Zack smirked. It was like he knew I’d start talking to him about it.
“I don’t imagine doctors get many dates with bikers. It’s a bit of an unknown. It’s understandable.”
I hate how you make it sound so obvious. Like, of course, I’d be attracted to you. You…handsome, tricky man.
“Up to you if you want to know more about it,” he said, leaning back in the booth with casual ease. “But I usually don’t talk about it much on the first date anyway.”
On the first date anyway? So you do have some fun, huh?
Not that I should be surprised by a man this hot.
“No, let’s keep it to just you here,” I said. “I have to admit, I’m surprised by you.”
“Are you?”
The narrowing of the eyes, the intensity of the stare…oh, Lord. It was getting harder and harder not only to think about what it would be like if he acted on that stare, but how much I wanted him to.
“I knew you were at least not as bad as the rest of the Reapers the way you treated me a year ago and in the past couple weeks,” I said. “And I got the general vibe that you had a better head on your shoulders than them. I have to be honest, I don’t know what Katie sees in Connor.”
“That’s a whole different story,” Zack said. “Connor’s easily misunderstood, but even then, he’s not for everyone.”
“No kidding.”
Really, the only one that I even considered for me was Zack. If I was going to go for someone younger as I was with Zack, I needed him to be wise and mature; Brock wasn’t. Steele wasn’t. Garrett was, but only because he’d become a father. Connor wasn’t. Mason was the closest, but Mason was far grittier and edgier than I would have liked. Zack was the only one that checked all the boxes, and even then, “A Black Reaper” was enough to make me resist for some time.
“But even still, you’re still a Black Reaper at the end of the day,” I said. “And I thought about this recently, how if it’s even realistic for me to expect that I can just ask you to put who you are aside entirely while we explore this. And I don’t know? But what I do know is that there’s a whole lot more to you than I would have expected for a biker. I just need to see more of that.”
Zack paused, strummed his fingers on the table, and nodded slowly.
“Tell you what,” he said. “Let’s finish this and the next round here. Then I will take you someplace that I know you’re not going to expect. I know you’ll see that this is the real me when you go. You game?”
I arched an eyebrow. I really had no idea what he could be hinting at.
“Where might this place be?”
“If I told you, that would ruin the element of surprise, now wouldn’t it?”
I bit my lip. This was fun, but…
“It’s not going to be someplace dangerous, is it?”
“Oh, hell no,” Zack said, laughing. “I’d be a real dick to do that. The only people I’m dicks to are people who hurt the ones I care about. You haven’t hurt them. If anything, you’re the only damn person that’s keeping Cole alive.”
OK, that was a little reassuring. But still. I had to give up the night to Zack, a Black Reaper? I had to trust that what he was going to show me next was exactly what would make me realize it was the real him?
Well, what was dating without a little risk? And what was a little risk when you knew the person you were with had done you right so far?
“I’m game,” I said. “Just take me someplace that no other biker would so I can see it with my own eyes.”
Let’s just see how much I’m game for.
