Not much to me, I stayed silent, not giving in to his game.
His smile dashed coy. “Were you a wedding guest? I didn’t see you tonight, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t there.”
I could say the same about him. Though, how I’d missed him I had no idea. The man was huge, after all, towered over me and actually had to dip his head to make it inside this very restaurant. I touched my chin to the top of my hands, my fingers laced. “What gave it away?”
That observant gaze dragged over my body once more, but I had to give it to him. He’d glossed completely over my pinked chest to find my eyes. “Just a guess. Were you?”
“Yes. I’m assuming you were as well.”
“Also, yes.” His fingers danced on the top of the booth. “Bride’s side? Groom’s?”
“Didn’t make it to the ceremony actually.” I cuffed my arms. “I was late. Snuck in right as dinner was being served.”
He angled his head. “You sure you’re not a wedding crasher?”
Definitely didn’t have the time to do something like that. Maybe back when I was twenty. Laughter hit my arms, shaking my shoulders. “No. I was invited to the wedding, a plus one actually.”
“So, was this plus one a date?” he asked, very obvious what he was doing there with his question. He grinned. “I notice you’re not with that invited wedding guest now.”
I wasn’t. My smile more than wide, I pulled my water glass over. “She and I go way back, but she’s just my friend. My mentor, actually.”
I’d met Evelyn when she’d been an adjunct professor during my time at New York University. She’d been there only briefly, but in that time, she’d offered me so much support as one of her history students. Really, my love for history now had been because of her, and she was the reason why I was here as well. She’d been the first one I’d called when I found myself suddenly seeking work. I hadn’t worked in a handful of years.
All of this new.
She’d been there for me just like she had back then, a mentor but now a friend. I smiled at the thought of her. “She and I go way back.”
“So said friend, who you go way back with.” Ramses paused, his fingers waving in the air. He touched his chin. “Who’s also a she who you have no romantic interest in whatsoever…”
My God was he obvious. My hand framed my face. “Correct.”
Another grin. “Brought you to Windsor House for the Prinze wedding, but now, you’ve somehow ended up with me.”
I suppose I had, nodding. “She had to work unexpectedly today. Told me to go on ahead. She wanted me to meet people. I’m new in town. Came for a job.”
“Well, you’re definitely meeting people.” He tilted his head. “Where are you from?”
“Jersey. Hoboken.” I sat back as the greeter topped off my water, then Ramses’s soda. I thanked him. “Just moved.”
“That’s a long way. You said you came for a job?”
“Yes, I’m a teacher. A professor actually. History.”
This seemed to intrigue him. He opened his mouth. I assumed to know more, but the biggest pizza I’d probably ever seen was delivered to our table, effectively cutting us both off.
I mean, I’d seen some pretty big pizzas, being from the New York area, but when I mentioned size, I meant the sheer thickness of it. The thing was built like a layered cake, a hefty and girthy stacking of cheese and thick dough and on the top, a layer of marinara and spinach leaves.
“Oh my God.”
“Just wait until you taste it,” Ramses exclaimed, a wink to his eye before reaching into his wallet and giving a tip to the boy who’d brought it. “Thanks, Ty.”
Ty, as he’d called him, unwrapped what was clearly a Benjamin, definitely more than this entire pizza. This seemed awful generous, even for a pizza of this size, but what was really crazy was this guy Ty didn’t appear to be surprised by such an exorbitant gift. I mean, he looked grateful. The kid just got a hundred bucks, but he definitely didn’t give off any type of surprise, his fist bumping Ramses’s before he said he’d see him around. Ramses was clearly a local who may or may not definitely do that all the time.
I wondered what he did for a living.
Many questions about him, but not one of them surrounded how good this pizza probably was.
Borderline orgasmic, I waited anxiously while Ramses picked up the serrated spatula and served it. Thick and cheesy goodness pulled away from the pan when he served me, then himself. He sat back. “Ladies first. I want to see your reaction, Jersey girl.”
Jersey girl, huh? I’d let him have that one, picking my fork up in front of this Midwestern boy.
Smirking, I tabled my excitement as I forked the pie hard just to get off a little piece. I had Ramses waiting with anticipation as I blew on the bite before sliding it into my mouth. It was still hot, but once in there, there was no hiding my moan.
“Jesus,” I groaned, before taking another bite. There was no playing off how good this thing was and forget being ladylike. My eyes closed at another taste. “You weren’t joking. My God.”
This obviously pleased him, my delight. He got another wink in before he tasted his himself, and when the fuck left his lips, we both laughed.
He raised his hand. “Sorry. I’ve missed this, and it’s been a while.”
He had nothing to apologize for, wanting to curse myself. Before I knew it, half my piece was gone and Ramses was already starting in on his second slice. Of course, he asked if I wanted dibs first before going back in, but since I was still tackling my initial slice, I let him have at it. It’d been really nice he’d asked, though, considerate. It seemed I was finding a common trend here about him, my Midwestern knight in shining armor. How ready he’d been to come up on that high dive and talk to me. It’d really annoyed me. I’d wanted to be alone.
And yet here we were.
Him and I, almost hard to fight my smile as I watched him eat and enjoy himself. He ate at his pizza like I indulged in chocolate on a particularly angry month of PMS. I dabbed my lips with a napkin. My lipstick should hold up pretty good since I used a strong matte. “You said it’s been a while since you had this?”
If I lived here, I’d eat this all the time, my hips be damned. It’d be well worth an extended run in the morning. I tried to get a few miles in a day.
“Uh, yeah.” He’d devoured his third at this point and maybe enough as he sat back. The space between his buttons exposed that glorious chest of his, and I couldn’t help but envision what his shirt might look like off. He clearly worked out, that dress shirt leaving nothing to the imagination of his solid arms and thick shoulders.
Easing back, he adjusted in a booth meant for normal-sized humans, not someone such as himself with a wingspan that no doubt put Michael Phelps to shame. He smiled. “And I hope I didn’t disgust you. I basically just violated that thing in front of you.”
I snorted, like actually snorted in front of him, which I passed off when I took a drink of water. To save myself further, I covered my lips with a napkin, but the fact Ramses noticed wasn’t lost on me.
“Cute,” he said simply, like it was simple. Simple for him to say.