“What are you doing here?” Ty bellowed in a playful tone. What? Ty wasneverplayful.
“Hey man.”
Oh no. Oh, no no no no no.
“You here to eat? Or just dropped by because you missed my beautiful mug?” Ty laughed in a gruff way I imagined his laugh would sound like, if I had ever heard it before.
I kept my chin tucked to my chest and counted pairs of shoes so I could discretely pluck the exact number of menus I needed without having to address the males gathered around the host stand.
“Mainly I have business with your hostess,” Fin announced loud enough for probably everyone in the restaurant to hear. If he was trying to get my attention, he succeeded.
Too bad I was not about to let him know that.
I felt Ty’s gaze intensely on my back, but decided now was a perfect time to make sure every menu was facing the right way and all the inserts were tucked uniformly just inside the front cover. Finally a protective hand covered my shoulder and Ty gave it a squeeze. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to shake me into lifting my head or what, so I chose to ignore him too.
I dropped down so I could rifle through the cabinet for a handful of after dinner mints to refill the bowl. Not that it needed refilling, but it was something. And at this moment I would take anything to occupy my time other than looking Fin in the eye or acknowledging him in any way.
I heard Fin finally say, “But we’re here to eat too. It’s been too long Ty. I haven’t seen you at Sunday dinner in months. What gives?”
From my position on the floor I watched Ty’s shoes shift uncomfortably back and forth. What in the world? Ty never got nervous, and nowFinwas making him fidget? Plus, Sunday dinner? How in the world did these two know each other? There was absolutely no family resemblance, not even of the distant cousin variety. While they were both tall, dark and handsome, Fin was golden tanned skin and wild, wavy hair. Ty was mocha-toned with perfectly creamy skin and short, but obviously stick straight almost black hair. I didn’t want to assume Ty’s heritage, but he was in no way descended from Fin’s obviously Caucasian ancestors.
“Uh, yeah, I’ve been working a lot,” Ty explained. And while that was true I suspected there was more to his avoiding of the “Sunday dinners.” “But I am planning this Sunday for sure. You grandmother has been after me. I promised her I would show.”
“Awesome,” Fin grunted in a way that said he was too masculine to reveal how truly happy he was with that answer.
“So four?” Ty asked, indicating the guys surrounding Fin.
I pulled myself up off the floor in time to drop the mints into the plastic dish on the edge of the host stand and grab the menus again. As much as I didn’t’ want to I was ready to do my duty and then hide in the kitchen for the next hour. I finally lifted my head up to meet the eyes of everyone but Fin. They were watching me carefully, obviously speculating how someone as insignificant as me caught the attention of the campus track star turned organizer of all illegal activities.
Ok, maybe that was a little unfair. He wasn’t the organizer ofeveryillegal activity. But enough of them so that my personal morality judge and jury ruled their final verdict: life in prison without parole.
“Right this way,” I grabbed the menus and then turned quickly, my eyes on the table I was set on taking them to.
Fin cleared his throat from behind me.
“I’ll take them, Ellie,” Ty offered before I could take a step in the right direction.
What?!?How did Fin get his way with even Ty? Ty was a drill sergeant. Ty fought in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia and countless other places in his seventeen yearlong army career! And with a simple throat clear, he was willing to do Fin’s bidding? This was not real life. I was not living real life anymore. Somehow Fin had sucked me into his alternate reality where he reigned as king while the rest of us lowly subjects were allowed to survive only if we carried out his infallible bidding.
“It’s alright,” I grated out. “I can take them. It is after allmy job.”
“Ellie,” Ty intoned in the voice that brokered no argument. Gah! “I know she’s a troublemaker Hunter, but if you upset her in any way I will physically hurt you.”
Aw. Ty’s sentiment warmed my cold, bitter heart even as I resented yet another male standing up for me. Could I not be left alone to fight my own battles?
Oh wait. When left to my own devices things like Fin Hunter happened.
“You are a traitor,” I hissed as Ty awkwardly carried the menus in his big, bulky hands to one of the booths that surrounded the bar area.
“You love me,” he called over his shoulder.
I had no response, in fact I was speechless. I pressed my hands against the host stand and stared down at my uneven nails with contempt.
“Hey, Ellie,” Fin finally said after a few moments of silence. He leaned against his own hands, although they were positioned higher than mine on the outer ledge of the podium. When I said nothing he prompted, “Aren’t you going to say hi?”
“Hi,” I gritted out, finally lifting my gaze to meet his. He was clean shaven today, his jaw was smooth and unshadowed, showing of those great lips and strong jawline.Focus. “What are you doing here?”
He nodded toward where his friends sat. “Eating.”
