At first, he didn’t know what she was talking about. The kiss had clouded everything out but then he remembered. “I don’t want you to think I’m coming on too strong on our first date.”

She glanced down pulling a strand of hair behind her ear. “So there’s gonna be more?”

“Of course,” he said, pulling the other strand behind her other ear. “That is, if you want there to be.”

She nodded, smiling. “I do.”

“But I meant what I said about not dating anyone that’s already seeing someone else.” He had to get this one straight. “You’re really not then right?”

“No. I’m really not.”

Sal peered at her. “So who were you talking about when you told Oscar you were?”

“I just said that so he wouldn’t get any ideas about asking me out.” She shrugged. “I didn’t want to be mean, especially because I knew I’d have to work with him.”

The relief felt too good. Sal didn’t even try to hide his excitement. He cupped her face with both hands and he kissed her again. This time just a quick one. “But you’ll be okay with this, right?”

She bit the corner of her lip and hesitated. “I’m not sure.”

He pulled back to look at her better. “Why?”

“You’ve never been in a relationship. I have. I’ve never done the casual dating thing. I’m not sure if that’s something I’d like or could handle. Your sister said—”

“Never mind what my sister said, Gracie. My family only knows what I want them to know. I was away at school for a long time. Believe it or not, I did have a relationship or two. Just nothing I would consider serious or very meaningful, so I never mentioned them to anyone.” She stared at him and he knew what he’d say next was risky but she’s the one that brought it up. “I wasn’t going to say this tonight but I don’t want you to take this casually. Not once have I ever considered dating someone that works for the restaurant. I never thought I would. Not until I realized I want more than just a date.”

She blinked and looked away then turned back to him. Her eyes glistened. “I do, too,” she whispered, her voice nearly breaking.

She was by far the most emotional girl he’d ever met. But he was glad she was emotional about this. It meant she really cared and it felt damn good.

This time he hugged her. Having her in his arms finally, felt better than what he’d expected. It felt perfect. Like that was exactly where she belonged. Keeping his hands off her while they worked was going to be a challenge. But a challenge he more than welcomed.

CHAPTER 15

Originally the booth set up had the place settings across from each other but after that kiss and their talk Sal said there was no way he wasn’t sitting next to her. So they sat on the same side. He said he loved the Mexican fried rice and it would be a perfect addition not only to the menu but to the Sunday brunch. Grace still couldn’t believe this was all happening to her. It felt too good to be true.

Not wanting to move into any subjects that were too nerve-wracking or that might have her in stupid tears again she asked about something safe. She really did want to know more about his plans on expanding the restaurants into a franchise. He told her more about it but said he was having second thoughts.

“Actually I thought about what you said the day I gave you the tour. It might be smarter to keep it on a smaller scale and work on perfecting the restaurants rather than expand into too many, because I know I wouldn’t have the time to manage them all. If I don’t have a close hand in it all it won’t be the same.”

She frowned. “You have to trust other people’s judgments, too. You can’t do it all.”

“I can if I stick to fewer restaurants.” He’d already helped himself to a second plateful of the rice and he was nearly done with it. That made her smile. “No one cares about this as much as we do. The family has their hands full even with the two restaurants we have now.”

“Well maybe you should just do one at a time. Once you’re managing all three smoothly, then you can try for another until you feel like you can’t take any more on.”

Sal smiled and kissed her. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Grace stuck to safe subjects for the rest of the night. She was amazed that this whole restaurant business started with his dad in a catering taco truck. Sal was obviously very proud of how far his dad had come. It gave Grace hope that someday she’d be able to do the same.

By the end of the night, Grace felt almost drained from the amount of emotions that evening. She was so glad when he’d changed the subject from her mom and dad earlier. She’d been pretty close to getting emotional about that again and she would’ve hated for him to remember their first date that way.

When he dropped her off, he kissed her again the way he had in the restaurant. She didn’t want it to end and it did go on much longer than their first kiss. He leaned his forehead against hers when it was finally over and gazed in her eyes. “You have no idea what you do to me.” Then he smiled. “Hell, I don’t even know how to explain it.”

The way he looked at her at that moment made her wonder if he could actually be feeling what she was feeling. “I can’t explain what I’m feeling either. All I know is… it scares me.”

“Don’t be. I’m not scared.” He lifted his eyebrows. “Okay, maybe a little. But it’s a good kind of scared, like I just boarded the ride of my life.” He kissed her nose and whispered, “Hold on tight.”