Is he actually asking me on a date? After everything that’s happened? I can’t help it; I shake my head and laugh.
He grins. “What’s so funny?”
I give him an astonished look. “Sparkles, are you seriously asking me out on a date? Don’t you think we’re a little past that point?”
“God, I never realized how much I missed that stupid name.”
It takes me a moment to catch on. I replay my statement in my head and realize that I called him Sparkles. It was my favorite term of endearment for him; mostly because it drove him nuts, but it really is a perfect name for someone with his eyes.
“It just slipped out,” I blush.
“I wasn’t complaining, Kat. So…drinks?”
“I can’t…I have this thing. A birthday thing.”
“Oh,” he breathes. “Okay, sure. Of course you already have plans. Maybe next time you’re in town then.”
I lightly tap his shin under the table. “Hey, Gavin?”
He looks up in surprise when my foot touches his leg. “Yeah?”
“Would you like to come to my party? It’s at 9:00 at a club called Obsidian. Do you know where that’s at?”
“I do,” he nods. “I’d love to come…as long as you’re not inviting me simply to be polite.”
“I certainly wouldn’t kick you out if you decided to show,” I say with a smirk.
He grins. “That’s good enough for me.”
“Okay. I’ll leave your name at the door. We have a VIP room.”
I try acting cool but I feel like I’m about to explode. I haven’t felt this kind of attraction to another man since…well, since him. Christ, I have to get out of here before I do something stupid like mount him in public.
I stand up. “Well, I should get going. I have a few things to do before tonight.”
He stands as well. “So, I’ll see you later?”
“Right,” I say, nodding nervously.
“I’m really looking forward to it, Kat.”
I do my best to leave the coffee house on steady legs but I miss a step when I look back and see him watching me like he wants to eat me alive. All the way to my car, I have to remind myself to put one foot in front of the other and breathe.
What did I just get myself into?
I ANSWER MY PHONE the second it rings. “Hey, how’d the meeting with the minister go?”
“Who gives a fuck?” Bree shrieks. “Bitch, I want details and I want them now!”
“Calm down, Bridezilla.”
“Kat,” she growls. “Tell me what happened with Gavin! I’ve been dying over here! I’m pretty sure I didn’t hear a single word the preacher had to say. For all I know, he plans on performing our ceremony in Swahili.”
I chuckle because I’m fairly certain that wasn’t an exaggeration. “I don’t even know where to start, Bree. I wasn’t with him for very long, but so much happened.”
“Try beginning with the part where you said hello.”
I proceed to tell her about my conversation with Gavin. How I’m freaking out because every feeling I’ve ever had for him came rushing back to the surface. How the sparks flying between us could’ve burned the coffee house to the ground. How I realize that I never really got over him, which in retrospect, explains why my other attempts at a relationship never took.