“Sorry,” Shanna said to the waiter.
“Oh, there’s no need for you to apologize. Best you can do is enjoy your food!” He gave them all a nod, shot Shanna a brilliant white smile, and went back inside.
Chris dug into her pancakes without a word, while Simon followed the guy with a cloudy gaze, glanced briefly at Shanna, then started on his pizza.
“You put pineapple on it?” Chris mumbled through a mouth full of pancakes and whipped cream. “You disappoint me.”
“How will I ever recover,” Simon responded in a flat tone, very similar to Chris.
“No wonder you don’t want to go on a date with him,” Chris said.
Simon choked on the latest bite of pizza. “You what?”
“It’s not like that!” Shanna sent what she hoped was an angry glance to Chris. “Gran said I had to go on a date. It’s one of the conditions for the bonding ritual.”
“You …” Simon put a fist in front of his mouth and gradually coughed off his surprise. “You need to go on a date. That’s a bizarre condition.”
“Well, you wouldn’t know much about witchcraft,” Shanna said, feeling the need to defend Gran. Not that it was Gran’s fault; she was just following a book.
Simon rolled his slice of pizza and took a big bite. “So, when are you going?”
“I don’t know.” She lifted her chin. “I haven’t decided yet.” It was a strange feeling, being hostile to him—but something about his nonchalant tone annoyed her. Of course, she’d decided it was better he didn’t kiss her, and she was definitely not going on a date with him. It was self-preservation.
“Do you need to do it before the ritual?” Simon continued in his annoying tone.
“Yup.” Shanna’s cutlery screeched against the plate as she cut her pizza. In the uncomfortable silence, it felt like nails on a chalkboard.
After a minute of continuous quiet torture—Shanna could see that Simon was bothered, but he stubbornly kept his gaze on his pizza—Chris was the one to speak up.
“Can you two stop with the unresolved sexual tension? It’s ruining my pancake experience.”
Simon and Shanna burst into simultaneous defenses.
“I didn’t do anything!”
“What sexual tension?”
“There’s no sexual tension between us!”
Chris looked from one to the other. “Uh-huh. That’s why you two went skinny dipping yesterday.”
“I was not naked,” Simon said at the same time as Shanna went, “That’s adult business, and it doesn’t mean sexual tension.”
“Exactly!” Simon pointed to her, still clutching his knife. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Sure,” Chris drawled. “And you definitely don’t want to go on a date together.”
“No!” they once again said in unison. Shanna lowered her eyebrows. They needed to stop …matchingso well.
“I have nothing against Shanna going on dates.” Simon disguised his tone by stuffing more pizza into his mouth. “In fact, she can go on a date right now, if she wants to.”
Shanna straightened up, a twinge of annoyance pinging in her stomach. “Maybe I will go on a date right now.”
“Yeah, you should.”
“I should!” She stood, putting her hands on her hips. Her confidence wavered when she realized she had no candidates. Unless …
The Maori guy had exited the restaurant, waving at someone inside, his server’s apron off. Shanna would never be as audacious, but her wounded pride would not allow her to sit back down. She didn’t need Simon for a date! She was a fine, reasonably—perhaps—attractive woman, and she could get a date if she wanted to.
