Page 45 of All's Fair in Love and Pizza
“I did not fall asleep.”
“You were snoring.”
“Iwas snoring?Me?” He gaped incredulously. “Have you heard yourself? You sound like a gorilla with a cold.”
“A gorilla with a cold? That’s your comeback? C’mon, baby. You can do better than that.”
And just like that, I’d singlehandedly sucked the air out of the room.
I opened my mouth, a casual brush-off on the tip of my tongue to erase the renegade “baby,” but something in Rob’s eyes stopped me.
He liked it.
He liked me.
Butterflies fluttered in my chest, and I had a sudden urge to touch him—hold his hand, bump his knee under the table. A small gesture, a leap of faith.
I liked Rob’s dry sense of humor and the way his eyes lit up when he talked about people he cared about. I liked that he wasn’t afraid to discuss past struggles or credit the people and places who’d influenced him. I liked that he could make vulnerability seem like strength…not weakness.
So, for the first time in years, I set my protective armor aside and let myself connect with someone new. And somehow, I knew without asking that I wasn’t alone.
17
ROB
Amber was one smart cookie.
She’d organized the week leading up to the grand finale with serious attention to detail and emphasis on community involvement. Great H Bagels and Boardwalk Pizza hosted specific flavor days and gave coupons for participation. It was a huge hit. Both stores had lines out the door every day, though at different times. We were busy from dawn to early afternoon, and Mateo and his cousins were swamped from late morning to closing.
“Everyone loves giving their two cents.” She snickered. “All they want is a platform to judge.”
“How are we doing?”
Amber wrinkled her nose. “I think they’re winning, but there’s still a week to go and the ad campaign is about to hit hard.”
She wasn’t kidding. Amber had arranged for Mateo and me to do an interview with the local paper that had been picked up by theSan Francisco Chronicleand had made the front page of the sports section. Nice, but it was nothing compared to the social media frenzy Amber had ignited with a few reels she’dposted featuring Mateo and me in our college football uniforms mashed with current clips of us in our respective shops, making bagels, slinging pizza dough, and proudly representing Haverton.
Sales were through the roof so no one was complaining, but the new attention was surreal. Mateo and I were asked to attend a recent football game together where we’d been surrounded by eager fans who’d wanted autographs, selfies, and a chance to chat with a couple of OG Great H players. I’d drawn the NFL crowd for sure, but Mateo was popular with the locals.
Not too surprising. Mateo knew practically everyone in town and had a great rapport with college students. I spotted him taking selfies with the girls’ basketball team and five minutes later, he was chatting with a group of octogenarians about the family of raccoons that had taken residence in the alley behind the Chinese restaurant.
Mateo switched gears easily. He had a knack for recalling names and oddball events from ten or twenty years ago and was somehow up-to-date with the latest TikTok fad. And on top of being charismatic, he was ridiculously gorgeous.
I wasn’t the only one who thought so. I overheard two old women twittering on the sidewalk outside our shops the other day.
“Oh, that Mateo is a looker, all right.”
“What I wouldn’t give to be fifty years younger.”
They’d giggled like schoolgirls and winked at me as I’d pushed open the door to the pizzeria. I wanted to tell them I was as smitten as they were. It was true. I had a big ol’ crush on Mateo Cavaretti…a thousand times bigger than the one I’d secretly harbored in college.
Now I knew him. The real Mateo.
I could tell his real smile from the polite one reserved for customers. I knew how to tease him, make him laugh, and turnhim on. I’d mapped every inch of his body, kissed his scars, and tasted him…over and over again. He was prickly yet kind, edgy yet somehow relatable. And he was so good with people—customers, family, friends.
His interactions with his cousins were always entertaining. They were like brothers to him, and his colorful Aunt Sylvie was like a second mother. And his mom…well, he adored her. For some reason, that made me like him even more.
Or maybe I was already in too deep.
