“Just makes it easier in New York,” Aiden says as though he’s reading my mind and dismissing the car as anything important.
“For sure,” I agree.
We get into the SUV and pull away from the hotel.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I ask.
“Nope.”
“Seriously?”
“Nope.” He grins as though he’s enjoying this.
So we sit in the car and I stare at the city that never sleeps. All the lights, the people milling around, it’s addictive and makes me want to be a part of it. I kind of wish we could’ve walked to dinner, but maybe tomorrow. Once again, we’re in a city in the north in February. I think California has a hockey team—why can’t we go there?
The car slows and I look out the window to see we’re outside a Mexican restaurant.
“I’ll text you when we’re ready after,” Aiden tells the driver.
“Have fun,” he says to us.
Aiden files out first and offers me his hand to step onto the curb. He doesn’t wait around too long before he ushers us into the restaurant—I assume so no one recognizes him. It’s as though he set up this whole thing because the hostess knows who he is and we don’t have to wait with other patrons. We’re taken immediately down a hallway.
“Are you kidnapping me?” I ask in jest.
He chuckles behind me. “Maybe one day, but today’s not your lucky day.”
I can’t help but smile as we continue down the hall. I’m thankful it’s so dim in here that he won’t see my grin. I don’t want to lead him on, but I can’t deny that I enjoy our flirting.
The hostess stops in a back room that only holds about five tables. She says something quietly to a nearby waitress, who peers at us, then we’re guided to a table in the back that has a curtain to keep us hidden from other guests.
One side is a booth and the other a chair, so I opt for the bench since I’m smaller. Aiden folds his big body into the chair, thanks the hostess, and accepts both of our menus, holding one out to me.
“Is this hockey god privileges or what?” I touch the curtain.
“The best thing about New York is if you want to be private and you have money, they make it happen.” He looks over his menu as though this is nothing while I want to scream in delight. I’ve never felt so special.
I’d do well to remember that we are not on a date.
“This could be addicting,” I whisper over the candles in the middle of the table.
Aiden glances around. “Trust me, this is one perk, but there’re a lot of cons that come with the territory too.”
“Like?”
“Like the hostess could be calling her friends to say that I’m here and I’ll be bombarded with requests for autographs and tickets as soon as we walk out.”
“So enjoy the moment, is what you’re saying?”
He smiles, and his face in candlelight makes my ovaries squeeze. Damn, he’s so good-looking.
“Enjoy the moment,” he says in a husky voice that makes my panties wet.
Aiden goes on to tell me how he’s been here before and that he loves the guacamole. He makes suggestions about what’s good but doesn’t try to pressure me on what to choose. I decide on the taco salad and he gets the carne asada. We both order margaritas and relax back into our seats.
“Thank you, this is really nice,” I say.
“Really nice would’ve been a Michelin three-star restaurant, which I would’ve done. But this is what the friend zone gets you.” His smile says he’s not serious, but his comment makes me think that maybe I need to nip this in the bud.
“I sense that you’re not thrilled about the friends thing?”
He straightens his napkin on his lap and plays with it for a moment, seeming to wrestle with something, before he meets my gaze. “I’m not. If it wasn’t for Joran, I’d already have asked you out on a real date. That’s probably a shitty thing to say when the guy is my agent, but it’s the honest truth and I can’t pretend it isn’t. This is the best I can do with you still involved with him.”
I swallow the golf-ball-sized lie in the back of my throat. I could tell him that Joran and I aren’t anything anymore, but then I’d probably end up sleeping with him tonight. “Oh.”
He holds up his hand. “I’m sorry, I know I’m stepping over the line. It’s just…” He shakes his head. “Never mind, can we just enjoy tonight? Platonically?”
My shoulders slouch and I sip my too-big margarita, loving the salt rim. “Did I ever tell you how much I love salt?” I change the subject to move past this awkwardness.
“I bet I can beat you with my love for salt with the weirdest thing I put it on.”
“Oh, you’re a salt lover?”
He nods. “I am.”
“I put it on watermelon.”
“Amateur. Pizza?” he asks.
“You got me there. I’ve never had it on pizza.”
He closes his eyes. “Get a sausage and onion and put salt and pepper on it. You’ll end up thanking me.”
“I’ll have to try that. I put my ketchup in a pile on the side of my plate, then top it with salt, then dip my salt-covered fries in it.” I give him a look that says, “Beat that.”
“Tried it. Loved it.”
As if someone orchestrated it, the guacamole arrives with the basket of chips. Usually I’d shy away from adding salt in case the other person doesn’t want it, but Aiden picks up the salt shaker and dangles it in front of my face.
I smile. “Go ahead.”
“Come on, you know you want to do it,” he teases.
I snag it from his grasp and shake it onto the guacamole. “Chips too?”
“Um… yeah.” He grins.
We both pick up a chip and dip it in the guacamole, and it’s so frickin’ good.
“Seriously, I could get naked and swim in that guacamole, it’s so good.”
For a moment I think I stunned him speechless, but he cracks up a second later, then chokes on a chip and has to grab his water to get it down. “You’re full of surprises, Saige Fowler.”
Our eyes catch over the candlelight and it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him I’m single and available. That Joran isn’t in my life and even when he was, it wasn’t serious and it was never physical. I’d do just about anything to jump over this table and lick the guacamole off his hard muscular body. But I don’t because I’d do just about anything—except get over the fear of breaking my own heart.
“You amaze me too, Aiden Drake.”
And it’s the truth. This man isn’t who I thought he was, and I’m honored to be in his presence and thankful I threw a drink in his face on New Year’s Eve. I had no idea how boring my life was without him in it.
Chapter Seventeen
Aiden
We opt to walk to the theater because it’s not that far away and I’ve come to enjoy viewing a new city through Saige’s eyes.
“Can I give you a disclaimer before we get to the movie theater?” I ask.