I sighed, long and hard, fogging up the glass window of Macchiavello’s. The name was done in gold and looked elegant. It was the kind of restaurant that you probably needed to make a reservation for months in advance. On the opposite side of the shiny glass, expensive suits and fancy dresses dined, most of them getting the steak. They usually did.
My mouth watered. “If we make it out of this alive, we’ll be getting the steak, too.”
It was good to dream, right? I could put it down in my dream journal. I once saw this woman with a mega-watt smile and hair extensions say that I, too, could live the dream,my best life, if only I had one of these journals. I should list all of the things I was thankful for on a daily basis, even things I didn’t have, things that seemed so far beyond my grasp that sometimes I called myself foolish for even thinking about them. The idea was to project all that my heart desired onto my life.
Will it to be true.
My entire journal was made up ofI am’s.
I am thankful that I am no longer poor.
I am thankful that I am a millionaire who wants for nothing.
I am thankful that I am a world traveler.
And the one that I’d rather die than let anyone see.I am thankful to be loved beyond measure by someone special.
I made a mental note to addI am thankful for thesteak I had at a ritzy restaurantto the top of my list. Maybe I needed to get more specific more often. Come to think of it, I think the happiness guru mentioned doing just that. I was at work at the time, so maybe some of the details got lost in translation a bit.
This happiness guru never gave a time limit on when these things were supposed to start happening. I sure as fuck hoped it would be soon. That steak looked so good. If one of the people behind the glass needed a kidney, I’d trade mine for the steak. As far as I knew, both of mine were in pretty good shape.
Besides, why keep two when you only need one? In light of the prospect, I wasn’t a gluttonous person, and if someone needed my assistance in return for a good meal—just once in my life—I was there for it.Yesterday.
“Hey!”
I turned around at the sound of the voice, holding tighter to the straps of my old leather backpack. Normally I wouldn’t have turned around, but the voice was close and the reflection in the glass seemed to be staring right at me.
“You talkin’ to me?” I said.
“Yeah,” he said. “Get the fuck away from here. You’re scaring our customers. Staring in the glass like some wide-eyed bug that needs to be squashed.”
Even though his words stung me to my core, because I knew that he knew I was dreaming of the food behind the glass and had no means to even enjoy a burger from some fast-food joint, much less this five-star restaurant, I squared my shoulders and narrowed my eyes against his. “You and what army are going to make me?”
“You don’t move along, I’m going to have security escort you to a place you might find more your speed. The dumpsters.”
If I had any fucks left to give, I would’ve certainly given one to that underhanded crack. “I’m doing nothing wrong! I’m trying to decide if I want to come in for a bite or not.”Lie. “But seeing as your restaurant is probably full of rodents like yourself, I thinkI’llpass.”
And to think I was willing to give a kidney for one of his crummy steaks. I needed to up my standards some before thoughts like that took hold and appeared in my journal. Who knew when that shit was going to come true? I’d probably end up owing this asshole a kidney for a steak.
He doubled over and belly laughed. Then he stopped suddenly and pointed behind me. “I’m not going to tell you again, Dumpster Princess. Get the fuck out of here or—”
The words died in his throat as an expensive black car drove up to the restaurant and parked in front of it like he owned the place. Like he was king of the world. I couldn’t tell if the driver was a he or a she, but something about the entire scene screamed male. Followed bydominance.
I thought about walking before the mysterious man stepped out, but since he had silenced Smart Mouth, I waited to see how this was going to play out.
Smart Mouth almost ran to the fancy car and greeted the man—he was a man.Smart Mouth’s voice was eager to please, the exact opposite of how he’d spoken to me.
Smart Mouth chattered on as the man stepped onto the sidewalk and headed straight to the door of the restaurant. I wasn’t aware of many men, but this one… Not going to lie, I couldn’t look away from.
Under what was no doubt a custom-made suit, he probably had more muscles than I could count. He was tall with wide shoulders, jet-black hair, and golden skin. His nose was angular, as was the shape of his face. His lips were full. I wished I could see his eyes, but they were hidden underneath a pair of sunglasses that were probably worth more than I’d see in more than three years.
I could smell his cologne—citrus and a hint of sandalwood—and it seemed like a breath of fresh air in this city full of too many people and too many dumpsters. He smelled the way I imagined the ocean did, an exotic place to get lost in. He walked with so much swagger, I was convinced that he was the owner of the restaurant. Maybe even the sidewalk.
Smart Mouth opened the door to the restaurant for the man in the suit, and before they both stepped inside, the man in the suit stopped. Two women in expensive dresses slid past him and Smart Mouth, who greeted them with a huge smile on his face and a hand welcoming them inside.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five seconds after the women had gone in to be seated, the man in the suit turned to me, and I released a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
Fucka me.He was even more attractive from that angle—full frontal. The only words that came to mind werehead-on collision with a massive wave out of nowhere. He’d take me out with a tide I couldn’t fight, since I had no idea how to swim, and then wreck me, his power enough to slam me up against a rock.
