The compliment shouldn’t have meant a thing to her—not with all the history between them—but Karissa had to admit that it affected her anyway as heat swirled in her middle, then spread throughout her body.
“Jerome will meet you on the forty-ninth floor,” Deven said, leaning into one of the elevators to swipe a key card and push a button before stepping back out so Karissa and Hale could step inside. Before the doors could close, he reached out and handed them two tiny earbuds. “These will let you monitor the security comm channel, but no one will be able to eavesdrop on your conversation until you double-tap the bud. In case you want to have a littlepersonal time.”
As the elevator doors slid closed, her brother winked at them. Seriously. He actually winked!
“Deven has more personality than I remember,” Hale remarked as the elevator quickly rose. “He used to be so quiet.”
“Well, hewasonly eight years old at the time,” she pointed out. “And rather focused on videogames. So unless you could pontificate for hours on the intricacies of Sonic the Hedgehog, I don’t think he was very interested in anything you had to say.”
Hale nodded. “That makes sense. He definitely seems to be taking to this whole private security gig, considering that he’s only eighteen. I get the feeling he knows what he’s doing when it comes to the tech support side of things.”
Karissa found herself smiling, feeling a silly sense of pride. “Heisreally good at it. To the point that I like being in the field with Deven way more than with any of my other brothers. We work well together, and I like spending time with him.”
The elevator door opened before Hale could say anything and then Jerome Guerrero was there to meet them. As she and Hale stepped out, Karissa made the introductions.
“Glad to meet you,” the chief of security said, leading the two of them across the main section of the restaurant that clearly took up a good portion of this level of the building. “When Deven mentioned who would be joining you this evening, I took the liberty of doing a background check. You have an impressive résumé, especially given your family history. Good to have you on the team.”
Hale didn’t respond as they continued moving across the restaurant. Karissa knew about Hale’s family and their dodgy history and could onlyassume that’s what Jerome was talking about. Still, she felt a little embarrassed for her former boyfriend. She knew what it was like to be completely defined by one’s family—for good or ill.
The Monarch was a beautiful establishment, with a tray ceiling, graceful chandeliers, and small lamps providing an intimate ambiance to the well-spaced booths and tables. In almost every direction, the large floor-to-ceiling windows presented a stunning view of the downtown Dallas skyline, which was currently being lit up in warm orange and pink as the sun began to set. The view was as incredible and perfect as the restaurant itself.
“We thought this booth would allow you to be close enough to Patterson’s table to be there if needed, but far enough away so the boss doesn’t feel like you’re crowding him,” Jerome said, covertly motioning with his head in the direction of a big table near the center of this section of the restaurant. Karissa didn’t recognize most of the people there, but she knew money when she saw it.
“This table is perfect,” she murmured, scanning the rest of the people around them, immediately spotting the other members of Patterson’s security team. Some were dressed as waitstaff, but most were sitting at tables like her and Hale, playing the part of customers. “We’ll take it from here.”
Jerome nodded and handed them a set of menus Karissa hadn’t even noticed he was carrying, thenwalked away like he was simply another maître d’ at the expensive restaurant.
“You honestly think we need to worry about the hit man making a move in a place this public?” Hale asked as he reviewed the menu.
“Probably not,” she admitted. “But I’d rather not take any chances. Especially since we don’t know that much about the man. And by the way, don’t worry about the prices. Dinner is on my client, so order whatever you want.”
“While I like the sound of that, having someone else pay for dinner kind of ruins the first-date mystique,” he said. “It seems ungentlemanly.”
Karissa snorted out a laugh. “Who says this is a date? And even if it is, since when did we ever worry about who paid? I tend to remember both of us having to raid our piggy banks to come up with enough cash the first time we went out together.”
Hale smiled at the memory, the expression bringing an inexplicable burst of warmth to her chest, and for a moment, Karissa almost believed they truly were out on a date like that night more than a decade ago when they’d slipped away to be together.
“We ended up having to go to Dairy Queen because it was the only place close enough to get to on our bikes,” he said with a soft chuckle. “And if I remember correctly, we shared a basket of chicken strips and fries so we’d have enough money for each of us to get a Blizzard.”
Karissa told herself it was ancient history, that none of it mattered. But that didn’t keep snapshots of that night from flashing through her head and making her smile.
“We ate those Blizzards so fast I thought my brain would freeze,” she said, remembering the pain fondly. “And then we ended up staying at that table outside for hours talking. We didn’t leave until they chased us off at midnight, remember?”
“Oh, I remember. Your parents were so pissed at me when we rolled up in your front yard,” Hale said, his grin slipping a little. “I thought your dad was going to shoot me.”
“Well, Iwasonly a freshman in high school, and twelve thirty was way past my curfew,” Karissa said with a laugh, but then stopped when she realized Hale probably hadn’t been kidding about that last part. “Dad really wouldn’t have shot you. You know that, right?”
“I’m not so sure about that,” he said softly, turning his attention back to the menu. “He never thought much of me from day one and taking his daughter out on a date without him knowing about it was just another strike against me.”
“I told him it was my idea,” she insisted.
Her father hadn’t cared about that, though. Her opinion hadn’t counted for much back then. Actually, it didn’t count for much now.
They were interrupted before they could do anyintrospection about their first date by the arrival of their server, forcing Karissa to take a quick scan of the menu she hadn’t even perused yet.
“Hmm, no chicken strips with fries so I guess we’ll have to make do with whatever they have.” Hale glanced at her. “Ladies first?”
Karissa looked at the menu again, deciding to go with the Caesar salad, wood-grilled chicken, and a side of summer squash. It sounded relatively tame to her sensible ear, but the fact that her simple meal alone was going to cost Patterson almost sixty dollars—more with the wine the waiter recommended to go along with the chicken—still made her squirm a little. She didn’t mind spending someone else’s money, but truthfully, given a choice, she’d rather be back at DQ with a basket of finger food.
