Page 58 of The Virgin Romance Novelist Chronicles
“Thank you for asking. This place is charming,” I added while looking around.
“Manny’s is my favorite restaurant.”
A very pretty waitress came over to take our order. Her hair was black and styled in a long French braid with a flower behind her ear. She was gorgeous, and when I turned to see how Alejandro was reacting to her, I was surprised to see his eyes were locked on mine.
“Can I get you two something to drink?”
“Two margaritas on the rocks with salt, please,” Alejandro ordered without taking his eyes off me. Once the waitress left, he said, “I hope you like margaritas.”
“I do.” I felt a little weary about the order since Phillip told me they hit you hard. I swore to myself I would only have one. I wanted experience in my life but not drunken with a total stranger experience.
“Mind if I order us tacos as well?”
“By all means, you’re the expert.”
The waitress returned at a speedy rate with our margaritas and I listened as Alejandro ordered our tacos in Spanish. The way the words rolled right off his tongue had me leaning on my hand and staring at the dark and exotic man.
When the waitress left, Alejandro turned to me and said, “Tell me, Rosie, why is such a beautiful woman like yourself on a dating website. I bet millions of men are lined up to date you.”
Flattery. I knew it when I heard it and damn if I didn’t fall for it every time.
“It’s hard to meet guys in New York,” I lied. I didn’t want him to know that a week ago I was a hermit living in my room and daydreaming about a man’s touch rather than experiencing it.
“Si, this is true. The dating scene is a difficult one. I, myself, find it hard to meet a genuine woman, a real woman like yourself, Rosie. Now tell me about these gatos.”
“Gatos?” I asked, trying to understand his mix of English and Spanish.
“You know, gato. Eh, what’s the word? You know, meow,” he said in a cute voice, making me giggle.
“Oh, cats.”
“Si, cats. The word escaped me. Tell me about the cats.”
“Nothing really to say about them. They’re annoying and take up my entire work life. I avoided a cat hair confrontation with the ringleader right before I got here. He was trying to make a mess of my pants but I was able to outsmart him.”
“It seems like you don’t like these cats.” He chuckled.
“No, they are not my favorite, but some of them are nice.”
“So there are cats in your office?”
Not the most romantic conversation I’d ever had, but I took a couple sips of my margarita and proceeded.
“Yes, there are too many. Our boss, Gladys, thinks it’s necessary to live in an environment of cats when writing about them.”
“That must be . . . smelly at times.” He cringed.
“Oh, there is a whole room for their business. I stay as far away from that room as possible. The poor intern has to deal with it.”
“Intern?”
“Yes, umm, they are usually students in college who volunteer their time for work experience. Something good to put on the résumé.”
“Ah, I see. So poop scoop is good for the résumé,” he teased, making me laugh.
“Sometimes you have to take what you can get.”
“I’m glad I’m not an intern then.”
