by Unknown
She drew back. “You know what color my eyes are?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am. Most guys…”
“Most guys,” he prompted.
She might as well be honest. “Most guys never see beyond my bra cup size.”
He shrugged. “Their loss.”
Dani was used to men liking her body, not her. She was always seen as a trophy, a piece of arm candy. She bit her lip, not sure what to make of Bryce.
“Close your eyes,” he ordered.
She did.
“What color are my eyes?”
“Green.”
“Correct,” he said as she opened her eyes. “Guess you’re not just interested in my cup size, either. So we’re even.”
Dani wasn’t sure about that. She felt off balance, as if her not-so-neat little world had been spun in yet another direction by him. She didn’t like the feeling.
“Ready to eat?” he asked.
“Please. I worked through lunch and am starving,” she said. “Whatever you brought smells delicious.”
“It does smell good, but I can’t take credit for the food. I picked up dinner at a little place on Chestnut.”
Bryce led her from the rotunda to a path leading around the lake. “I put down a blanket to claim a spot. With nice weather like this, I didn’t want to take any chances.”
“It is a beautiful day.” She tilted her head toward the sky so the sun’s rays could kiss her cheeks. “Though I’m not sure there are any bad picnic spots here.”
“True,” he admitted. “That’s why I like this place. Even with the tourists snapping pictures like crazy, it’s still peaceful.”
“I know.” His words echoed how she felt and made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. “I’ve always thought of this place as somewhere to escape from the hectic pulse of life in the city. And you never know what you’ll see. One time they were filming a television show.”
He stopped at a grassy area where a blue blanket was spread out. “Here we are.”
Dani stared across the water. The two swans she’d seen earlier were still floating on the lake, but this time they had the “palace” as the backdrop behind them. “A veritable feast for the eyes with the lake, plants and architecture.”
“It’s kind of like stepping back to ancient times with the Corinthian Columns.”
“And the Roman-inspired rotunda. All that’s missing are gladiators and deities.” She looked at Bryce. “Thanks for choosing such a lovely location for a picnic.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “This spot actually has a lot of sentimental value to me.”
Warning bells sounded in her head. Dani bit back a sigh. She had a feeling what was going to come next—a story about Bryce’s ex-girlfriend who he used to bring here before she’d done him wrong. Dani didn’t have much experience with that but, to be honest, she’d rather listen to him talk about an ex than deal with the I-want-you-for-your-body dates who usually asked her out.
She plopped onto the blanket, ready to hear his woeful tale. “Sentimental how?”
“I had a nanny who claimed bluebird days demanded picnics. She would have our cook make us a picnic, sometimes two, if she planned on keeping us outside the entire time.” Bryce patted the blanket. “This was one of her favorite picnic spots.”
The affection in his voice brought a smile to Dani’s face. “Sounds like you had fun with her.”
“We did.” He pulled white boxes from the sack. “She was one Caitlin and I were sad to lose.”
“You had a lot of nannies?” Dani asked.
Nodding, he pulled out plates and utensils. “My parents paid them well, but the nannies earned every penny of their salary dealing with my mother and father, not us.”
Dani toyed with a blade of grass. “Leaving your kids with someone for an extended period has to be hard on parents.”
“I wouldn’t do it.”
His adamant tone surprised her, but didn’t seem to affect him in the slightest. He placed asparagus spears with salad on one side of the plate and a scoop of couscous on the other. A chicken breast covered with mushrooms in a light sauce went in the center.
“Do you plan on being a stay-at-home dad or having your wife give up her career?” she asked, thinking about her mother and all she’d given up for her marriage and children.
“I haven’t given much thought to marriage or having a family. It’s not something I’m interested in right now.” Bryce handed her a plate. “But I do know when I was a kid and got hurt or was upset, I wanted my mother or father. Not my nanny. I’d rather not have to go that route with children of my own.”
“Some people have no choice.” Dani stared at her plate, overflowing with food, and remembered the times when she didn’t have as much. “When I was in sixth grade, we moved to Los Angeles. My sisters and I would go to day care—they called it after-care, when school got out until about six o’clock. We were there in the morning before school started, too. It was hard on all of us, but I think most especially my mom. She didn’t want to have to put us there for so long each day, but she had no choice because of her job.”
“Sounds like you all did what you had to do.”
She nodded, scooping up a forkful of couscous. “That was the first time any of us started and finished a grade at the same school.”
“Did you live in Los Angeles a long time?”
“Just a year.” Dani shook her head as she swallowed. “The company downsized and my mom lost her job so we moved on.”
“I’ve lived in San Francisco my entire life. Well, except for college. My mother still lives in the same house where I grew up.”
“Wow. I can only imagine how wonderful that must be.” She inhaled deeply, caught up in her dream of home ownership. “I would love to put down roots like that and never have to move again.”
“Aren’t you a little young for wanting that?”
Oops. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. “I should have added someday. That’s not in the plan right now. But still, you are so lucky.”
His gaze locked on hers. “I feel…fortunate.”
