Catching Stardust (8 page)

Of course, being alone with Zander could be a bad thing too. Now there wouldn’t be a buffer to keep her emotions intact. Somehow, the thought of letting her emotions get the better of her where it concerned Zander didn’t bother her as much as she knew it should.

Yep. Dinner was going to be trouble, no matter how she looked at it.

Chapter Six

Even in the twilight, Zander could see the goose bumps rising on Maia’s arms as they walked down the sidewalk to the restaurant. For being early summer, the days were usually hot, but once in a while, the evenings still seemed to cool off substantially. Most women he saw always dressed in layers at this time of year, knowing they’d need lighter clothes for daytime and possibly a sweater for the cooler evenings after the sun set and the heat of the day escaped the city.

But not Maia. She wore a thin sundress—which looked unbelievably amazing on her—clinging to her curves in all the right places. As much as he liked the view, he couldn’t leave her to shiver.

He slipped his jacket off and draped it across her shoulders. She glanced up at him, surprise evident on her face.

“I saw you shivering. It’s not a long walk, but I don’t want you to wish you had gone straight home before we even get to enjoy dinner together.”

“Thanks.” She slipped her arms through the sleeves and pulled the jacket tight around her body. “I can still feel your warmth in it. It’s like a towel, fresh out of the dryer.”

An image of Maia, naked, wrapped in a warm towel, filled his mind. He shook his head, dislodging the image. That wouldn’t help him get through dinner without saying something stupid.

Besides which, the image of beauty walking with him right now was more than enough for him to focus on. And she did look beautiful. No, stunning.

He’d thought she’d looked good in the sundress before, but nothing compared to how she looked in his jacket. It was so huge on her, he could probably fit two her into it and it fell passed her waist to mid-thigh. He didn’t think of himself as built or especially tall, but by how his jacket hung on her, he must be.

“For two,” he said to the hostess as they walked into the small, hole-in-the-wall style restaurant. The hostess stood behind a tiny podium, studying a seating chart. Behind her, a couple of coat racks, filled beyond capacity, clung to the wall with some well-placed security straps. Good thing.

“This way, Zander,” she said, grabbing two menus from somewhere in the podium and walking off into the main dining area of the restaurant.

They followed her, weaving through the tables as they went. The restaurant was as crowded as it usually was this time of day. With only a dozen or so tables in the whole place, seats were always at a premium. As it was, only one table sat empty, hidden in the corner in the most out of reach spot. The hostess asked the table beside them to move for a moment while she slid the table out for Maia to slip into her seat.

Maia apologized profusely to the couple who’d had their dinner interrupted, but they waived her off quickly dismissing the inconvenience. Almost everyone who ate here was a regular and was also willing to put up with minor disruptions if it meant they could eat the food.

“Well, that’s a first.” Maia settled herself into her seat and peered across the table at him.

He couldn’t help but enjoy seeing her in his coat. Maybe he wanted to see her in his bed too.

“What’s a first? Moving tables?”

“Yes. Why is that normal for you?”

“Here it is. Unless I come at off-times, I usually have to get up at least once during my meal to move for another table to be seated. But we should be good at this table, since we’re against the wall.”

“And you keep coming back? Why don’t you find a bigger restaurant? There’s only about ten million Italian places in this city.”

Sure, there were plenty of other Italian places in the city, but did any of them have the charm of this place? Did any of them have marinara sauce that tasted like it had been simmered on Nonna’s stovetop all day because it probably had?

“I did warn you the décor was a little less than desired, but I assure you, the food is worth the seating arrangement.”

Maia simply nodded as she turned her attention to the menu. “I’m sure you’re right.”

Zander set his menu on the table, unlooked at. Campagna Rustico prided itself on home-cooked, rustic Italian meals inspired by the old world. The dishes offered hadn’t changed in all the years Zander had been eating here. And every time he finished his meal, he thanked them for not changing with the times. Some things were perfect the way they were without getting a new twist.

“You’re not looking at your menu.” Maia peered at him over the top of hers. “You already know what you’re getting?”

“Absolutely. The same thing I always get. Fried mozzarella with marinara to start and then the Saltimbocca alla Romana for dinner with a side of cheesy baked polenta.” He laughed at the amount of food he ordered. Somehow it didn’t sound so bad when he was here alone, but here in front of Maia, it sounded like a feast. “Needless to say, they have to move all the tables and roll me out of here when I’m finished. And I always have lunch the next day to take home with me.”

She laughed. “I can almost picture all these people getting up and lifting their tables so you can roll out the door. That all sounded delicious.”

“Everything here is delicious. It’s a good thing I don’t own a car and have to walk everywhere. I’m lucky eating this way hasn’t caught up with me yet. God help me if my metabolism changes.”

Great. Talk about getting old and having stuff start to go wrong with your body on a date, idiot.

“I’ll have to start working out when the day comes I guess, huh? Not—not that I don’t workout now.” He sighed.

Way to impress your date with your lack of physical fitness.

“I think all the walking and working out you do is paying off.”

Her eyes flickered back down to her menu, which was good since he didn’t want her to see him feeling flustered and stupid. Okay, good. So he got some awkwardness out of the way. So the rest of the date should be a breeze now.

Was this a date?

He kept thinking of it as a date, but it wasn’t like he’d asked her out and picked her up at home or anything like a real date. Of course she was visiting the city so it wasn’t like he could pick her up at home anyway. He could pick her up at a hotel, but hadn’t since they’d already been together.

Did she think it was a date?

