NOAH
I was staring at the man sitting across from me, and my brain was running through a full, dramatic crash.
"Noah?"
The man tilted his head slightly, his hazel eyes crinkling at the corners as a faint, easy smile spread across his face. "You okay there? You look like you just saw a ghost."
"I…" I swallowed hard, my hands gripping the edge of the linen napkin in my lap so tightly my knuckles turned white. "I'm fine. Fine! I just… hi."
'Hi?!' That was the best I could do?
"Hi," he chuckled, pulling out the chair across from me and sliding into the plush booth with an effortless grace that made my heart do a stupid, erratic jump. "Leo. In case you forgot. Leonardo, technically, but Leo is fine."
I stared at him, my mouth slightly open, my thoughts scrambling over each other like panicked sheep.
This was catfishing. It had to be. Except it was catfishing in the exact opposite direction of how it usually went.
