“I’m not doing it.”
I held back the grin that threatened to spread across my mouth.
“I’m not, Rowen.” He huffed. “Now take me somewhere nice, damn it. Woo me like one of your French girls.”
“Did ye just—”Quote Titanic with your own spin on it?I didn’t bother finishing the question, rather just shook my head at him with a groan. God help me with this man. I was going to need every bit of willpower I had.
5
FALLON
Dröm,the Midtown restaurant that Rowen ushered me into, made me feel underdressed, and that was putting things mildly. The tables were covered in shocking white tablecloths with dangling pink glass chandeliers over each one. There weren’t any TVs playing sports, and all the people having lunch talked like they had a mouth full of feathers, as if we were in some sort of library, with the occasional tinkling laugh rising above the hum.
No, this was one of those types of restaurants where I was supposed to have a conversation with my date, and that was normally fine, but what could I say to Rowen? He was kind of like Vail, in that I knew he was smarter than me, or at least, it felt that way, and while Vail thought all my flirting was cute—hell, I would even say he found me adorable—I sometimes got the feeling Rowen wished I would just... sort of act like an adult. I sucked in a deep breath and looked over my shoulder at the revolving door we’d just walked through.
Before I could get my shit together to ask Rowen if he wanted to maybe find someplace where I wasn’t likely to embarrass him, since I didn’t have on a suit jacket and tie, a man who was probably about my dad’s age in a plum suit came forward with two long pieces of paper in his hand, and he gave one each to me and Rowen. The light above us gleamed on his bald head.
Rowen perused the menu, and I glanced at it, frowning.
“These are some odd choices. Fluke and melon?” I grinned at the man, and he was quick to smile back.
“Yes, the restaurant is Swedish and the chef makes choices based on what is popular at home.” The lilt in the man’s accent made me think he was also Scandinavian.
I nodded.
“That’s the menu for the day. They’re the courses.” He smiled again.
“Ye don’t get to choose, tater tot.” Rowen winked at me.
“That is not going to be my nickname,” I snarked.
He only grinned and waggled his eyebrows at me. “I think it has stuck.”
“It hasn’t,” I was quick to fire back with a grin. I took a deep breath. Okay, maybe I could do this. I’d eaten out at nice places with my parents and brothers, just never with a man I was interested in. I tried to take even breaths as we were led to one of those fancy tables.
Rowen came around to my side and pulled out my chair, and I’d done things like that for my mom in the past to be polite. My face heated and I didn’t know what to do, but Vail would’ve probably just thanked Rowen, so I nodded at him while my body tingled, then sat.
He chuckled and pushed my chair in. “We’re celebrating yer good news and ye’re looking handsome today. Thank ye for letting me do this. I know it’s likely not yer thing, but I enjoy being kind to the men I find interesting.” He went around to his side of the table.
“I assume you mean as more than friends?”
He winked, and our conversation was interrupted by a cute server with flushed pink cheeks who rushed over to us.
“Wine, gentlemen?” He smiled between us.
“No, not right now. Bit early for us on that. I’d like tea if ye have something palatable. Fallon?” He blinked at me.
“Uh, unsweetened iced tea would be fine,” I said, since Rowen gave me a long look and I didn’t feel like ruining what was happening with some sort of lecture.
The server smiled and hustled away.
I picked up my napkin and there was a silver ring around the white cloth. I chuckled and pulled the ring off the fabric, then twirled it around my pointer finger.
“You know, this reminds me of a cock ring,” I said with a snicker. The ring went sailing and landed on a table near ours. The women over there tittered as I waved at them, and one tossed it back. Rowen caught the ring, snatching it out of the air ahead of my hand, and he set it near his plate.
Grinning, I rested my elbows on the table. “Sorry.”
“Ye’re always a handful. I should’ve known.”
