The date’s over, but I was on my way out.”
“We could make it a root beer,” Jake said.
Erin had always been a root beer addict, and it warmed her that Jake remembered that.