“No,” he answered. “Just one salad for the lady. I’ll have the special. What did you mean by ‘on the house’? Are you pulling my chain?”
Her lips parted as she looked between us. “You’re the lucky one-hundredth customer. We like to keep things fun around here with specials and surprises. You never know what we might do next. Are you sure all you want is a salad?” she asked me.
Noah put his arm around my shoulders. “I keep trying to get her to eat vegetables instead of junk food. She’ll stick with the salad. Is the beer on the house too?”
Mercy nodded. “Anything you want and as much as you want.”
Noah’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? You just said my favorite phrase in the whole world. In that case, bring me another round of beer.”
“Coming up!” She twirled around and strutted back to the bar. Mercy got into a heated discussion with the bartender, who cast a critical eye in our direction before she returned with Noah’s beer. “Just holler if you need anything else.” With that, Mercy returned to waiting tables.
“Since when do you order for me?” he asked in a hushed tone.
I leaned against him. “This reminds me of when we first met. Remember? You took me out and showed me the town in a way I’d never seen.”
“Yep. Free beer… I guess it’s our lucky day.” He finished his first drink.
I didn’t want the salad, but maybe he was right. If there were snacks in the house, I devoured them before he did. Noah monitored my eating habits. He held a dim view of how my father had raised me, saying I had a bad habit of putting myneeds before others. Never before had I needed permission to snack.
Old habits were hard to break.
While we waited for our meal, Noah complained about two Vampires he’d run into that morning and how he couldn’t stand other Breeds. He could barely tolerate other Shifter animal types, but I was the exception.
Meanwhile, my thoughts lingered on the man in the back. The one who had given me a night of escape, who had kissed me so passionately that I still felt his lips on mine like a permanent tattoo.
The one whose name I didn’t even know.
Two hours later,I had long finished my salad. After devouring two house specials, Noah was working on his fifth beer while shooting pool with three guys who needed an extra player. Since the table was adjacent to ours, I watched.
Noah swooped in and kissed me hard, and I drew back in embarrassment. “You havin’ fun, baby?”
When his hand slid between my legs, I pushed it away. “Who’s winning?”
He swept his hair back and fished a few coins from his pocket. “Why don’t you pick out some good music and order me another beer?”
I glanced at the empty glasses littering the table. “It’s getting late. We should probably leave soon.”
“Huh. I guess that means you don’t wanna go out again.” He gave me an icy stare before rejoining the game.
I collected the quarters and crossed over to the bar, waiting patiently for the bartender to finish serving a customer.
“Almost didn’t you see you there,” he said, sliding up to me. “Let me guess, another beer?”
Looking up at the drink prices, I nodded.
He shook his head and filled a glass. I felt terrible for taking advantage of Mercy’s generosity. I never expected Noah would order this many glasses of the pricy beer.
After thanking the surly bartender, I headed to the jukebox in the back and set the glass on a nearby table. Most of the songs in the jukebox I didn’t recognize.
Someone in here really likes the oldies.
When I didn’t see the heavy metal bands Noah liked, I opted for something romantic to show my gratitude. The drinking was already putting him in a mood, and I didn’t want this to be our last outing. Going on title alone, I pressed the buttons and then selected a few more songs.
I tapped my foot to the music.
How long are we staying here? My songs probably won’t come up for another hour or two, and I’m getting bored. At least we’re out of the house. I wish I had someone to talk to. Maybe I should have brought a book.
As I turned my wrist back and forth, the charms on my bracelet jangled. When I steered my gaze to the left, my heart skidded to a stop.
