Page 12 of Catch a Tiger

Without another word, Jim places the menus on the table and heads away. She continues to stare at him as a waitress immediately comes over and takes their orders for drinks before they can even pick up their menus. They place their order.

When she’s gone, Mark rests his elbows on the table and finally meets Maria’s gaze. “I don’t date. Is that a problem?”

“No.” She shakes her head as if to clear it. “No, I just wonder why you’re suddenly interested.”

“I’m interested in the girl. Dating comes with that.”

She blushes and looks away for a second.

“Don’t do that,” he adds.

“Do what?” she mutters as the waitress brings their drinks and sets them on the table.

“Hide from me.” He leans a little bit so that his stomach is pressed against the edge of the table. “I told you, I won’t bite.”

Slowly, she lifts her gaze to his. “I’ve never dated someone like you.”

“Someone like me?”

“Someone out of my league,” she adjusts.

He studies her face for a moment. He had known she felt this way, but for her to speak so plainly about it, he didn’t like it. “Maybe you’re out of mine.”

She laughs at this and it’s the most musical sound he’s ever heard. He finds that he wants her to do it again and again, but then she sobers and says, “I doubt that.”

At least she’s finally meeting his stare without wavering. And with that, he presses on. “Jim wasn’t lying when he said you were beautiful.”

A blush rises to her cheeks again and she fidgets in her chair. “Not compared to your beauty.”

He grinds his jaw a little. “You don’t think highly of yourself, do you?”

“No.” Her answer is immediate and firm. “I have a lot of things about myself that I’d go back in time and change.”

“Name one.”

“My weight.”

“I don’t see a problem with your size.”

She studies him for a moment, and he can’t tell if he believes him or not, so he adds, “I don’t just work at an insurance company. I’m a life coach. I find beauty in all sizes.” He picks up his menu and blindly begins searching it for something to eat. “Particularly for my tastes, I like something to grab onto.”

Over the top of his menu, her lips part. The blush only increases. “I like it when you blush,” he adds.

“Why?”

“Because I like that I can cause it.”

“Are you full of yourself?” She cocks her head to the side.

He quirks a brow. “Not at all. I just like knowing that I have the same effect on you as you do on me.”

She puts a hand to her burning cheeks and he chuckles. She says nothing else, so they pick out their food from the menu and tell the waitress when she returns. Once she’s gone, Mark turns his attention back to the woman in front of him. She’s being guarded.

“You haven’t had good relationships before, have you?”

Startled, she blinks at him. “What makes you say that?”

“Because you’re quite guarded.”