His Married, Human Mate

Chapter Twelve

Leona POV

We went down the street passing the part of town with the restaurants. "What do you want to eat?" Ethan asked me turning down the music that we had turned on once we got into the car to cover the silence. I shrugged, looking out of the window. Honestly, I wasn't hungry at all. My stomach was full of betrayal and hurt for myself and what my son would now know as his life. I knew I would need to eat though for strength to keep pushing through the s**t show that was slowly becoming my life. "What are you in the mood for?" I asked him turning to meet his face. He glanced at me and chuckled, causing my face to twist into confusion. "hmmm..." he said, "How about some tacos? There is a little Mexican place down the street on the corner and the salsa there is amazing!" he said with a smile. He was truly handsome and had a beautiful smile. I found myself matching his excitement with the salsa and tacos and smiling. "That actually sounds great." I told him. He nodded. "Then it is settled. It wont take like two minutes to get there." he turned the radio back up slightly and pointed down the street where the sign could be seen and I nodded to see it. He was right and, just like that, we were about to pull in.

We went in and a nice lady sat us at a booth. We sat across from each other, of course. They brought us our drinks and salsa and chips rather quickly. "You ready for this?" he asked, scooting the salsa over to me excitedly. "Ready as I'll ever be!" I told him. I picked up a chip and scooped up some salsa and fed it to myself quickly. This was amazing salsa; probably the best I have ever had. It was spicy and smooth but not enough to set you on fire and went with the chips perfectly. I closed my eyes savoring the flavor. I finally finished chewing and swallowing it and opened my eyes, nodding at him. "mmmhhhmmm" i said. "It is the best, right?" Ethan asked. I had already scooped more onto another chip and took a bite, so I nodded again. He finally began to eat some of it as well. "I told you." He said just as he took another bite. "You were right." I told him. In no time, we finished off the bowl of salsa and chips and placed our orders for some tacos and enchiladas.

After a few moments, I found that my eyes were drawn to Ethan's arms and how the sleeves of the T-shirt snuggly wrapped around his biceops and across his chest and pecks.Then an awkward silence fell between us and when I looked up, Ethan was staring at me. He had a sly smirk on his lips knowing that he had just caught me checking him out. I quickly looked away across the room, knowing the redness that was filling my cheeks from embarrassment. After a moment, I looked back and he was staring at me as well. Not like a glance, but like he was studying me. I slightly smiled but then tried to hide it as well. He met my eyes and chuckled to himself like he was amused that I had caught him or maybe he even did it on purpose. I wouldn't bring it up though. Luckily, our food came out just in time to avoid that conversation.

"It smells delicious" I said, taking a deep breath. Ethan nodded his head at me. My stomach growled, alerting me to how hungry my body really was. "And not a moment too soon," he said, laughing at my stomach's cry for the food my nose smelled. I nodded in agreement. We dug right in, not bothering to carry on a conversation at the time. The food in front of us is much too appealing.

We finished eating and they brought out a single check and handed it over to Ethan. "Actually, we need two -" I started but Ethan cut me off, "Thank you." He slid a card on top of it and handed it back. I glared at him. " I can pay for my meal." I told him. "So can I. I asked you so please just let me cover it." he said sweetly with his baby blue eyes peering through my soul, causing me to hesitate. I couldn't make words come out of my mouth as i stared into the depths of his eyes in front of me. He didn't look away and I didn't even try either. After a moment, we heard someone clear their throat, causing us both to look up at the sound. It was the waitress. "Here is your receipt sir. Have a great day." She said. "You too." I told her harshly, not liking the way she was eyeing Ethan like he was a piece of meat. Ethan looked at me with an eyebrow raised but didn't say a word. Thats when i realized I said it too harshly and she walked away quickly. Great. How embarrassing. Why did her looking at him even bother me?

"Ready?" Ethan asked. I nodded. We headed to the car again where he went around and opened the door to allow me to get in. We got in and he turned the music back on and headed back in the direction of the factory. My car was still there.

We were about half way back to the factory when he turned the music down again. "You know, you can talk to me about it if you want. You and your . . . AJ, is it? " he said. Just like that, my emotions were overwhelmed all over again. I nodded, not wanting to speak. "You don't have to tell me, but if you want to, you can. I care about you and I am here, whatever you need." Ethan said so gently and full of tenderness. I looked over, seeing him glancing between me and the road, and I knew he meant every word. I am not sure why he cared but it was obvious that he did. I nodded, "Thank you, Im not ready to talk about anything yet. I need to process it on my own first." He nodded and turned the radio back up.

We pulled back into the factory and he pulled up behind my car and i got out. My phone fell onto the seat outside of my pocket. "oops! You dropped this!" He said and I turned around to reach for it when he pulled it back and started doing something on my phone. "what are you doing?" I asked. He held up a finger to me. That annoyed me slightly. I cleared my throat to get his attention. He handed my phone back. "I saved my number in your phone. If you want to talk or cant sleep or . . . HE causes you any problems. Call me. I will be there." He said. "I appreciate that, but I don't want to drag you in the middle of this." I told him, putting my phone back into my pocket, knowing I would never call him to handle anything with AJ. "I already remember." he laughed, "I punched him this morning." He said and laughed. I chuckled to myself. He was right about that. "Thank you for lunch. I needed the break." I told him. "Anytime. You don't have to go back to work. My cousin gave us the rest of the day." I nodded. I turned and got into my car and started it. I watched Ethan drive away in the rear view and drove off to pick up my son early. He would be happy to see me and it would be great to spend the extra time with him as well.