Page 31 of Matched By Mistake
“I do, too,” she admitted. “If there is one thing I never split, it’s dessert.”
“Dang, Mags, you’re making me wish...” He trailed off.
“What for?” she asked, even though she knew she probably shouldn’t.
“That we were in a different situation. I think I could very well fall for you,” he said.
But there was a light note to his voice.Dessert, idiot. He was talking about your love of sweet treats. That was what would make him fall for you.It was just one more moment of lightness in an evening that had been full of them.
He’d gone out of his way to make sure she didn’t feel uncomfortable and she knew her ease was due in no small part to him. But her emotions were roiling through her again like a tornado blowing fast and swift across the state and she had no way to control them. She wanted him to like her. Really like her. Which was a big freaking red flag because the last time a man made her feel this way, he’d dumped her in this restaurant.
“Hey, I was joking,” he said, leaning in closer to her.
She did the same thing, putting her elbows on the table and getting closer to him. She did like touching him and when they went back to their challenge, she’d miss it.
“I know,” she said. “I just wish you weren’t.”
“Damn, woman, don’t be that honest,” he said.
“You just told me to be my fiercest self and she doesn’t lie.”
“Well, hell,” he said.
“Y’all are so cute,” a woman said as she walked by their table. “I thought that the k!smet match was just a publicity stunt. Glad it’s not.”
Great, Maggie thought. She’d known they were going to be perceived by the public as a couple, but she hadn’t anticipated how it would feel to know that all eyes were on them. As much as she’d made that comment to the hostess earlier, a part of her had just not wanted to sit in the middle of the restaurant where Randall had dumped her. Her mind had been in the past instead of in the present, where it definitely needed to be.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Jericho said.
The lady just smiled and moved on.
“Well... That was interesting.”
“Yeah, something like that,” she said. “I’m going to need a big ole crumble with ice cream to take my mind off of it.”
“I had my eye on the peach pie,” he said. “My mom makes a really good one so I’m sure the one here will not live up to it. Right now I’m practically tasting hers on my palate.”
“I know what you mean. My mom doesn’t cook that often but she makes a party cheese dip that I could eat the entire serving dish of. So good.”
She took another look at the menu. “I’ve heard the chocolate fudge cake is good.”
“You did?” he asked.
“Yeah, my mom loves it. She sometimes Door Dashes just the cake when she’s on a rest day.”
They both placed their dessert order and after the waiter left, Jericho said, “What’s a rest day?”
“She’s a marathon runner so she has training days, weight days, running, all that, and then she has a rest day. And once a month she has a forbidden-fruits day.”
She loved that about her mom. The discipline she’d given both her and Trey, but also that she always acknowledged that there were things that shouldn’t be denied. Not overindulged, either.
Maybe she could make this a forbidden-fruits thing with Jericho. She knew her family was expecting her to end the relationship after their fifth date and his was, too. But the more time they were together, the harder that was going to be. It was one thing to think about sleeping with him and trying to resist his magnetism. But tonight... He’d moved beyond sexy acquaintance she wanted to bang to someone real.
He could have taken advantage of her vulnerability in coming here and the emotions she’d been dealing with. But he hadn’t. And his revelations about trying to build a net-zero home showed he was a man who cared deeply about things. And she knew without having to say the words out loud that she wanted him to care deeply about her.
“I like the sound of that,” he said.
“Well, you don’t seem like someone who denies himself much,” she said.
