“Is this your way of trying to get me to shut up?” Danny murmured as she leaned in. “Bring me to a place where everyone speaks in whispers?”
He settled into the seat opposite her while the host cut a quick retreat. “Doesn’t seem like my overly complex plan is working,” he responded. “You’re as chatty as ever.”
She flashed him a grin, and the authenticity she shared with him was all he needed. Ever since she came crashing back into his life, he wasn’t obsessing over fixing people at work or fixing his family’s problems. The desire to control crept in—it did fiercer than ever since Betty left him—but for a few moments he could laugh without that heaviness.
Their waiter came over, operating on the intense formality he expected, and Adrian managed to pick out a wine without sounding like a total idiot. Put him in the middle of a medical conference and he was at the top of his game, but something like this had him stumbling like a baby lamb.
“I’ll get the ribeye, medium rare,” he finished after scanning over the miniscule menu.
Danny pursed her lips, giving it a once-over. “I’ll take the scallops,” she responded, and the waiter vanished. His shoulders relaxed at the same time as hers did.
“Maybe I should’ve gone with the diner,” he muttered. “We both would’ve been more comfortable.”
“And miss the chance to watch you squirm?” she responded. “Nonsense. Besides, I haven’t had scallops since I last lived here, and the cities up North don’t do them justice.” She glanced out the window to stare at the sea, a wild swell of waves and foamy crests. “Tonight’s been the distraction I think we both needed.”
“You really have traveled all over, haven’t you?” he murmured as the waiter brought over the bottle of wine and uncorked it, pouring the burgundy liquid into their glasses. He lifted the glass of wine and took a sip. The complexity was leagues apart from the jugs of Carlo Rossi that Nellie always brought to dinners. At home, he leaned toward collecting bottles of gin rather than wine, but the deep cocoa notes and the soft finish made him question those choices.
“Part of my secret agent training,” Danny teased as she swirled around the wine in her glass. “They plucked me out of high school and put me through rigorous lessons to join their ranks.” An obvious lie, but she made it clear she’d rather cling to a fantasy than the truth. He had the feeling the real story was a lot more personal and devastating. He didn’t miss the darkness that flickered across her eyes every time they dipped a toe into the pool of her past.
“Should’ve known,” he responded, keeping his tone light. “CIA keeps a tight leash on its agents. Masquerading as gardener too? Clever touch.”
His gaze drifted to the rest of the patrons, either lawyers and financial advisors here on business dinners, or couples leaning in intimately, dressed in quality Ralph Lauren suits and designer dresses and appearing at ease amidst all this formality. A scarlet dress caught his eye, and the moment he paused it was too late. The black pinned curls, the crimson lips in a smirk, and the dangling gold earrings he’d gotten her for their last anniversary—Betty.
Chapter Seven
Danny barely got a sip of her wine in before Adrian stopped still as granite.
Her brows drew together as she twisted around to try and catch sight of what had turned him into a statue. Her hand crept toward the leg holster she wore beneath the dress, her pistol always at the ready. While Kyle Peterson wouldn’t be caught dead in a swanky joint like this, ever since high school she’d been trained in a special brand of vigilance where she expected him to emerge around every corner.
Adrian stared at a couple dining at one of the tables behind them, the guy dripping with a slicked hair sleaze. His stunning arm candy was the sort of put-together that promised she was as rigid as a board.
“Does one of them owe you money?” Danny asked, lifting a brow. “Because you’re scowling something fierce.”
Adrian dragged his stare away to drink the rest of his wine in one gulp before grabbing the bottle to pour more. “Technically, we’re split even, but Betty gouged me on payments to keep the house, so I guess.”
Danny took another sip of the dry red, waiting for more explanation. Based on the bitterness in his tone, the situation had bad breakup stamped all over it. Whatever happened, she hadn’t seen him this rattled since they reconnected. Adrian didn’t fall into wild gestures or the dramatic, but his grip tightened on the glass, and his lips pressed together so hard they whitened.
“Cheating ex-fiancée,” he explained. Even though she could unpack plenty more from those two words, he said everything she needed to know.
“How recent?” she asked. Her chest tightened at the pain clear in his blue eyes.
He traced the rim of the glass with his thumb, staring into the depths of his wine. “Less than a year ago. Longest relationship of my life shattered on the rocks, so as you can imagine, I’m doing great. Go figure, the one time I venture out to anywhere Michelin-starred, I run into her.”
Danny couldn’t stop herself from reaching across the table. His pain pulsed in the air, a raw, visceral thing. She placed her hand over his and squeezed tight. She’d never stayed in a place long enough to form any lasting relationship, but she would always understand the pain of hoping to build a future only to have it snatched away. Someone as devoted and patient as Adrian should’ve never gotten betrayed, but she learned a long time ago that karma was a petulant bitch.
“If you don’t mind getting kicked out, I could go over and spit in her wine glass,” Danny offered. He slipped his fingers through hers in a gentle motion that felt so right it hurt.
“I’m just surprised to see her, that’s all,” he responded. “I’d rather focus on the gorgeous woman I brought here than some nightmare from my past.”
