Page 45 of Heal Me, Love Me

“That every drink in this place probably goes through him?” Keaton asked. “Sure did.”

“I only want your spit in my mouth,” I said, smirking.

He snorted. “Jesus Christ.”

“What?”

“You’re really going to say that to me before dinner?”

“You want me to wait until dessert?”

His eyes darkened. “I want you to stop making me think about your mouth while Ridgway’s standing twenty feet away.”

“We could leave.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No.” Keaton leaned back in the booth, all casual except for the heat still burning in his eyes. “He doesn’t get to run us out of here.”

“Fine.” I looked down at the menu. “What are you getting?”

“Steak sandwich.”

“You already knew that?”

“I looked at the menu online.”

I shook my head and grinned. “Of course you did.”

Tessa returned with two waters. “Ready to order, or do you two need another minute?”

“We are. I’ll take the ribeye burger,” I answered. “With fries.”

She tapped the order into her tablet. “And for you?”

“Steak sandwich,” Keaton replied. “Fries too.”

Once she left, I took a sip of water and tried not to look toward the bar, but I couldn’t help myself. Ridgway had moved to the far end, pouring something from a bottle into a cocktail shaker while talking to a couple seated in front of him. From a distance, he looked like nobody, just another bartender working a shift with a towel over his shoulder, making drinks and flashing a fake smile for tips.

But to us, he was the guy who’d blown up our lives once, and I already knew what I could do to him if I let myself go there. But I didn’t. Instead, I looked back at Keaton.

He was staring at me over the rim of his water glass. “You good?”

“Yeah.”

His brow lifted.

“Fine. No.” I glanced back toward the bar, where Ridgway was still pretending not to watch us. “For about two seconds, Florida sounded really fucking convenient.”

Keaton’s hand went still around his glass. “Because of him?”

“Him. Devon. Titan. All of it.” I sighed. “Some part of me likes the idea of going somewhere none of them are.”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

“But that can’t be why I go.”