Page 8 of The Rules of Dating a Younger Man
He headed straight for my table. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Yeah, totally crazy, right? Considering we’re both staying here.” I laughed.
He held out his palms. “I’m not stalking you, I swear. I’m just hungry, and there aren’t a lot of options in the immediate vicinity.”
As his eyes lingered on mine, all I could think was: You’re hungry, alright. Just not for food. And quite frankly, I wouldn’t have minded taking a bite of him right about now.
He flashed a mischievous grin as he pointed to the chair across from me. “Is this seat taken?”
“In fact, it’s not.”
He batted his sinfully long lashes. “Would it be okay to join you, then?”
I felt my cheeks flush. “That would be fine.”
Brayden sat down and drummed lightly on the table. “Have you ordered yet?”
“No.” I faced the menu toward him. “I was just looking when you got here, but I can’t decide what I want.” Well, for food. Based on the way my body was reacting right now, it definitely knew what it wanted. Except Brayden wasn’t on the menu. He never would be.
A waft of his incredible scent blew in my direction. My nipples hardened, a sign that my body and my common sense were on a break, completely disassociated from each other.
He perused the choices. “How hungry are you?”
“Pretty hungry.” I cleared my throat.
He looked up at me. “Would you want to share a pizza and try the eggplant parmesan, too? I feel like both but can’t decide between them.” He closed the menu. “Maybe we could split them in half?”
Or you could split me in half. What the hell is wrong with me?
“That sounds great. I’d been eyeing both of those things,” I said. Along with your lips. Your hands. Your strong forearms.
“Not surprising, considering how similar our tastes have been thus far.” He winked.
“On certain things…not necessarily home décor.” I winked back.
He set down the menu and looked straight at me. I felt like there was a spotlight overhead. His eyes were piercing. This man gave you every ounce of his attention, and it was a bit overwhelming.
A waiter came by and took our order, giving me a moment’s reprieve. But once he left, Brayden’s attention yet again focused intently on me.
“So…you mentioned a stepdaughter,” he said. “Do you have other kids?”
“No.” I stared down into my water glass. “My husband didn’t want any more kids, so we didn’t have children of our own.”
“What about what you wanted? Did you want kids?”
His question caught me off guard. The truth was, while I’d been neutral at the time, now I sometimes wished Richard and I had at least one child together. Caitlin would’ve had a sibling. I shook myself out of my thoughts, dodging the question. “It just wasn’t meant to be.” I tilted my head. “I assume you don’t have children?”
“Why would you assume that?”
“Because you have so much energy, I suppose.” I chuckled. “Kids are exhausting.”
“You’d be correct. I don’t have kids yet.”
Yet. “So you definitely want them...”
“Someday, yeah,” he said.
Another reason I shouldn’t be playing with fire. “I also figured you had no kids because if you had a child, it might be difficult to take off on weekends to come upstate like this.”