I glanced down at the menu. Thankfully everything was printed in English.
My stomach growled. I looked up at Marcus, wondering if he noticed. Surprisingly he wasn’t staring at the menu; he was staring at me. It felt … strange. “Do you know what you want?”
Licking his lips seductively just like in my dream, he answered, but something told me he wanted something more than his meal. “I always order the Pesto italiano pasta.”
Looking down at the menu and back at him, I tried to pretend his stare didn’t faze me. “Oh, do you recommend anything for me?”
He slightly tilted his head. “I recommend the lasagna or the eggplant parmesan.” He licked his lips. Oh God, he did it again; suddenly I was hungry for him and not food.
What was wrong with me!
Bless the older man’s soul when he interrupted my sensual thoughts. He placed before us two plates of salad, a basket of bread with a side dish of olive oil, and some type of seasoning. The man ran off again. I grabbed my fork and dug into the salad, not waiting for Marcus to go first. I was too hungry to be polite and not dig in.
We sat in silence as we ate our salads. Halfway through, I looked up at him, and he was staring at me again. “Is there something wrong? Every time I look at you, it feels like you’ve been staring at me the entire time.”
“I have.” He grabbed his glass and sipped his water, not taking his eyes off me.
“Why? Is there something on my face?” I picked up a napkin to wipe my lips.
“No.” He chuckled. “I like staring at you. You’re a beautiful woman, so it’s hard not to stare.” My stomach fluttered. Underneath the table, I pinched my hand to see if this were real or a dream. Nope, I felt the sting against my flesh; this was definitely real.
“Thank you,” I whispered. To distract myself, I grabbed a piece of warm bread and dipped it into the olive oil. I took a bite; oh it was good. I took another bite. When I looked up, he was smiling at me. “What?”
“Do you want to talk about what happened last night? Maybe you can relax after we do.” I stopped chewing. What? Oh no, something bad happened, I must have slept with him and don’t even remember. What a waste!
Looking away nervously, I whispered, “What happened last night?” Turning my head, I tried to distract myself by admiring the trees in the park.
I could hear him adjust his body in the seat. “Well, for starters, we didn’t sleep with each other.” My eyes snapped to his.
“Oh thank God!” I cried in relief.
“But you wanted to; you asked me too.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
His all-white, perfect-toothed grin engulfed his face. “No…you were completely hammered last night. I helped you up the stairs and into your room. When we entered your room, you asked me to help you out of your dress. You were complaining about how tight it was, so I unzipped it for you. You sat down on the edge of the bed, so I could take your shoes off. After I did, you ran your fingers through my hair, saying how soft it was. You also mentioned how much you thought my lips were sexy.” He smiled, remembering my foolishness. I wished I could fly away, maybe even make a clear escape by throwing myself off of the balcony, but I was too stunned to move, to even speak.
He continued, “You tried to kiss me, but I didn’t want to kiss you like that. So I pulled away. You were very angry at the rejection. I remember a few curses, and then you stomped over to your drawer, pulled something out, and tossed it to the side of your bed. I’m not sure what it was. You then you threw yourself in bed … You lay there and fell asleep … I covered you with the blanket, and then I left.”
Embarrassed by his brutally honest account of last night’s events, I couldn’t look at him. I also had the feeling he was just being polite and pretended not to know what I took out of my drawer. Lowering my head, I focused on my fidgeting fingers.
I could feel the heat of his stare, but I didn’t dare to look up. "I apologize for my behavior last night. Please know that’s not me … I don’t even drink liquor.” Nervously laughing once, I continued to mumble. “I'm more of a wine person. Last night was just a celebration of the start of summer break. I assure you it will never happen again.” My voice was so low I'm not sure it was audible.
Bravely I peeked up through my long lashes, catching when his smile faded.
“I hope that’s not true … See I wanted to kiss you last night, very badly, but not while you were incapable of remembering it.” He bit his lip and then continued, “I want to get to know you better, if that’s okay with you? I want to know about you, where you’re from, your family, everything.” He paused for a mere second. “For some unexplained reason I'm drawn to you, and I can't stop thinking about you. All day at work today during a conference call during my deposition, you were the only thing on my mind.” His lips curled into a crooked smile.
Speechless I opened my mouth to say something but couldn’t find the right words, so I closed it. I thought he wasn’t interested, especially the way he acted last night. “So what are you saying exactly?”
Chapter Four
“I want to date,” Marcus said, “see where it goes. I’ve never dated before, and I don’t know how it works, but you’re the kind of girl that a man should treat like a woman, not as a one-night stand.”
Baffled by this entire conversation, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “You’ve never been in a relationship before?”
His eyes grew serious. “I never had time for a serious relationship.”
Glaring at him, I leaned in on the table. “But you have time to date me?”
His expression relaxed. “I'll make the time for you, to get to know you better.”
I said everything in one quick breath as I always do when I’m mad or nervous, “And what if I'm not the woman you think I am? What if one of us takes this more seriously than the other? One of us could end up hurt. What if I get the externship position at your firm? How will people look at us, at me? How will it interfere with my position if it doesn’t work out with us? I don't know if I can deal with all of that.” I was extremely nervous.
Laughing once, he dragged his hand through his hair, thinking before speaking, “Stop over-thinking every little outcome. But to answer your questions, yes you’re exactly what I thought. No one will end up hurt. You will have the extern position; there’s no question about that. Don’t worry about what others may think. If, and I mean if, it doesn’t work out between us, your position will remain; your work life and personal life are two separate issues.”