Love her until the end of time?
Okay, now I was starting to sound like Brandon.
“Aunt Jan says you two are an item,” Alex continued. “You’re telling me that’s not true?”
Ruth smiled, but didn’t answer, glancing over like she was waiting for me to respond.
I had to tell the truth.
We weren’t an item, even though I wanted us to be one.
“We’re almost best friends.” I winked at Ruth. “Isn’t that right?” I leaned closer to her, playfully bumped her with my arm and knocked her food off her plate and into the sand.
What was left for me to achieve as an idiot?
This was going downhill fast and I was screwing up everything.
Ruth glanced down at her pork and potato salad, both now covered with sand. “Now, look what my almost best friend did.”
I stood and grabbed it from the sand. “I’ll get you another plate of food. Be right back.”
Walking back toward Jay, I shook my head in disgust at my behavior, then tossed her plate in the trash.
Lindsey grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop before I could reach the barbecue area. “Dad, what are you doing?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Come here. You’re really, really blowing it big time.” She yanked me away from the family.
“Is this about me not telling Ruth that you existed?”
“No!” Lindsey looked around and then leaned closer, whispering. “Brandon says you’re introducing Ruth to all the single guys in our family? Have you lost your mind?”
“Apparently.”
“You need to snap out of whatever funk you’re in and conquer that woman.”
“Conquer her? What century were you born? Ruth isn’t a country.”
Lindsey sighed. “She’s more than a country, Dad. She’s everything you need.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m serious. Grandma and I both agree that Ruth is amazing. And she likes you.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because when we were going around introducing her to everyone, she couldn’t stop talking about you. Nick this, Nick that, Nick this.”
“Really?” I glanced back over to Ruth, who was deep into a conversation with Alex, smiling like she was enjoying his company.
Lindsey blew out a deep, frustrated breath. “Really. First, you introduce her to Jay and now Alex? You need to do something now. You’re out of practice. Get over there and tell her how you feel. It’s obvious.”
“If it’s so obvious, then she would know.”
“Yes, but women want to hear it. And you need to show it with actions.”
I couldn’t believe I was getting dating advice from my daughter.
She was right, I knew that, but still . . .
I liked Ruth a lot. I could picture myself falling in love with her, especially seeing this other side of her that was so alive and playful.
She was a completely different person.
“Nicky!” My mom marched toward me, giving me that glare she had perfected over the years to let me know I was in serious trouble. “We need to talk. Now.”
Great.
Something told me the schooling wasn’t even close to being over.
“I’m guessing by the look on your grandmother’s face that she knows, too?”
“Of course, she knows. We’re women. We know everything.”
That appeared to be the case.
My mom grabbed my arm, almost knocking the pork slider off my plate. “Ruth is not your girlfriend? Why did you tell me that she was?”
“I never told you that.”
“Well then, she should be then! Heavens to Betsy, what are you doing?”
I shrugged. “Not enough, according to your granddaughter.”
“Well, she’s right. Do you know how wonderful Ruth is?”
“I do.”
“And do you know how fast someone will snag her off the market and put a ring on her finger if you’re not smart enough to do it first? How do you think that will make you feel if it happens? Would you like that to happen?”
I glanced over at Ruth and she happened to look my way.
We smiled at each other.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t want to see that happen.”
“Well, then? What are you waiting for?”
My mom was right.
They both were.
I needed to quit thinking.
I needed to quit analyzing every little thing.
Asking Ruth out on a date would be the perfect way to let her know my intentions.
“Dad? Why are you still standing here? Go! Conquer her!”
“I told you that she’s not a country.”
“Are we really going to argue semantics?” my daughter interjected.
I didn’t answer, walking past my family members in the barbecue line to grab Ruth another pork slider to replace the one I knocked over.
“No cutting, Nicky!” Uncle Steve said.
“I’m not cutting. I’m just looking.” I glanced down at the empty cutting board where Jay had been shredding the pork. “Do you have more pork sliders?”
Jay placed a hot dog on a bun and handed it to my Aunt Julie. “You snooze, you lose. Back of the line or you’re going to start a riot.”
Crap.
I glanced down at the pork slider on my plate, knowing what I had to do.
I headed back to Ruth and sat down beside her, picking up my pork slider and holding it toward her. “Open up.”
“I’m not going to eat yours,” she said. “I can go get another one.”
“No, you can’t. This is the last one.”
“Then I’m definitely not going to eat it.”
“Open. Now. You know you want to. And I want to give it to you.”
Ruth arched an eyebrow. “Pardon me?”
“That didn’t come out right, but you know what I mean. Let me share this with you. It would be a pleasure.”
And I truly meant that.
Ruth hesitated, smiled, then leaned closer to me. “Just a nibble and that’s it.”
“A nibble is fine. Two or three nibbles is even better.”
She opened her mouth and I swear I couldn’t take my eyes off her lips.
My heart banged against my chest, just watching her smile, and her waiting for me to feed her. Just like I had done in the sushi restaurant.
I slowly fed it to her, watching her take a tiny bite on the end. She chewed slowly, moaning, her eyes on me, then glancing down at the pork slider again like she was okay having a little more.
Watching her lick the sauce off her bottom lip was damn near the most erotic exhibition I’d ever seen. How could eating pork be such a turn-on?
It was a pig.
I guess it didn’t matter.
She wanted more.
Good.
I held it closer to her lips and she took another little bite.
Ruth moaned again as she chewed.
She really needed to stop doing that. It was killing me.
She finished the last bite and then polished off the potato salad before I could even blink. “Oops. I guess I was hungry.”
I chuckled. “No need to apologize. I’m sure I enjoyed feeding you much more than you enjoyed eating it.”
“I doubt that.”