Chapter 6

He had absolutely no idea how long he’d been sitting there, his gaze fixed on the woman in front of him. TeeCay wasn’t just eating; she was devouring a roast chicken with an intensity that was almost primal. There was no hesitation, no hesitation to daintily nibble at the edges. Nope, this woman attacked her food with the kind of ferocity he reserved for his favorite sports teams.

It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t graceful. But hell, it was entertaining.

She tore into that bird like a lion on its first meal after a long fast.

The oily sheen around her lips? A badge of honor.

The lipstick that once was? Gone, like it never even existed.

Her cheeks puffed out, her hands grimy with chicken grease, and at one point, he swore she nearly choked on a drumstick. Did she care? Nope.

Did she look like she was enjoying it more than anyone had ever enjoyed food in their life? Absolutely.

And he was mesmerized.

Did this woman even realize how spectacularly, unapologetically herself she was? No pretense, no act. Just TeeCay in all her unfiltered glory.

And really, why should she even bother trying to impress him?

First of all, he wasn’t even the one she originally ordered. She asked for tall, dark, and handsome… but it seemed the “dark and handsome” part was out of stock. All she got was tall. But hey, at least that’s one box ticked.

Secondly, he was just a paid partner for the night. That’s like the queen trying to impress the butler. Completely backwards.

He dropped his gaze to the plate of creamy fettuccine Alfredo. Well, former plate, because there was nothing left but distant memories. With a dramatic flick of her wrist, she tossed the chicken bone aside, grabbed the Alfredo plate, and scraped it clean with surgical precision.

As he watched her tackle her food like there was no tomorrow, his mind wandered. No woman he’d ever dated had eaten like this. Most of them ate their kale salads and claimed to be "too full" after three bites. It was the kind of date that made him want to pull his hair out.

But not this woman. Not TeeCay. She was demolishing that bird like she hadn’t seen a good meal in years.

There was something raw and electric about the way she enjoyed life, unashamed, unapologetic.

He almost choked on his own thoughts as she slurped the last drop of Alfredo sauce from her plate, her lips glistening. And then— oh god— she licked the fork clean, the way someone might savor the last bite of dessert. Her eyes met his for a second, and it was like the world stopped turning.

She didn’t even seem to notice. Or, maybe she did. Either way, it didn’t matter. But he noticed.

His heart raced as his mind wandered to places it had no business going. For a second, he considered just grabbing his water and dousing himself with it. But instead, he went straight for the red wine. And whoa. That was a huge mistake. The burn shot down his throat, making him wince like he’d just swallowed fire.

“Don’t get drunk on me,” TeeCay’s voice snapped him back to reality. She sipped her wine calmly, like she didn’t just cause his brain to short-circuit a little.

Trying to recover, he grabbed the bottle the waiter had left earlier and poured himself a glass. This time, he didn’t hesitate. He filled it to the brim and downed it in one gulp.

When he set the glass down, he caught a glimpse of her wiping her fingers with a napkin, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied him, probably wondering why he was chugging wine like his life depended on it. He forced a grin. "Thirsty."

She shrugged, not missing a beat, and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her round belly in a contented, satisfied way. It was the kind of posture that screamed “I’m full, I’m happy, and I really don’t give a damn what anyone thinks about it.”

“Alright, what do you want to do after this?” he asked, hoping to sound casual.

Her eyes lit up. “There’s this place I’ve been wanting to check out for ages. It opened last year, and it’s really starting to get popular now. But I couldn’t go before, ‘cause I wasn’t old enough.”