"Am I forgiven?" he asked with a sudden grin that he probably thinks made him look adorable.
"Whatever," she said with a roll of her eyes. Then she tugged slowly at the bag he still had his hand on. "Can I have my bag now?"
"Oh wow. Miss Dexter forgive me? This is worthy of celebration," he said with exaggerated excitement.
Reyona rolled her eyes again and carried her bag as he let go of it.
"To celebrate, let me treat you to dinner."
"This again?" Reyona asked in an unimpressed tone.
He raised his hand solemnly as he said "I swear there is no hidden motive behind it. I just want to thank you for coming, for putting up with my annoying self, and also you look like you could use a good dinner right now."
Though she was hungry, Reyona narrowed her eyes as she asked "Are you trying to say I look hungry, Mr Rohan?"
"I would never say that to a lady and expect to live after. But then you have been here all evening and, unless you have a superpower I don't know about, you couldn't have had dinner. What kind of man would I be if I let a lady go home without feeding her?"
Reyona did not trust his innocent appearance. Not one bit, but then she was too tired for any further argument.
What could it hurt, right? Yes, she still didn't like him much, but then it was just a dinner, right? She was only going because she needed to eat.
"So, what do you say, your highness? The kids are settled in for the night, and you get to have a meal with a handsome man for the night. That can't be such a worse bargain, can it?" he turned his smile up a notch higher.
"Ah, ah, you must think you are funny, but I can assure you that you are not," Reyona said with a roll of her eyes as she turned to leave.
Then just a few paces away, she said "Fine. Dinner it is then. Preferably at a place where I can get some steaks. Can you manage that?"
"Of course," he said emphatically as he followed her. "And yes, I noticed that you did agree that I am handsome. Again."
Her scoff mingled with his chuckles as he opened the door for her.
*********
"I really shouldn't," Reyona said with a sheepish smile as she looked down at the heavenly-looking crème brûlée garnished with strawberries and blackberries.
"You know you want to," Maxwell said as she stretched her hands towards the desert and made a gesture of blowing its invisible steam towards her.
"This is all on you," she said as she gave in and inserted the spoon she had suspended over the dessert into it and scooped out a handful.
She put it in her mouth and slowly drew out the spoon as she closed her eyes in ecstasy while letting out a low moan of rapture.
Maxwell couldn't take his eyes off the glow on her face as she slowly chewed every bit of the savoury dessert.
He swallowed uncomfortably as he said quietly "Yeah, all on me."
Reyona's eyes popped open, and she looked straight at him with such enjoyment that he had never seen on her face before.
Holy shit. He wished he had known this was all it would take to have her look at him like that.
He would have taken her to a place like this a long time ago.
Her tongue gingerly reached out to touch a bit of crème at the corner of her lips.
Maxwell was certain that the chef had just opened the door that led to the kitchen and the degree in the steakhouse just went right up.
Hell, he would have even baked her all the crème brûlée she could ever have and…
Then he remembered that he wouldn't have got her to go anywhere with him even the day before.
Funny how things work. He wished he could…
"What?" her sudden question dragged Maxwell's mind off the dangerous path it was heading on.
"What?" he answered incomprehensibly.
She waved her finger over her face. "Do I have something on my face?"
The bit at the corner of her mouth was long gone and Maxwell was sorry for it.
"No, not at all."
She gave him a weird look, then nodded towards the crème brûlée in front of him. "Well? You haven't taken a bite. You promised, there is no backing out now, you know."
Maxwell picked up his dessert spoon and dug in. "Of course not. A gentleman always keeps his word. You look like you can take both though," he said as she scooped another spoonful into her mouth.
She narrowed her eyes at him as she chewed, and immediately she swallowed, she said "You know what? I am going to ignore that and not take offence to the fact that you just implied that I am a glutton. First, the man called me hungry, and now he is calling me a glutton. Good going, Mr Rohan."
"I didn't say…"
"And now he is about to call me a liar," Reyona said before he could complete his statement.
"Wha…ah, you know what. I had better eat this."
"Yeah, you had better," she said with a mock offended look that ended in soft laughter before she dug into her crème brûlée again.
Surprisingly, it was an enjoyable evening for both.
Maxwell had declared a rule as they both got down from their cars in front of the Spanish steakhouse that he had led Reyona's car to.
They were not to talk about anything regarding what they just left behind while eating.
They were only there to eat like two normal people.
The next day was enough to think about what else to do.
Reyona had agreed without an argument.
Then she asked, "Do they have seafood here?"
"Certainly. They have some nice…"
"Keep them all away from me, and we should be fine."
"Yes, ma'am." Maxwell said with a salute, then he tried his luck as he said "Will this also be a good time to request that you please unblock my number? I should think we are something of friends now."
"Then you will think wrong," Reyona said with a smile. "Are we going to eat or will I have to go home hungry after all?"
With a mock grumble about difficult women, he stepped out of her way as the man opened the door for her.