Ah, hell, his dick twitched, and those old, familiar feelings of guilt washed over him. But Alexa was at least twenty-five now, and a four-year age gap was no longer the problem it had once been. She was a strong, independent businesswoman, not a child. This time, he wouldn’t walk away.
Couldn’t, even if he wanted to.
“Honestly, I’m not sure whether I should commiserate or congratulate you.”
She laughed quietly. A little nervously, maybe. “Chase and I met in a bar in Antigua. I was waiting for a table, and some creep kept buzzing around like an overgrown mosquito. Chase sat next to me and pretended we knew each other. It turned out he was between modelling jobs and looking for part-time work, so I offered him twenty bucks an hour to sit close by each evening and make sure nobody bothered me. We just clicked, you know?”
“I’m glad you found him.”
“I don’t like being on my own,” she said. “But I don’t much like people either. It’s a quandary.”
Nolan flashed her a grin. “But you like me.”
“Sometimes. When you’re not being annoying.”
“Okay, this is a date,” he decided. “I want that first, and I swear I’ll be a gentleman.”
She didn’t say anything, just picked at a bread roll, but he thought he caught a hint of a smile. That turned into a grimace when the douche in the blue golf shirt began berating the server.
“I ordered a rare steak. Rare. What do you call this?”
“Sir, I’m sorry. Let me?—”
“Bring me a fresh one, and make it fast. We waited twenty minutes for our drinks, and time is money.”
“Time is money?” Nolan muttered. “It’s a damn birthday party.”
Alexa slipped her hand out of his. “Some people put limits on joy.”
“I’ll g-g-go speak with the chef,” the server stuttered.
“You do that. I could buy this whole damn restaurant and fire you if I wanted to.”
The men at his table looked on admiringly, but several of the women slid lower in their seats. Alexa just shook her head.
“Ten bucks says he couldn’t buy the restaurant,” she said.
“A lot of rich folks own property in these parts,” Nolan told her. “They drive up on the weekends and act like this.”
“Real money is quiet.” She pushed back her chair and picked up her tote. “I left something in the truck.”
“Alexa, wait…” But it was no good; she’d already disappeared out the door.
CHAPTER 18
NOLAN
Whatever the reason Alexa had gone outside, it wasn’t to fetch something from the truck, because Nolan still had the key. For several uncomfortable minutes, he’d been afraid she wouldn’t come back. That she’d call a cab or Chase and disappear. But she returned before their meal was served and sat down as though nothing had happened, and he did his best to make small talk while they ate the chef’s special—Italian dim sum. Lasagne ravioli, meatball sub bao buns, nests of spaghetti carbonara. The server apologised a hundred times for keeping them waiting, and at one point, she was wiping away tears. Nolan gave her a clean bandana, and Alexa told her the delay didn’t matter, they were enjoying their date.
Their date.
She’d accepted it.
Put the past aside and accepted he was back in her life.
Nolan didn’t know what the future held, but he wanted her to be a part of his.
“How long will you stay?” he asked as she cracked the top on a miso vanilla crème brûlée, a combination that shouldn’t have worked but did.
