“Ex-best friends,” she cut in, but no one seemed to hear.
“Do you mind if I join you?” Jace asked. “I’m starved.”
“Yes.” Elle gasped. “We mind.”
But again, no one freaking listened. Jace reached behind and pulled a chair over to the table. He frowned at the plates. “You’re not sharing? Isn’t that a rite of passage at a Thai restaurant?”
Art cleared his throat. “I don’t share.”
The humor in Jace’s eyes made Elle’s blood boil. He turned toward her. “That must have made you sad, Tink. You love sharing. What did you used to say? Sharing food is a love language?”
Art lifted his brows. “Tink?”
Jace lifted her fork and swirled some of her noodles onto the tines. “She used to wear this Tinker Bell chain on her bag at school. It was cute, and she kind of looked like a fairy, so she became Tink. To me, at least.”
Elle huffed. “We’re on adate, Jace.”
“Ah, yes, and how’s it going?” he asked, a frown between his brows as he ate her food.
Art pulled at the top of his collared shirt and opened his mouth, but Elle got in first.
“It’s going great. And I’d like you to leave.” A lie…well, the first part. And why the hell would Sadie have told him she was here?
“Great? Really? That’s awesome.” Jace lifted her glass of wine and took a sip before looking at Art. “What do you do, Art? Accountant? Broker? Lawyer?”
She ground her back teeth together.
“Lawyer,” Art said. He still hadn’t touched his food.
“Man, I’m good at picking these things. Like your job?”
Art’s mouth opened and closed. “Love it. I’m working my way up to a senior position.”
“I thought you looked ambitious. How are you going to get there, exactly?”
Elle wasn’t sure what she expected. Art had already let her down on every other front for this date. But for him to start eating his food as he told Jace about his work goals, repeating everything he’d just said to her,stillsurprised her.
Un-freaking-believable.
She snatched her wine from Jace’s hold and gulped down the rest. She was definitely going to need a third. Maybe a fourth, depending on how long this three-way date lasted.
CHAPTER 10
“Thanks for a great night. We should do it again some time,” Art said to Elle before turning to Jace. “Feel free to join. We could all go out for a beer.”
Jace grinned at the guy. “I’ll get your number from Elle.”
Elle rolled her eyes before giving Art a tight smile that didn’t come close to reaching her eyes. She was mad, but then, Jace had known she would be.
“I’ll message you,” she said through gritted teeth.
Art stepped forward and leaned down, only to have Elle turn her head so that his kiss landed on her cheek. Even that was almost more than Jace could stomach.
Then Art turned to him and held out his hand. “Thanks for joining us. It was great to chat.”
Jace shook his hand. “You too, man.”
Art turned and walked down the street. Jace didn’t even get a chance to look at Elle before she swung around in the opposite direction and started marching away from him. He caught up easily, shoving his hands into his pockets.