His palms grew moist and he wiped them casually on his napkin as he laid it across his lap. A drink. He needed a drink to help him relax a little and then he wouldn’t feel so nervous around Maia. Regardless of whether or not this was a real date he still wanted to enjoy his time here with her. And if it weren’t a real date, maybe a good time tonight would lead to a real date in the future.

“Are you ready to order?” a waiter asked, leaning in toward their table. It was as close as he was going to get to standing beside them.

“I am if you are.”

Maia pointed to an item in her menu and mumbled the pronunciation of the name. She was pretty close and it was sweet to see her stumble over the words since she’d seemed so put together and well spoken all afternoon. When she finished, he ordered his usual and a bottle of wine to share.

“What brings you to the city,” Zander asked.

“Just visiting.” Maia fiddled with her napkin, twisting it in her fingers before placing it across her lap as he had already.

“Do you have friends or family in the city you’re visiting?”

“No. I’m here alone this time.”

Interesting that a girl like Maia would travel alone. Usually girls went on a girl’s trip, didn’t they? Maybe Maia was the strong, independent type who didn’t need a bunch of girlfriends with her to have a good time in a new city.

He’d always felt drawn to girls like that but had yet to date one.

But again, this wasn’t a date.

“Have you lived in the city your whole life?” she asked.

“No. Actually I was in D.C. for a few years working with NASA before I came back to New York to work at the family business.”

She seemed to perk up at the news. This girl really did seem to love space stuff.

“What exactly did you do at NASA?”

“I worked on their deep space program. Basically I tried to find new ways to explore further into the universe so we could discover more information about the cosmos.”

“And what did you discover?”

Zander chuckled. “That the universe is a pretty big place and we’re never going to see it all or figure out even a fraction of the mysteries it holds.”

“Wow. And it only took a NASA guy to figure that out?” She laughed and it was the most amazing sound he could remember hearing in a long time.

“Where are you from?” He asked taking a sip of his wine.

“Nowhere special or at all interesting.” She visibly shrunk back into the seat.

Her answer was simple. Too simple. She was either hiding something she didn’t feel comfortable telling him—although why a question like where you’re from would bother her was beyond his imagination—or she really was from somewhere uninteresting and didn’t feel like there was anything else to say about it.

Somehow, he still wanted to know more, even if she was from the tiniest, most uninteresting town in the country. He still thought it would be interesting to know more about this girl—hell,
everything
about this girl. But he wouldn’t push or pry. If she wasn’t ready to share, he wasn’t going to try and force her to.

He avoided asking her any other questions that might make her close off to him while they ate their dinner. Instead, he focused on safer questions. What kinds of things did she like to do for fun? Did she have brothers or sisters? Her favorite food?

Turns out she liked everything having even remotely to do with water, she had a bunch of sisters, and she was a girl who loved to chow down on a giant juicy burger—a real one, not one of those turkey burger knock-offs. The more he learned about her, the more intrigued he became.

As he paid the bill, Maia slipped her arms back into his jacket and pulled it across herself even though it wasn’t the least bit cold in the crowded restaurant. If he wasn’t mistaken, he’d say she seemed comforted by having his jacket around her, keeping her warm. He could think of other ways he’d love to keep her warm.

They stepped out onto the sidewalk again, breathing in the night air. What should they do now? He didn’t want the night to end just yet. He was having too much fun learning about her and he wanted the chance to learn more.

If she hadn’t wandered into the museum on a day he was there lecturing, it was very possible they never would have met again. But she had walked into the very place he had been. There had to be a reason for their meeting again. Had to be.

He couldn’t let her go this quickly. He had to find a way to stretch their time together a little more and then maybe he could even get her number before she left. Maybe he could secure a real date before this spontaneous one ended. But how? What could he possibly offer her when he hardly knew anything about her?

He stared at her as he thought about what to do and she appeared completely oblivious to him. The second they’d walked out of the restaurant, she’d looked up to the sky. Now he noticed a scowl on her face when inside during dinner she’d been very happy.

“What’s wrong?” He prayed it wasn’t something he’d done unintentionally.

Like drooling on his plate while he’d watched her suck noodles between her luscious lips, then lick the creamy Alfredo sauce left behind with a quick flicker of her tongue. He’d thought he might actually have to excuse himself for a quick splash of cold water on his face in the bathroom at that point.

She sighed and turned to face the opposite direction so she was looking at another section of sky. Her frown deepened.

“I can’t see the stars. I miss seeing them. But I can’t find a single one right now and it’s not even a cloudy night.”

And there’s my way to continue our date. Non-date. Whatever.
And get more time alone with a beautiful woman. Perhaps she might even want her fettuccini Alfredo leftovers as a late night snack.

“It’s the light pollution of the city. You can only see the stars from a few places. The park is one, and I happen to know another that’s even better if you want to come with me.”

She eyed him suspiciously.

“I promise I still haven’t become a murderer since we met in the park. I’m perfectly harmless.”

“I know I probably shouldn’t, but for some reason, I trust you. Lead the way.”

Chapter Seven

Maia followed Zander into the building while the doorman held open the massive metal and glass door separating the noisy streets of the city from the tranquil lobby of the apartment building. The doorman nodded slightly, said good evening and called her Miss.

Very formal. Very fancy.

The lobby was typical modern minimalistic style with cream-colored walls and mahogany furniture and trim. The floors gleamed with marble tiles, polished until they reflected the soft lights of the chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling. Beautiful, understated artwork hung in dark frames, giving it the feeling of a home rather than a building.