Josie looked at me with wide eyes once we were alone. “You requested this?”
“Thought you’d like it.”
“Thanks,” she muttered, returning to studying the menu. “My God, I want to order everything.”
“So, do it.”
“Ha! I’ve already had too many empty calories from the cocktails on the beach.”
She’d given up on the coconut water after that first sip and ended up drinking caipirinha with me.
“Josie, stop. You’re beautiful. If you were any more beautiful, I’d have an even harder time resisting you.”
She lowered her menu, looking straight
at me.
“What? Don’t tell me you didn’t notice until today,” I said.
She pointed a finger at me. “Stop this.”
“What?”
“You know what.”
She was calling me out on my flirting. I should take a step back, reevaluate. Instead, I kept pushing.
“You’re my wife. If I want to compliment you, I will.”
“And you said I’m getting more daring. You’re no better.”
“What are you going to do about it, wife?”
She licked her lips, shaking her head. “You just wait. I’ll cook up a revenge plan.”
“Here’s the thing. I don’t think you will.”
“Know me so well, do you? What do you think I want?”
“I think you want me to push and push until you have no choice but to give in.”
Josie exhaled sharply before biting her lower lip.
I wanted her to give me a sign that she wanted this too. That she had just as much trouble navigating this as I did.
When she lowered her eyes back to the menu, I had my answer. I’d asked her last night to keep me in check, to be the responsible one out of the two of us, yet I was already changing the rules.
I didn’t have a chance to keep pushing right now, because a waitress came to take our order. We started small, with appetizers and sparkling water, but before long, it became a food festival.
We spoke about the wedding and about our families.
“Ryker couldn’t believe I was the first one to get married.”
She grinned. “If I were a betting woman, I wouldn’t have bet on you either.”
“Neither would I.”
She tilted her head, studying me. “Why not?”