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The amount of attention he’d garnered inside is nothing compared to the number of eyes that are on him—on us—now.
Unease trickles through my veins.
Someone is going to take a picture of us together, and it’ll be online before my ass hits the passenger seat.
“Thank you,” I say with a smile. It’s the first genuine one I’ve given anyone all day.
“Still in the mood for Mexican?” he asks once he joins me and brings the beast of an engine to life.
“Yes,” I state, my stomach growling all over again as I think about the tacos I’ve been craving all day.
“Any preference on place or are you happy for me to choose?”
“Nope, wherever you want to go.”
As Brax speeds out into traffic, I sit back in his ridiculously comfortable passenger seat and watch the world go by.
He aimlessly chats about his day for a while, allowing me to lose myself in thoughts that aren’t my own for a few minutes.
But it all comes crashing down when he tests the waters and mentions Kieran.
“Brax,” I warn, the pain last night caused rushing to the surface again.
“Understood,” he says with a laugh that makes my brows pinch. “You need tequila before we dive into that.”
“Maybe not even then,” I mutter under my breath.
Before long, we’ve left the city rush hour traffic behind and we’re heading down the freeway.
A little concern nags at me that he’s taking me as far away as possible so we’re not spotted.
Is he really that worried about being seen with me?
But then I remember the show of helping me into his car outside the office, and I stop myself.
“Here we go,” Brax finally announces as he signals and pulls toward a building that is obviously a Mexican restaurant. It looks like it’s been plucked straight out of Mexico with cacti surrounding the building and a huge sombrero on the roof.
“Best tacos in the state,” Brax announces proudly.
“Then how come I’ve never heard of it before?”
“Also the state’s best-kept secret.”
No sooner have we stepped through the door than we’re greeted by a guy with a heavy accent and the friendliest smile I’ve ever seen.
We’re guided to a quiet table, and after Brax takes it upon himself to order our drinks, we’re left with the menus.
“Bit presumptuous, don’t you think?”
He smirks at me from across the table, and I can’t help but smile back.
Brax is a good guy. Hot, too. But for some reason, when he turns his entire focus on me, I don’t get butterflies. My heart doesn’t race and my blood doesn’t turn to lava.
I’d begun to think it was all in my head. That after Kieran left St. Louis, I’d made up this infatuation with him.
But then I found him in my apartment last night, and once the fear had subsided, the desire returned.
It never used to be the case. I used to look at him and see him in the way I do Brax. But something changed.