The waiter approached again, this time holding steaming dishes. Her mouth watered at the buttery scent of the scallops beside goat cheese ravioli covered in a light cream sauce. One of the things she’d missed the most about this region was the cooking. With the plate set before her, she extricated her hand from Adrian’s and tucked in. Screw small, patient bites.
She glanced up to see Adrian cutting his steak into precise strips, a grin lifting his lips. Danny popped the first scallop into her mouth and let out a low moan. The light, buttery flavor and the crust of smoked salt interplayed on her tongue while the flaky scallop melted in her mouth. His blue eyes intensified at the sound. She’d snared his full attention.
“Keep making those noises and we’ll have to find somewhere private.” His voice came out low, loaded with enough raw sexuality to make her toes curl.
“But I thought we were just friends,” she murmured, blinking wide-eyed in a farce of innocence.
He shook his head, grinning as he took his first bite of steak. “Friends can fuck too, darling,” he responded, and goddamn his words had her thighs clenching.
She slipped another scallop into her mouth and chewed before she said something to get them both into trouble. He was pure cocaine, and she had long been an addict jonesing for a bump. The second she’d gotten Adrian Dukas into her system again, she couldn’t quit him. Not when for the first time in over a decade they were in the same city.
A shadow fell over their table.
Danny whipped around on instinct, her hands balling into fists.
She looked up at the sour face of Betty, Adrian’s ex-fiancée.
The woman might wear the hell out of a scarlet dress, but the prim expression reminded Danny far too much of Natalie Horntree for her liking. She could pick out pretentious from a lineup, and this chick oozed it from her pores.
“Nice to see you’d drag me to shitty family dinners to avoid a nice restaurant for the entirety of our relationship, but you’ll take a girl you barely know here?” Betty murmured. Even though her voice remained hushed and a smile plastered on her face, poison dripped from her words.
Before Adrian could respond, Danny jumped in. “If you’re going to spit in the face of a
family meal, then you sure as hell didn’t deserve a fancy sit-down dinner.” God knows how often she longed for what the Dukases had, a close-knit family who would scream in each other’s faces just as quick as they’d hug it out. She turned to look at Adrian, who gripped his knife like he prepared to use it. His face paled, and his jaw clenched so tight it formed right angles. “I mean, I assumed she had the moral spine of a jellyfish since she cheated on you, but you didn’t mention what a bitch she was.”
Danny didn’t give a damn the word “bitch” rang around the entire restaurant.
Adrian let out a snort as he let go of the knife he’d been gripping. A couple of waiters slowly approached, as if they needed to tame a couple of rogue tigers who wandered in. Danny knew how rich folks liked to play their games. Betty wouldn’t risk getting blacklisted from Siren’s Call or embarrassing Joe Slick over there.
Betty turned to face Adrian. “You might want to watch the company you keep,” was all she said before she clipped her way on those four-inch stilettos back to her guy.
Danny leaned back in her seat and took a sip of wine from her glass. “I think that went well,” she said, a building inferno brewing in her chest. Adrian Dukas had been everything she ever wanted when she was seventeen, and even now those feelings hadn’t changed. The fact Betty hurt him made her the human equivalent of a sewage plant, because abandonment and betrayal always left their marks.
“You are some sort of extraordinary,” he murmured, a hushed sanctity in his tone. She expected to see pain streaked across his face, but instead he watched her with a sense of wonder that made her forget how to breathe. Her chest ached like she drowned.
The waiter came in for the save before they waded through deeper waters.
“Could we get this food wrapped up?” Danny asked, gesturing to the half-eaten plate in front of her.
“Not a problem,” the guy said in clipped voice as he cast a glance over to Betty’s table. Obviously, he’d noticed the “scene.” Guy would faint in a bar brawl at the normal dives she frequented.
“I’ve got the bill,” Adrian said, pressing a card into the waiter’s hand. Before she could stop him, the waiter took off with their plates to get them hustling out of Siren’s Call as fast as possible.
Danny rooted through her purse for the cash she always kept on hand. “Tell me how much I owe you.”
Adrian arched a brow. “I invited you here. It’s on me.”
She fixed him with a look, but he stared back, unwavering. Danny heaved a sigh, conceding this battle. “Well, thanks. I wasn’t trying to cut our dinner short, but I figured we could skip the dirty looks from your ex and go for a walk on the beach instead.”
“I’d like that,” he responded. “Don’t know if you figured it out yet, but I’m not one for fine dining. I prefer ‘shitty’ family dinners any day of the week.” His voice dripped with acid, and he didn’t bother trying to hide the hurt blazing in those blues.
She shrugged. “While this was fun and the food fantastic, I’d give anything to grow up having the family dinners you’re talking about. Mom and I did our best, but after everything went to shit, those became part of the distant past.” She skated around specifics, but even the mention of Mom caused her throat to tighten.
The waiter bustled over carrying their dishes wrapped in some weird origami while he passed the check to Adrian, returning his card. Danny tucked a couple of strands of hair behind her ear before she grabbed the glass of wine in front of her and tipped back what remained. Betty kept glancing their way, shooting looks like lead-tipped arrows. Thankfully, Danny wore bitch-proof armor, so she wasn’t sweating the blows.
