“That an invitation?”
“Of course I’ll share my fries,” I say, reaching across the table and giving his hand a little pat, deliberately misunderstanding his question.
I start to pull my hand away, but he grabs it before I can retreat, and I suck in a startled breath at the feel of his warm fingers against my palm.
“Georgiana.”
I swallow. “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry. About the other day. I’m not…I’m not good at this.”
“At what?”
He looks away. “Talking with women. I mean, I’m great with clients, I can hold my own with cocktail party small talk, but this thing with us…it’s different. I don’t know what to do with you. I can’t decide….”
I look down to where our hands are still joined, a shiver running up my arm as his fingers move just slightly against my palm. Then I glance up to meet his gaze. “If you even like me?” I guess.
He blows out a breath and releases my hand. “You’re trying to bait me into saying something tactless again.”
“You do a pretty good job of doing that all by yourself,” I say. My palm is still tingling, and I drop my hand into my lap and make a fist. I notice that he does the same.
A muscle twitches in his jaw. “Never mind,” he mutters.
I can’t decide if we just had a moment, or if I somehow dodged a moment, or…
Well, let’s just say he’s not the only one who’s off balance.
“So,” I say, forcing brightness into my tone. “Tell me about the rest of your family. Parents?”
“What about them?”
I roll my eyes. “Really?”
Instead of answering the question, he shrugs. “They’re parents. Regular. Not like your parents, where everybody knows them.”
“Too true.” I extend my wrist. “Cut me here, the blood runs blue.”
“They’re how you can afford to live in our building?”
I laugh a little at his bluntness. “I come from money, yes. Although actually the down payment for the apartment came from my grandmother. The money she left me when she passed was specifically allocated for real estate. She was old-fashioned in her way. Thought a woman’s place in the world was making a home for herself and her family.”
“What do you think a woman’s place is?”
I purse my lips. “Annoying you?”
“Ah, yes.” He takes a sip of his champagne. “Well, you’re quite accomplished at it.”
“And yet here we are.”
“Indeed.”
The waitress appears once more, placing our respective lunches in front of us.
I hold up a deliciously hot french fry to Andrew. He counters by lifting a forkful of lettuce toward me, raising his eyebrows in question.
Then his attention shifts, and he reaches into his suit jacket, pulling out his phone and glancing at the screen. His face goes immediately tense, then perfectly blank.
“Everything okay?” I ask as he puts it away.