Leo (A Sign of Love Novel)(34)

Then I'm kissing him, hot and wet, right in the middle of the zoo, as our ice cream melts.

I pull away and rest my forehead to his. "I had a really, really nice day, Jake," I say.

"It's not over yet, baby," he says, taking my hand and pulling me up off his lap. "Let's go see the tigers."

**********

We leave the zoo at almost five o'clock, thoroughly exhausted. As he pulls out of the gate, I look over at Jake, feeling happy and sleepy. He grabs my hand and holds it as he drives with his left. We drive in silence, listening to the radio and I close my eyes a few times, feeling completely safe and at peace in the warmth of his car.

He pulls into a parking lot and I note that it's a small, italian restaurant. He comes over and opens my door and helps me out. He leads me into the restaurant and I look around, noting that it's quaint and adorable, almost full even early on a Sunday night.

The maitre d' rushes up to us and with a warm smile leads us to a small table in the back. Once we’re seated, the waiter comes up to our table quickly and Jake orders a bottle of red which the waiter is back with before I've even read down two items on the menu.

"The eggplant parmesan is really good," Jake offers and so I close my menu and raise my glass to his. "To hot peacocks!" I say, grinning.

"Hmmph," he snorts, teasing, then grinning at me and clicking my glass. God, he's so adorable.

We order dinner and chat easily as we're waiting for the food, holding hands across the table.

"What shift do you work tomorrow?" Jake asks me.

"Ten to seven all week."

He looks at me thoughtfully for a minute and then asks, "Ever think about doing anything else?"

"You mean do I have ambitions to be more than a maid?"

"Yeah, I mean, you know I don't think there's anything wrong with what you do. You're just so smart, you could do anything. I was just wondering if you think about it."

I sigh. "Yeah, I do, actually. I'd love to go to college but that takes money. Money that right now, I don't have. But what I'd really love to do is write. I have this idea for a book… " I trail off, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Do it. Why haven't you?"

Because it's out of my realm of "safe."

"Well, I need a computer to be able to write. I brought a flash drive back and forth to the library for a while, but it's just too impractical. And when I was feeling inspired, the library was closed… you know. It just didn't work."

The waiter brings our dinner and we dig in. It's rich and delicious and I can't help moaning after I take the first bite.

"Good?" Jake asks, his eyes darkening as he watches my mouth.

"Mmmm," I say, nodding.

"Will you stay with me again tonight?"

"I can't, Jake. I need to get ready for the week. I need to go home and get myself organized."

"Tomorrow night?"

"Can't tomorrow night either. I have a catering job that'll go late. I don't usually do them on Monday nights but it's some sort of art showing at a gallery downtown." I look at him suspiciously, "You won't be there, will you?"

He grins. "Wasn't planning on it but maybe now I'll have to see what I can arrange."

"Don't you dare."

"I have to travel to my office in San Diego on Tuesday but I'll be back Wednesday evening. Will you stay then?"

I smile at him. "Okay." He smiles back.

We eat in silence for a minute and then I ask, "I'm assuming you went to college?"

"Yeah, I went to UCSD. I was in school and also working with my dad, learning all about the company since the plan was for me to start working there when I graduated. We just had no idea at the time that I'd be running the damn thing. That's when my dad and I finally formed more of a relationship than we'd ever had. I had moved out of our house and that was really the thing that allowed us to start over. It was the first time I was really something close to happy in a long time, being away from my parents, just 'finding myself' to use a clichéd expression."

I nod. "You're not close to your mother?"

He makes a scoffing sound, "Close?" He cringes and is silent for a few seconds. "No."

I keep looking at him but he doesn't go on and I don't know what to say and so I pick up my fork and continue eating.

After a minute, he says quietly, "I want to pay for you to take classes, Evie."

I blink at him. "What?" I bristle slightly. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I believe in you. Because I think you're smart and I think you just need a small break to be able to reach for your dreams."

I shake my head slightly, "Jake, listen, that's a nice offer, but I've worked really hard to get where I am. I know to you my life probably doesn't look like a raving success story but I do okay and I'll find a way to go to school at some point… I mean we just started sleeping together and I don't really know how all this works but maybe we should wait to see where this goes before you start offering me large sums of money."

His face is hard now, clearly not happy with what I've just said. "First of all, I thought I already made it clear that, actually, I do consider your life a raving success story, all things considered. And secondly, do I need to remind you what you told me in my bed not 24 hours ago, Evie?" Yikes. He's pissed.