IVY
We stop at a booth and Jake helps me with my coat, then takes off his own. Amy waits for us to get in the booth, then hands us the menus. “Shayla will be taking care of you tonight.” She turns to me. “Unless you want Liza. I could see if Shayla will switch tables.”

“No, Shayla is fine.” I didn’t tell Liza I was coming tonight and bringing Jake. If I had, she would’ve tried to tell me what to wear and how to do my hair and makeup. I’m barely wearing any makeup and my hair is in ponytail like it is when I’m at work.

“You look nice tonight,” Jake says. “I like the sweater.”

“Thanks. You look nice too. But I see you wore the leather.”

He looks down at his jacket. “Shit. Sorry, I forgot about that.”

He really does seem sorry, but the truth is, I don’t care about the jacket. I’m not a vegan. I just told him that.

“It’s fine,” I say. “I’ll let it slide.”

He’s still smiling. I love that smile. It’s sexy. Confident. And he has great lips, and really white teeth. I’m trying really hard to keep control of my body but it’s already betraying me, burning up at the sight of him. I’ve never spent this much time actually looking at him. I’ve always tried to keep my distance. Even when he was my boss, I didn’t talk to him much, and when he’d talk to me about work, I’d keep my eyes on whatever I was working on instead of looking at him. But now that I’m sitting here, seeing him across from me, I can see why women drool over him.

“Hi, Jake.” It’s Lacey, a backstabbing bitch who tried to get my sister fired last year because she thought Liza was flirting with her boyfriend, when in reality, Liza told me he was the one doing the flirting. Liza tried repeatedly to convince Lacey she wasn’t flirting or trying to take her boyfriend, but Lacey didn’t believe her, so to get back at her, she made up a story about Liza stealing from the petty cash drawer. She couldn’t prove it, so Liza kept her job, but she avoids Lacey and won’t wait on her boyfriend anymore when he comes in to eat.

“So where have you been?” Lacey places her palms on the table and leans over toward Jake, showing off her breasts. “I haven’t seen you in months.”

“I’ve been busy with work.” He keeps his eyes on her face instead of her breasts.

“We should get together again,” she says. “It’s been too long.”

“What happened to Mike?” I ask.

She finally notices me. She’d ignored me up until now.

“Mike’s working tonight,” she snaps.

“So you’re still dating him?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but yeah.”

“And he doesn’t care that you flirt with other guys?”

I glance at Jake, whose eyes are on me, a slight grin on his face.

“Wait.” She points between Jake and me. “Are you two on a date?”

“We are,” Jake says, reaching across the table and taking my hand. “And I don’t believe you’re our waitress, so if you don’t mind, we’d like to get back to our date.”

She opens her mouth, then snaps it shut.

“Lacey,” I hear the manager yell. “Order up for table five.”

“Call me sometime,” she says to Jake, then walks off.

“Did you go out with her?” I ask Jake. Liza said Jake went out with several girls who worked here but all of them have since left for other jobs. She didn’t say he went out with Lacey.

“I went out with her once. A long time ago.”

That means he had sex with her. He had sex with Lacey. The bitch who lies and cheats and tried to get my sister fired. So he’ll basically sleep with anyone.

I pull my hand back from his, but he holds onto it.

“Hey.” His face is serious now. “I told you it was a long time ago. And you shouldn’t have asked. The rule is you’re never supposed to ask about past relationships on a first date.”

“This isn’t a date.”

His smile returns. “I’m making it one.”

“I didn’t agree to it. This is just two people having dinner.”

“Call it whatever you want, but to me, it’s a date. I’m having dinner with a beautiful woman who I’m extremely attracted to and want to get to know better. I’d call that a date.”

Extremely attracted to? So he just wants me for sex. But he also said he wants to get to know me. But maybe he just said that.

Shayla appears. “Can I get you two a drink?”

“Go ahead,” Jake says to me.

“I’ll take a whiskey sour,” I say.

She turns to Jake. “And what would you like?”

“I’ll take a Coke.”

She writes it down. “Liza didn’t tell me you were going out with Jake,” she says to me.

“It’s a first date,” he says. “Took months of asking her before she’d agree to it.”

Shayla’s eyes widen. “You said no to Jake Wheeler? Are you crazy?”

He chuckles to himself.

“He didn’t actually ask me out until just the other day,” I say to her.

“That’s not true,” he says.

“All the other times you asked if I wanted to hang out. That’s not how you ask a girl on a date. Isn’t that right, Shayla?”

She grins at him. “I’d go out with him no matter how he asked.”

I roll my eyes. “Well, I prefer a more traditional approach.”

She spots the manager walking by. “I better go get your drinks.”

When she’s gone, Jake asks, “Do you come here a lot?”

“Not really.”

“And yet you know everyone here.”

“Seems that way,” I say, choosing to be vague.

“Did you used to work here?”

I laugh. “God, no. I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing one of those outfits.”

“You’d look fucking hot in that outfit. Hotter than any of the girls here.” His comment, and the way he said it, his voice low and deep, his eyes locked on mine, has my stomach doing flip flops. “You’d make a shitload of tips.” He glances at the table next to us, where four guys are sitting. “But don’t do it. I don’t want guys staring at you.”

“We’ve been out on one date and you’re already being possessive of me? I don’t put up with that, so that needs to end right now.”

He’s smiling at me.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you just admitted we’re on a date.”

“Damn,” I mutter, shutting my eyes to avoid seeing him gloat.

He laughs. “Why are you so against going out with me?”

I don’t know how to answer that, but I don’t have to because Liza shows up at our table.

——-

Want to read more? Give Us a Chance releases March 12th.