Love At First Hate (Love At Firsts Book 2)(35)

Patience isn’t my strong suit. I don’t have much of it as it is, but having to wait for Matt to show up is proving to be harder than I thought. What if he’s not going to show up? Would he at least message me if that were the case? What is he going to think when he sees me? Besides the fact that he openly told me that he joined this app and was still on it, would he suspect at all that it’s me? The longer I have to wait, the more questions invade my mind.

Whenever someone walks into the restaurant, I look up to check if it’s Matt. I’m not directly by the door, but I have a clear view of it. I wonder if he’ll look around and try to find someone who looks like they are waiting for their date.

I don’t have to wait much longer. Matt walks in and scans the restaurant. He talks for a second with the hostess and comes straight to me. He sits across from me and looks at me with a smug grin plastered on his face.

“Hey, Tattooedsoldier81.” He looks at me, rather proud of himself, waiting for me to say something.

“You knew?” I ask surprised.

“Yes.”

“And you came?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know. How did you know?” I blow out a breath.

“Your tats gave you away.” He chuckles.

“Oh.” I kinda feel stupid now.

“It’s alright, I’m flattered.” He reaches over and strokes my hand with his thumb. I let him, but I can’t help glancing around.

“Relax. I’m not going to jump on you, at least not in here.” He winks at me.

“Good to know. What did you think when I messaged you then since you knew it was me?”

“I was intrigued as to why you joined the app and messaged me on there instead of just asking.”

“Can I take your order?” The waitress comes over. I’m glad that she did. I’m not sure if I was ready to answer his question.

“I’ll have a beer,” I tell her and scan the menu.

“I’ll have a glass of red wine.” Matt shoots his dashing smile at her.

“Did you make a choice already on what you want to eat?”

“I’ll have the lasagna,” I say after quickly scanning the menu. This is the only dish I know I’ll like. The other ones are way too fancy to my liking.

“I’ll have the asparagus and prosciutto risotto please.” Matt smiles looking up from his menu.

“I’ll bring you your drinks and breadsticks in a minute.” The waitress smiles and walks away with the menus.

“Back to the matter at hand, why?” Matt looks at me amused.

“I guess it was just easier to ask you out and face rejection if you didn’t know it was me?” I’m not sure I make much sense right now.

“I thought I was clear when I hinted about us being together, with my flirting, with the quick kiss…” he lets his words linger.

“You did, I guess I’m just not used to all of this. It’s still all new to me and confusing.”

“How is it confusing? Surely you’ve had women hit on you and want to be with you?”

“Not that many.” I shrug.

“They are stupid then.” He chuckles.

“Or maybe I’m just not going out often, or if I do, I’m in the company of another woman. I’ve been trying to stay away from relationships as much as I could for the longest time. I don’t want kids nor ever wanted to get married.”

“What made you feel that way?” he asks sounding intrigued.

“It dates back to a few years. A girl I was f*cking on the regular ended up pregnant. She knew I didn’t want kids, and she tried to trap me into a relationship I didn’t want. I got the snip after that.”

“I remember you telling me about that. Do women really think that they’ll be able to force you to stay with them if they get pregnant behind your back?”

“Apparently, yes.” I shrug.

“So you have a kid?”

“Sadly for her, she miscarried. It’s horrible and selfish, but I was glad. I struggle to say no to a crying woman so breaking up with her would have been hell. I couldn’t do it.”

“So you would have been stuck with someone you didn’t love?”

“Yeah, much like my relationship with Lindsey.”

“I still don’t get why you didn’t end things sooner with her if you had no feelings for her?” He frowns.

“I don’t know. Maybe I was scared of how my family would be toward me if I did. It’s been an ongoing battle for the longest time with them so I wouldn’t put it past them to plan their revenge now that I went against their plans of getting Lindsey and I married.”

“Have they been in contact since?” Matt asks just as they bring us our drinks and food.

“So far, no, I thought my father would start threatening me straightaway. They’ve left me alone ever since that day. I haven’t even heard from Lindsey.”

“That’s a shocker. I mean she appeared to be a clingy one.”

“She was. She was needy and clingy, and when she wasn’t getting the attention she wanted, she would throw tantrums like a five-year-old.”

“That’s quite sad actually. Was she spoiled growing up?”