Foreplay (The Ivy Chronicles #1)(62)

I’m sure he noticed, but said nothing. Or maybe he didn’t notice. Maybe he was just accustomed to being checked out, so he wasn’t aware of it happening. He waved me inside the elevator. We didn’t talk on the ride down or during the short walk to his Jeep. He opened the passenger door for me, which only bewildered me. The action seemed a bit much for a friend to do for another friend. So what was he doing with me? What was all this about? It couldn’t be a real date.

“I’m starving,” he said as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“Me, too.” Five minutes later we pulled into Gino’s parking lot. This close to campus, it was crowded with students.

“Guess I could have picked someplace less busy,” Reece murmured after the hostess told us it would be a few minutes.

“They turn tables over fast. Everyone’s got class or work to go to.”

He nodded and stared out at the restaurant, scanning the red-checkered tablecloths. He actually looked a little nervous.

“Are you working tonight?” I asked.

He faced me again. “Yeah.”

“It’s nice you have your days free.”

“My schedule is pretty much my own, but I like to be there in the evenings when it’s peak business. Especially weekends. It’s never that busy on weekdays. I think you met Gary. Guy with the mustache?”

“Yes.”

“He’s been working there since I was in diapers. He can run the place without me.”

I nodded. “Seems like running a business would be a big responsibility.”

“I like it okay. I’ve got a few ideas. Been thinking about expanding and adding a second location. Which is crazy when you think that I never wanted anything to do with the place in the beginning. I hated having to come home and work during breaks. It was my old man’s thing. Not mine. I guess I didn’t like being under his thumb. I was studying business in college when I had to drop out and come home and help out. And now here I am.”

Studying him, I asked, “You don’t want to go back to school? Finish your degree?”

He shrugged. “I’m running a business now. Learning through trial and error. And if I went back to school my ol’ man would sell off Mulvaney’s. It’s been in my family too long. I couldn’t let him do that. I guess it’s in my blood.”

The hostess called for us. She led us to a table for two near the window that faced the street. Seated, we opened the menus.

“What kind of pizza do you like?” he asked.

“My favorite is usually the Greek. Love the olives and feta and bits of shaved gyro meat on it. I usually get a slice or two of that—”

“That’s one of my favorites, too. Let’s get a large.” Closing the menu, he added with a grin, “I eat a lot.”

“I remember. Pancakes this tall.” I floated a hand above the table.

He nodded. “That’s right.”

“And fourteen meatballs.”

“You cheated me on those. I think you just gave me five.”

I shook my head. “So unfair. Guys have some kind of superhero metabolism.”

“You should see Logan eat. He’ll get a large just for himself and a side of wings and the meatball calzone.”

“Teenage boys,” I grumbled.

“Yeah, and he plays sports so he has no body fat at all.”

My gaze skimmed Reece’s chest and arms appreciatively. He was all hard, lean lines and tight muscle. He didn’t appear to have an ounce of fat on him either. Recalling that I had stripped down to my panties in front of him suddenly astonished me.

Pushing away the memory, I added, “And your brother has a lot of late night activity, too.”

The instant the words slipped out, my face caught fire. I had pretty much just called his brother a man-whore to his face. And it only called attention to what brought us together in the first place—the fact that I had thought he was the infamous bartender that slept with every girl to pass through Mulvaney’s doors.

Luckily, he didn’t take offense. He laughed. The waitress arrived to take our order right then. She froze, an awed smile fixed to her face as she eyed Reece.

“Ah, what can I get for you?” she addressed Reece without glancing at me. I couldn’t really blame her. Whenever he was around he was all I could look at, too.

He turned that dazzling smile on her and the waitress’s eyes might have glazed over. He ordered our pizza. It took her a moment to look down at her pad. She fumbled with the pen before finally managing to write. “Excellent choice. That’s my favorite.”

Reece’s gaze slid to me and his look made me warm from the inside out. “Ours, too.”

She looked at me as though remembering my presence. A stupid smile curved my lips and I looked down at my hands laced together in front of me. Ours. That single word ricocheted through my head. It made me feel all kinds of good to hear him say that single word. Foolish, I knew. But there it was.

She asked for our drink orders, and I chimed in with my request.

“I’ll have that right out.” She beamed at Reece and even sent me a quick, awkward smile—like she knew I knew she was imagining him naked.

And then we were alone again.

Reece leaned forward again, looking so at ease I began to feel relaxed. “So the gloves are off when it comes to my brother, huh?”