“Oh yeah, you know me. Taking down men one order of fried rice at a time.”

I have to admit, it’s nice that we started out as friends—or not friends at all—and I was able to skip that whole awkward “should I order a salad or not” phase of a relationship.

“You want to pick something or do you want me to surprise you?” He waves the menu in front of my face.

“Surprise me,” I say. “You’ve done a pretty good job of it so far.”

“And there are so many surprises I’ve been hiding.” He winks at me and I’m pretty sure my legs go numb. “Why don’t you go ahead and pick something to watch?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll do that.” I trip over my words, my brain is still stuck on what I think was sexual innuendo. I mean, I’ve been out of the game a long time, but that was an obvious hint at sex. Right?

I fucking hope so.

I think back to what Liv said before she left, and even though I waved her off, I have had a very, very long dry spell. Who better to break it than Quinton? We both like each other. He’s hot as fuck. And we’re grown. We can do what we want.

But on the other hand, he is Quinton Howard and he’s hot as fuck. I’m . . . well I’m me. Maybe I should work my way up to Quinton. Work on my flexibility or something before we go at it.

“Food will be here in forty.” Quinton sits down on the couch next to me, interrupting my sex thoughts. I hope he can’t read my mind! “Did you find something to watch?”

“Um, yeah.” I turn on Netflix and find my trusty Scandal. Shonda never does me wrong . . . except when she kills all my favorites. “Have you watched it before?”

He looks at the screen and his eyebrows scrunch together. “Not really. I’ve watched an episode or two.”

“Oh good!” I pick season one, episode one. “Then we can start from the beginning.”

I might not love scary movies, but even though there is way more murder than should ever be condoned on Scandal, I can’t say no to a forbidden romance.

“Olivia is a fuckin’ boss,” Quinton says a little over halfway through the show.

“Right? She might be fictional, but she’s totally my idol.” It’s hard for me not to tell him all the twists and turns that are coming, but I manage. “Shonda is a genius.”

“Shonda?” Quinton stands up and pauses the TV when the doorbell rings. “Are you guys friends?”

“How dare you? Of course she’s my friend.” I follow him to the door. “She just isn’t aware of it yet.”