Page 68 of Feeding Hope
She swept her tongue across her bottom lip and her smile deepened. “You look... like one of those Magic Mike dancers and I’m,” she lowered her gaze for a moment and then met his gaze again, “not complaining.”
He hadn’t blushed since...
Hell, he didn’t remember ever blushing, but there he was, standing in the dark evening air, his shirt only on one arm. Wayne shrugged on the rest of his shirt, making the decision not to turn his back to Avery. There was a look in her eyes that said she was enjoying the view, and he was enjoying the view, too.
“I was looking online for a place to take you, and I forgot to change.”
He worked quickly on the buttons up the front of his shirt, looking up every few moments to see her watching him. It felt good. It felt damn good.
He’d spent years being a football player. A team leader both as a player and now as a coach. He liked being a man. The looks he was getting from Avery fueled that feeling.
He was almost to the top button when he felt her hand touch his. Wayne paused and looked up at her face.
“Leave it.” A corner of her mouth quirked up higher, making her smile look more like a smirk. “I like it like that.”
He thought about it for a moment and then nodded slowly. “Is this something you like... all the time?”
Her smile softened a little and she lowered her hand slowly to her side. “Just on you.”
He blew out a breath from barely parted lips. There were a lot of things he liked. But the thought of heron himwas at the top of his mind.
“So,” she smiled again, showing him a little teeth, “where are we going?”
Good,he thought,very good.
He closed the back door and opened the front door for her. He held out a hand and when she took it, her grip on him was strong. He liked holding her hand, even if it was just to help her into the car.
She got in and he caught a quick flash of leg as she settled her dress around her legs. Damn. Avery had legs that made him appreciate both her beauty and her fitness. She was pretty much everything he admired in a woman, and he’d only started to get to know her.
He heard her laugh and lifted his head.
Avery was smiling at him, her shoulders shaking. “You can keep looking at the restaurant, too.”
His eyebrows lifted at that and he smiled, knowing he was showing her rows of teeth. He hadn’t smiled like this in a long, long time. “I like the way you think.”
“Then get your butt in the car, Coach.” She turned to look out of the windshield, her chin lifted and smiling. “I’m starving.”
He took one last, longing look at her profile and his gaze moved down over her body, taking in her toned arms, incredible ass, and legs that... whoa, made him more than a little hungry himself.
“Let’s go.”
He closed the door and jogged around to the driver’s seat. That gave him precious moments to blow off a little steam and settle himself down. He’d come a long way from his teenage years, but being around Avery made him remember the way just the sight of a beautiful woman could make his heart pound like crazy in his chest. But Avery wasn’t just beautiful.
He started the Gladiator and took one last look at her sitting beside him before he put it in gear and headed out. It was going to be a good night.
*****
AVERY
The restaurant was a converted house. There were a bunch of businesses on the street that were the same, but Mama Antonio’swas painted red with white trim. The lights on the sign up front were pointed up from a planter filled with rosemary bushes.
The smell was heavenly.
Wayne took her hand in his as they walked up to the porch. He had a comfortable grip on her and she liked the warmth of his skin against hers. He didn’t say a word, but neither did she as she took in the view.
There were planters situated around the porch, all of them included kitchen herbs and flowering plants as well. Two porch swings, also painted white like the house trim were hung and there were red and white checked gingham pillows on both.
“I like the glass in the door.”
