“I see me alright.”
“Let me tell you what I see,” he started, hands at my shoulders, “I see a girl who smiles and everything that went wrong with my day washes away into nothing. I see a girl who has eyes so warm and loving that I forget there are assholes walking around out there. I see a woman who has curves for days that make most men salivate, and it makes me so intensely jealous that I want to cover them up, but then I realize how much I love looking at those curves too.
“I see Katie Wilder...the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in my life. You’re so fucking sexy and beautiful and cute that the idea that you spend a day not knowing that makes me insane. I don’t know what happened in your life to make you see anything different. I want to go out there and beat the shit out of anyone that ever said an unkind word to you or made you feel small and undesirable. I know one thing--all those assholes were just green with envy.” He turned me around so I could gaze directly into his eyes instead of watching him in the mirror.
Cupping my face in his hands, he brought his forehead to mine, making the intensity of his green eyes even more piercing than ever before. “You have any idea what it feels like to know the most perfect girl you’ll ever meet was the one you met as a child? Too scared to say or do anything because she burned bright like the sun and you were just an average guy that happened to be good at football. You are perfect, the best, and nothing and nobody is ever allowed to make you feel less, even yourself.”
And then he kissed me. His kiss was like molten lava, hot and needy, taking control of my body and making me melt into him. This kiss was so passionate and heady that for a first kiss--it was one for the story books. I felt like every single leading lady in a romantic comedy. I also felt stunned.
“Ok, wait. What?” I said into his lips, he ignored me and just kept kissing me. His tongue gently probing into my lips. The sweet taste of peppermint consuming me from the gum he always chewed.
“I’ve been waiting to do that for seven years.”
“Seven years?” I asked, breaking the kiss and looking at him.
“Seven years. I’ve been into you since high school. So much so that I haven’t been able to date anyone else or even look at another girl.”
“Excuse me? Look at you. You’re...you.” I accused, stepping back and waving my arms at him like a lunatic. He flipped me around so I was facing the mirror again but this time he curled his arms around my waist and put his head on my shoulders.
“Now tell that to the only girl I’ve ever loved.” He uttered at my ear.
Sawyer
“Holy Guacamole, that’s gonna take a lot of sit-ups to work off.” Katie’s eyes grew bigger than the Mexican-themed dessert plates sitting between us. The waiter set a giant bowl of fried ice cream in the center of the table, two spoons flanking the bowl.
“Ladies first.” I laughed when she attempted a scoop and a stack of fried cinnamon sticks toppled off the cream. I used my own spoon to help her scoop hers to her plate, before pausing to watch her take her first bites.
First, she picked a tiny fried bit of cinnamon stick goodness from the top and dipped it in the melting ooze before plunging it past her lips and sucking. Her eyes slammed closed instantly, a groan on her lips.
And then I groaned, because watching this woman eat was about the most seductive thing I’d ever seen. Some men needed a lot of bells and whistles to get themselves to breaking point, but not me, I just need Katie, sucking on a stick and moaning.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” Her eyes were suddenly on me.
“Too distracted by you,” I said.
“You know I'll never be able to eat a thing around you if you’re just going to stare at me the entire time.”
“And that would be a shame.” I stabbed at the melting pile, scooping some into my mouth. It wasn’t half as good as I imagined she tasted. I’d spent a lot of this date already wondering how she’d taste, I’d hardly been able to register the spicy chicken tacos on my lips just thinking of kissing her tonight.
“It’s hard to believe this is our first date. We’ve known each other for so long…” I moved in a little closer when her words trailed off, close enough that our shoulders touched in the booth we’d tucked ourselves side by side into.
“I was terrified of you,” I confessed, “so pretty and sweet and perfect, I didn’t think I deserved to even look at you.”
Her lips worked back and forth, a tiny dot of ice cream collecting at the corner. I swipe at it with my thumb, licking at the sweetness and digging down deep to not press my lips to hers in that second.
“I want to kiss you right now more than anything in the world, more than I wanted those tacos, and more than I want that ice cream.”
“Okay,” she breathed, barely audible.
“But the only thing stopping me is all the people who have eyes on the most beautiful girl in the room right now.” I caught her chin with my thumb and directed her attention across the room to the bar. “You see those two guys in the corner over there?”
“Yes.” She uttered.
“They’ve been watching you all night, hoping I'll probably step away for a minute and leave you to the wolves.” I turned her chin to the other corner. “See that bus boy? Every time he’s at his station he lingers, and washes his table a little too often, just so he can stare at you. Every single time, cupcake. I’m not making it up, you’re a stunning woman You're the only one who doesn't see it.”
She shook her head, swallowing another spoonful of ice cream and then setting her utensil down. “Thank you, you’re so kind, but try growing up with a mother that--”
“Lies to you all the time?” I interjected. “You shouldn’t let people like that take up real estate in your head, Katie.”
“Let me guess, people like you and Jocko are a better influence?”
I laughed, tossing my credit card on the table when the waiter came to collect our dishes.
“I won’t speak for Jocko, but me? Definitely.”
“I’m so embarrassed to tell you this, but when I was in my first year of culinary school every student had to make a unique dish and serve it to a panel of judges at the end of the year--mine won, but that’s not the interesting part--what is...I named it...after you.”
“Wait, you're telling me you made a dessert after me? Can I buy it at the shop? Is it like, The Sawyer?”
She laughed, covering her mouth adorably when she did. “No, I never had the guts to sell it, it had some pretty bold flavors.”
“Bold? Well, that’s it then, I'm sold. You have to make it for me.”
“Someday, someday,” she mused as the waiter returned, nodding and thanking us before we stood, ushering our way out of the booth.
A few minutes later we were bustling down the city sidewalk, our hands locked by the time we climbed the stairs to her brownstone.
“Do you want to come up?” She paused at her door, keys in hand. “I don’t have the ingredients on hand to make your namesake, but I can whip up something…”
I caught her face in my palms, silencing her with a soft kiss.