Dani was used to male attention, but Bryce wasn’t focused on her chest. If anything, his watchful eyes seemed to pierce straight into her soul, to see not only her dreams, but her heart and her secrets.
She shifted position on the blanket, angling away from him slightly. “Dinner is delicious. Excellent choice of food.”
“Thanks, but I just realized I haven’t been a good host,” he said. “I forgot to offer you a drink. I have white wine, a Chardonnay or sparkling mineral water, lime-flavored.”
Her favorites. “Did you check my profile page before going shopping?”
“Of course.” He grinned. “If you’d been vegan, this dinner menu would have been a flop. So what’s your poison tonight?”
Water was the smart choice, but she didn’t care. “Wine, please.”
He uncorked the bottle. “Did you read my profile?”
Over and over again, the same way she had obsessively been checking her e-mail since he’d first contacted her, but she didn’t want to tell Bryce that. “I may have skimmed your profile a couple of times. I noticed baseball seemed to be a common theme to yours.”
“And Jane Austen yours.” He poured the wine into glasses. “I thought about wearing a flowing white shirt.”
“How long did you consider that? A second?”
“Try a nanosecond.” He handed her a glass. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” Dani tapped her glass against his. The chime hung in the air. She took a sip. “Great. But I thought you preferred red wine.”
“Red doesn’t go as well with chicken,” he explained. “You must have done a little more than skim my profile if you remember what kind of wine I liked.”
She ate another piece of chicken. “Yum.”
“Trying to change the subject?”
“Yes.” She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Do you mind?”
A devilish gleam flashed in his eyes. “Not this time.”
Did that mean he wanted to see her again?
Excitement shot through her at the possibility. She forced herself to calm down. One date. That was all this could be even if her heart might disagree. “Looking at our profiles, hearing how we grew up, we’re very different.”
He shrugged. “Everybody is different. But the compatibility program says we’re a match.”
It was her turn to shrug.
“That’s right.” Bryce raised his glass to his lips. “You don’t believe in the matching program.”
She remembered the “match” page where you could check to see who the computer thought you were most compatible with. She had visited there once to capture screen shots, analyze the information and present a report to James. “I didn’t realize that’s how you found me.”
She cringed. Her words made it sound as if she’d been lost and needed a man—Bryce—to find her.
He didn’t seem to notice. “There are lots of ways to find people on the Web site.”
No kidding. Just look at her.
Dani swirled her glass. She felt like the wine spinning around inside. Everything happening in her life was out of her control. Waiting for James to tell her she could stop spying and going out on dates. Hoping another company would want to hire her so she could start afresh. Wishing things could be different right this moment.
She wanted to take action, change things now, but had no idea how to start.
Bryce refilled their glasses.
If only she could tell him the truth about working for Hookamate.com and what her job required her to do.
But she couldn’t.
She couldn’t risk losing her job.
Dani’s family counted on her financial support. Her youngest sister’s fall tuition would be due soon as well as her mother’s health insurance premium. Nothing had changed since lack of money six months ago had forced Dani to take the position at Hookamate.com.
But the least she could give Bryce was her gratitude.
“Tonight has been wonderful,” Dani said. “Thanks for going to so much trouble.”
“It wasn’t any trouble.”
A comfortable silence descended as they finished their dinner. A breeze rustled the leaves of nearby trees. An older couple strolled hand in hand along the path. They glanced her way and smiled.
Dani wondered if they thought she and Bryce were a romantic couple or if they could tell this was the first dinner they’d shared together. Probably the only dinner they’d ever share. She sipped her wine.
As Bryce put things back into the bag, three white limousines pulled up to the curb. The doors opened and laughter filled the air. Members of a wedding party piled out of the cars. Eight, nine…They kept coming. Bridesmaids dressed in lavender full-length gowns and groomsmen in black tuxedos with tails. Fourteen in total. Not counting the bride and groom.
Dani stared in disbelief. “That’s a huge wedding party.”
“Either they come from a big family or have money to burn.”
“Or both.”
The bride’s gown was a billowy confection of tulle and silk. Three of the bridesmaids held up the dress to keep the hem from touching the floor. Dani thought about Marissa and Grace.
“They should get some nice photos with this lighting,” Dani said. The sun shone high in the sky, even though it had to be past eight by now.
She removed her cell phone from her bag and snapped a picture of the wedding party as they posed for the photographer.
“You know,” Bryce said, “a guy could get the wrong idea of his date snapping pictures of wedding parties.”
“Nothing nefarious. I’m not a wedding junkie or a bride wannabe,” she admitted. “The photo is for my two online friends Grace and Marissa. We met in the newcomers chat on Blinddatebrides.com and have stayed in touch ever since.”
“They are the ones you mentioned before.”
She was pleased he remembered. “Yes. I’ve been trying to talk them into coming to visit me, but they are so busy with their own lives—and now loves—I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon. Maybe this picture will whet their appetite for a personal tour of San Francisco.”
“My sister plans to have wedding pictures taken here.”
Dani wasn’t surprised. This place was popular with bridal parties for a reason. “Wedding photos here would be lovely.”