Adrian rose from his seat and walked over to her side, offering his arm. “Let’s go for a walk. I could use the fresh air.”
Despite the beautiful arrangement of peonies in the vase beside a wide pane of glass placing the sea in full display, Danny couldn’t wait to get out of there. While Siren’s Call had been an adventure with Adrian, she didn’t need fancy dinners to find him unforgettable. Besides, she felt most at home digging her toes in the earth or sand. She slipped her arm through his, and together they strode out of the restaurant, ignoring the prickle of stares following them.
“I, for one, think we brought some necessary excitement to the place,” she murmured as they neared the door.
“You have a habit of doing that,” he responded. He pushed the door open, and they entered the cool night air. Breezes enveloped her, but before she could even shiver, Adrian wrapped his arm around her shoulder, drawing her closer in. Danny melted against him, the heat and his salt and cedar scent rising to her head like a drug. Instead of heading for his car, they took the lined pathway leading to a long stretch of beach, right where the tides crashed to the shore.
When they reached the end of the walkway, Danny leaned down to kick off her heels. She scooped them in her hand and returned to the warmth of Adrian’s arm around her shoulder. Seeing all his broken pieces back there at the restaurant stung her with rage and guilt. He deserved so much better.
Better than someone like her, who’d do the same.
Danny wasn’t an idiot. She hadn’t missed the look in his eyes, like she was the first sunlit day after weeks of rain.
“I know I’m seeing the bitter aftermath, but what was Betty’s original appeal?” Danny asked, unable to help her curiosity. Besides, the longer the silence stretched between them, the more she veered closer to doing something stupid.
Adrian let out a ragged sigh. “We went to med school together, and with the levels of stress and craziness there, you forge bonds that are ironclad—at least, I figured. Betty was whip smart, top of her class, and ambitious. I admired those things, and I thought we helped each other grow into the best versions of ourselves.”
Danny couldn’t help the twist of jealousy in her chest, something she didn’t even deserve to feel. “What changed?” She kicked grains of the still-warm sand as they walked, staring at the ground beneath her while her pumps hung off her fingers.
Adrian nudged them closer to the ocean while they continued to walk. The crash and boom of the mighty waves echoed in the air. “She wanted to keep leaping higher. Move on to bigger, better things. I liked my hospital and wanted to stick around and devote time to my family. We would get in fights almost daily—she claimed I couldn’t let go of my control, that I always tried to fix situations. She may have been right.”
Danny’s brows drew together. “Okay…well, why?” she asked as they reached the edge of the dry sand, right where the waves slithered up to send shells tumbling. “If you’re feeling like you constantly need to fix your family or fix fires at your work—why?”
He pulled his arm away to run his fingers through his hair before letting out a sigh. “That’s a great question, but I don’t know if I have an answer. As the oldest, I’ve been doing it since I was a kid, and part of me loves the feeling of strength I get from being able to fix people’s problems. As a useful part of the family, they’ll never cut me loose.”
Like Betty did. Like Danny did when she vanished.
Danny’s throat tightened, and she reached over to weave her fingers through his, leaving her pumps discarded on the sand.
She brought him forward, and together, they took their first stumbling steps into the shivering cold waters that nipped at her toes. The foam slithered around her ankles before receding.
“It’s been such a long time since I had any control over my life that I sometimes forget what stable feels like,” Danny murmured, needing to share some part of her. Even if she couldn’t tell him the facts or fill in the blanks of her story, he still could know her, deep down. She was no better than the shells by her feet, tumbling this way and that at the beck and call of the waves. Whether her cover got compromised or her dad moved cities, something always pulled her away every time she tried to settle into an area.
Adrian squeezed her hand tight. And then he kicked a spray of water in her direction.
Danny sp
luttered as the ice-cold drops imprinted on her dress and splashed against her face, the surprise smacking into her. For a second, she stood there gaping at him as a hesitant smile curled his lips.
The bubble in her chest expanded and burst as laughs exploded from her. “You fucker,” she shouted, kicking a spray of water back at him. A huge smile lit his face, his eyes glittering in amusement as the spray soaked into his sportscoat and button-down. He didn’t even bother rolling up his pant legs as he waded in deeper, the water staining the fabric. He let go of her to reach down and scoop more water before flinging it her way.
Gasps of laughter ripped from her throat as the water sprayed her and soaked the hem of her dress. Danny’s chest ached with a hearth fire warmth she hadn’t felt in years, so strong she didn’t feel an ounce of the cold waves swirling around them. Danny leaned forward to splash more of the salty brine at him, scooping her hands into the foamy swell below.
Right as she tried to fling it, she stumbled. The water careened before her as she tossed her hands out for balance.
Instead of hitting the cold sea that came up to her knees, arms wrapped around her and she was crushed against Adrian’s chest.
“Got you,” he whispered, a little bit breathless.
The tides crashed past them, the moon gleaming silver crests on the moving water, but the two of them stood still as their eyes locked.
His thick, dark strands were a wild mess, and several drops dripped down his cheek. His chest heaved, so close she could feel the movement like her own thundering heart.
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