I could tell she meant what she said, but that only made me feel worse about choosing casual dining for our first date. And dammit, I wasn’t used to feeling like I was on the back foot with a woman, and I didn’t like it all that much.
“I wanted to cook for you, but I didn’t want you to think that I was making a statement by not taking you out, or inviting you to my place. I didn’t want you to think I meant anything bad. At all.”
Janey stared at me like I’d grown another head, which she should have, because I sounded like a rambling idiot. “Are the women you date typically too good for Texicans? Because I love the fresh chips and salsa. Plus, they have big ass margaritas.”
My shoulders fell at her efforts to put me at ease, and I flashed a grateful smile. “Planning on getting me drunk so you can take advantage of me Janey?” I arched my brows and leaned in with a flirtatious smile that had her biting her bottom lip.
Eager to play along, Janey leaned in as well and let a slow smile spread across her face. “Do I need to get you drunk? And would it really be taking advantage, considering those recent kisses?” Her skin turned a very pretty shade of pink.
I nodded seriously at her words, happy to hear that she’d been thinking about our kisses too. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about kissing you either.”
Janey shivered, and for once she did nothing to suppress it. Then she shook her head and pointed at me, doing her best impression of a buttoned up school teacher. “No. None of that. Food. We’re here to eat. And to talk.”
“And maybe kiss,” I added just as the young waiter showed up to take our order. “Maybe,” I clarified. “If you’re so overcome with passion that you can’t help yourself.”
She rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the waiter who looked like he was ready to bolt. Janey placed her order and turned to me with a mischievous grin. “How about a passion fruit margarita, Chief?”
The little minx laughed with her eyes, leaving me to making a clumsy explanation to the kid. “You’re wicked.”
She shrugged. “And you’re too smug for your own good.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that. “But still, a passion fruit margarita?”
She nodded. “They’re delicious, and it shows that kid that even a big manly guy like you is confident enough to order a girly drink. Consider it the cost of teaching a young boy a valuable life lesson.”
“If you weren’t so damn cute, I’d call bullshit.”
The laugh that exploded out of her was enough to have me joining in, red in the face as the restaurant started to fill up with the Friday night crowd.
“Rafe, so good to see you. Where have you been hiding?”
My shoulders fell at the sound of a familiar voice. “Katie. What a surprise.” Considering she lived halfway between here and Austin, that wasn’t too far off.
She smiled and put one hand to her cleavage. “I know, right! I was just thinking about you the other day, and then here you are, what are the odds?”
“Pretty good since he lives here,” Janey said into her oversized margarita.
“Oh, how rude of me. Is this your sister or cousin?” She leaned close to me, making absolutely sure Janey got the wrong idea about us.
Janey laughed and shook her head. “Silly girl, Rafe doesn’t have female friends. Well unless you count Reese which is strange, but a true friendship,” she rambled on for a bit, finally stopping with a nervous smile. “I’m guessing you’re one of his former friends?”
Katie glared and shook her head. “Rafe who is this person?”
My hackles raised at her tone, and just how rude she was being to Janey. “This person is my date. The woman I asked out, picked up and hoped to enjoy a meal with. The question is, what are you doing here?”
She floundered for a moment, but recovered quickly. “I saw you over here and figured I’d come say hello, to see if you wanted to catch up. Again.”
I laughed. “And you thought the best time to do that was when I was out on a date with another woman? Have a good night Katie.”
She froze and then frowned. “I’ll talk to you soon?”
“Have a good night.” Was this really the kind of woman I spent my time with? More like wasted my time with all these years, especially now. Especially in comparison to a woman like Janey.
“Fine. If you think you can call me up later…” she began in a huff.
“I’m sorry, I won’t.” I flashed a sympathetic smile at her before turning back to Janey. “Want to split a fried ice cream?”
Her lips parted slowly, curving up into a half moon until the smile reached her eyes. “I have a pecan pie cheesecake in the fridge. With whipped cream.”