Ryan took my hand before I had a chance to shake hers, then stepped around me. “None of your business who he is, Stephanie. Don’t you have some work to do?”
Ryan tugged on my hand. I sidestepped Stephanie, and she laughed.
“Aw, come on, Ry. I’m a journalist. I had to ask.”
“You’re a gossip,” he said over his shoulder.
“And so are you…usually.”
I arched a brow at Ryan, who continued to tow me out of the room. We got to the elevator and stepped inside, and he pushed the lobby button and waited for the doors to close.
“Sorry about that. I know you don’t like strangers all up in your business.”
So that had been for my benefit. That was cute. I tugged on Ryan’s hand and pulled him into my arms, where I finally took the kiss I’d been wanting to give him.
“I just thought you were embarrassed.”
Ryan frowned. “Embarrassed about what?”
“Going to lunch with me. I don’t exactly belong in places like this.”
“Says who?” Ryan kissed along my jaw to my ear. “You look hot as hell, and I’m not embarrassed at all about going to lunch with you.”
“You might be if you don’t stop what you’re doing. I’ve got to walk out of this elevator, remember?”
Ryan grinned and turned just as we reached the lobby, and then rubbed his ass all up on me. “And now you have a good excuse to stick close.”
I chuckled as we stepped out. Even if I didn’t have a reason, I would’ve kept him close, because suddenly the idea of him not being near felt wrong.
“HOW ABOUT THIS place?”
I looked at the glass windows of the little café Ryan had stopped outside of and saw several tables and booths open inside. On the window closest to us in gold script read: Coffee, Baked Goods, Soups, and Sandwiches.
“Yeah, looks good to me.” I opened the door and held it wide.
“Why thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
As he walked ahead of me, I took in his tall, regal frame. I’d always thought he had a classically handsome look about him, and dressed in his suit and tie, that had never been more obvious.
We were seated at one of the booths in the back of the café, and when the waitress left to get our drinks, Ryan handed me a menu.
“Lunch is on me today,” I said.
He flipped his menu open and shook his head. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t have to. But this is the first time we’ve been out since pizza, and it’s my turn.”
Ryan looked as though he were about to argue and then laughed. “Oh my God, you’re right. That seems like forever ago.”
“It does.” I opened my menu and looked over the sandwich list. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I owe you a date.”
When Ryan didn’t say anything, I glanced up to see him looking at me with a smile.
“What?”
“That was a date?”
“Huh?”
“The pizza night. You said you owe me a date. Is that what that was?”
Shit. “I just meant you paid that night, so I owe you.”
“Uh huh.” Ryan’s grin turned smug as he leaned across the table. “You liked me even back then, didn’t you?”
“Of course I liked you. I agreed to live with you.”
“Nooo.” Ryan’s eyes twinkled. “I mean you liked me, liked me.”
I shrugged and sat back in my seat. “Yeah, you were growing on me.”
“Oh, stop with the flattery or my head will get too big.”
He rolled his eyes, and I couldn’t help my laugh, but before I could respond, the waitress stopped by our table.
“Hi there, welcome to Deb’s. What can I get for you today?”
I gestured to Ryan, who ordered the cup of soup and a half-sandwich. I put in my order for the French dip, and when she was gone, I settled back in my seat and stretched my legs out. When they bumped into Ryan’s under the table, I was about to pull them back, but he hooked his around mine.
“This is nice,” he said. “We’ll have to do it more often.”
“Agreed. I think we passed about twenty restaurants on our way here, so it’s not like we’ll run out of options anytime soon.”
“And that was just two blocks.”
“Right. Downtown’s crazy. I don’t know if I could work in one of these buildings like you do day in and day out. There’s so many people.”
“What do you mean? You work in the city every day. Sometimes running into these buildings with all these people.”
“I know, but once the job is done, we go back to the station, where there’s eight to twelve people max. That’s about as much peopling as I can do on a regular basis, and even then it’s a stretch.”
“You know, I don’t find that difficult to believe at all.”
“Yeah, I tend to do better on my own.”
Ryan stroked the tip of his shoe up the back of my calf, and my dick jerked. “That’s not true. You do well with me.”
“Which is a little weird, I’m not gonna lie.”
“Why? Is it so shocking to think that you might enjoy hanging around someone like me?”
“No. It’s shocking that you enjoy hanging around someone like me.”
Just then, the waitress appeared with our food, but if I thought Ryan would let that be the end of that conversation, I was wrong.
“Okay, we’ll play this your way. Why wouldn’t I be interested in someone like you?”
“Um, let’s see. I met you in a dive bar, and a couple days later was evicted from my place, and I’ve been a grumpy shit for about seventy-five percent of the time I’ve known you.”
“I’d say more like eighty, but you’re making up for that now.”
I scoffed. “See, I have so much to give.”
“Oh please, forget all of that. I’m not thinking about it. I mean, except the night at the bar—that was hot. All I care about now is that when we’re together, I feel more alive than I have in years. That ride yesterday afternoon was one of the best dates—and yes, it was a date—that I’ve ever been on. When you’re not busy thinking about the fact that you’re opening up and getting close to someone, you shine. You don’t even realize it.”
I had no idea how to respond to that, because ever since Simon died, I’d shut myself off from the world. I’d used my past and his death as reasons to push others away.
Ryan reached across the table and put his hand over mine. “I know you have your reasons for keeping people at a distance, but if you ever decide to let someone in, I’m here.”
I sighed. “I’m trying.”
“I know.” He sat back in his seat and picked up his spoon, then scooped up some soup and blew on it before taking the first sip.
I dunked my French dip into the au jus and took a bite, the delicious flavors hitting my tongue and making me realize how hungry I was.
“So, I have a question for you.”
Ryan looked at me and swallowed his bite of sandwich. “Ask away.”
“How did you get into this job? Personal assistant to Alexander Thorne? I can’t imagine your plan was that specific when you were young.”