“Agree, but the logistics are turning into a nightmare and causing arguments between my mother and sister, even though the wedding isn’t until next year.” He sipped his wine. “Caitlin wants to have photos taken before the ceremony so the wedding party can go to the reception without delay, but my mother says it’s bad luck for a groom to see the bride before the wedding so they must do the pictures afterward.”
Dani knew nothing about wedding planning except for what she’d picked up from Marissa and Grace. “Couldn’t they do pictures the day before?”
“My mother doesn’t think Mark should see Caitlin in her wedding gown. Period.”
“Google it.”
“Excuse me?” Bryce asked.
“Find out in what percentage of divorces did the groom see the bride before the wedding ceremony. That will either prove your sister’s point or your mother’s and they won’t have to argue anymore.”
“That’s…brilliant.”
“More like common sense, but thanks. It’s not often I’m called brilliant.”
“Then you’re hanging with the wrong crowd.”
Being with Bryce was so easy. Conversation flowed as easily as the wine. Being quiet didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable. He felt like an old friend, not a stranger she’d met only a few days ago online.
As he packed away the food, she handed him her plate.
“Relax,” he said. “I’ve got it.”
Dani couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so…pampered. She watched a row of turtles, a mother and her babies, swim across the lake. Bryce definitely knew what he was doing. But he didn’t act like a player. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if he took every woman he went out with here. “Do you take all your dates on picnics?”
Not exactly subtle, but she wanted to know the answer.
“I don’t,” he admitted. “The last one was…maybe four years ago. But a woman who wears a bandana seemed like the type who might enjoy a picnic.”
He sounded genuine. Dani wanted to believe him. Just because she wasn’t being truthful didn’t mean he was dishonest. “I do like picnics, though I haven’t been on a real one like this since college. The other times were just brown bagging it and sitting on the grass.”
“Then it was time for both of us to do this the right way.”
Hair fell over Bryce’s eyes as he finished cleaning up. Dani longed to push the strands back into place, to touch his face, to kiss him.
Maybe it was time. And not only for a picnic.
She smiled. “Are you ready for dessert?”
“These are sinfully good.”
“Not sinful.” Dani’s smile reached her eyes, raising Bryce’s temperature a degree or two. “Criminal, maybe.”
No way could a woman who looked as hot as Dani did tonight and cooked delicious candies be a spy. Bryce picked up another one of her homemade bonbons. “I need more evidence before I can make a final verdict.”
Lying on the blanket and resting on his elbows, he bit through the bittersweet chocolate covering to the softer Tiramisu inside. The flavors exploded in his mouth.
Sweet, moist, rich.
Like the cook herself? Bryce wouldn’t mind finding out.
She watched him. “What’s the verdict?”
“The calories are criminal, but worth it.”
Dani beamed.
Bryce liked how a simple comment or compliment pleased her so much. She wasn’t like other women he’d dated, who wanted to eat at the newest restaurants and go to the hippest clubs. Dani seemed content to be with him, n
o matter where that might be—a park, sidewalk, café. And when he was with her everything cluttering his brain seemed to magically disappear.
He wasn’t in the market for a girlfriend, but he could get used to this. Her.
As she picked up a bonbon, her hair shifted forward. With a flip of her head, she sent the hair back behind her shoulder. The movement was subtle yet sexy, especially with the slight bounce of her breasts.
He reached for his wineglass.
“I haven’t made bonbons in a while,” Dani said. “I forgot how good they are.”
She raised the white chocolate-covered candy to her mouth. Her pink lips parted, then closed around the bonbon.
Heat rushed through Bryce’s veins. He jerked his gaze away from her and focused on the lake. He’d rather stare at her full lips or sensuous curves, but he didn’t want her to compare him to the other men she’d dated. Guys like that jerk from the other night or the ones who didn’t remember her eyes were a spectacular shade of blue.
“My compliments to the chef.”
She bowed her head.
He picked up another. “Bet you have to know how to boil water to make these.”
“That skill might come in handy, but it’s not necessary,” she explained. “They are easy to make unless you mind getting dirty. By the time you’re finished, your fingers will be covered in chocolate sauce.”
Bryce grinned. “I don’t mind dirty, especially if chocolate is involved.”
“If you’re interested in learning how to make them, I’ll show you.”
“Sure.” Dani and chocolate together. That was a no-brainer combination. “But I’ll warn you now, I’m not much of a cook. I grill but that’s the extent of my cooking talent. It’s kind of a family joke.”
“So you weren’t kidding about boiling water?”
“I can do a little more that that, but I avoid recipes requiring oil and frying.”
“Were flames involved?” Dani asked.
“Fire, smoke, a call to 9-1-1,” he admitted.
Her eyes widened. “What happened?”
He gave a half-shrug, still embarrassed after all these years. “I tried to make French fries one day when the cook was sick. Unfortunately, I made two critical errors. I took the telephone to my mother, who was in another room, while frying. I also left the bag of potatoes sitting on the counter right next to the gas stove top.”