They all had water.
Water was free, after all, and kept a night out at a diner reasonable.
“Excuse me,” she said, catching the waiter’s attention as he walked away.
He came back immediately. “Yes?”
“That table over there with the family?” she said, pulling her card out.
The waiter nodded.
“Bring them all ice cream sundaes of their choice, and hot chocolates, if they’d like. Then charge those items and the rest of their bill to this card, please.” She’d been paid and eating a few meals at Taylor’s place—which he refused to allow her to pay for—so she might as well pay it forward. “Don’t tell them I did it, though.”
He took the card, smiling. “Of course.”
As he left, she turned back to Taylor, almost forgetting he was there. He stared at her with a look in his eye that trapped her breath in her throat, choking her.
“What?” she asked, fisting her hands in her lap.
He turned away, shaking his head. “Nothing. It’s just…”
“It’s just, what?”
“You’re so fucking beautiful, inside and out, and to be honest, sometimes I don’t know what to do with that.” He flexed his jaw. “Or with you. You’re just too good.”
She snorted, her cheeks heating. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes,” he said, his voice low. “You’re fucking amazing, and somehow you manage to have no clue just how special you are.”
Well, there he went again. Striking her speechless.
Damn him.
Chapter Twelve
Sam fidgeted with the mug of hot chocolate, avoiding his gaze. She clearly didn’t know what to do when he complimented her or tried to tell her how incredible she was. She usually either laughed it off or changed the subject abruptly to anything besides herself. Funny, because she was his favorite topic.
It was also the least frequently discussed.
Any time he touched on a personal topic or tried to coax a childhood story out of her, she clammed up. That was usually his game, too. Leave them guessing, keep them at arm’s length.
But around her…
He wanted more.
Christ, he’d even been so desperate for information about her that he’d hired someone to dig into her past so he could find out everything there was to know about her, including the secrets she so desperately guarded. Upon receiving the report, however, he hadn’t read it because it felt wrong.
“I believe I owe you a question,” she said, her tone a little tense because she didn’t want to answer it. But she would, because she promised. His Sam was a woman of her word.
He’d learned that.
“Ah, yes.” He rubbed his hands together playfully, drawing out this rare moment where he was actually guaranteed an answer to some closely guarded secret of hers.
The waiter brought her card back, and she stole a glance at the family. He did the same. The mother was wiping her eyes, and the father had a comforting hand on her back as his daughter sipped at her hot cocoa. Their son dug into his ice cream enthusiastically.
“They said thank you to whoever paid their bill. I told them the couple who did it already left, so they wouldn’t know it was you, like you wanted. It’s really nice of you, though.”
She made a small sound in the back of her throat as she added a tip and signed the charge slip. “It’s nothing. Thank you for your help.”