Destiny led the way to the restaurant. Mike’s long legs easily keeping pace with her. Without thinking she looped her arm around his. His hands were in his pockets so handholding was out. Wait, should she have asked? Why was she being so nervous, second-guessing everything. She preferred being oblivious to their chemistry. It didn’t seem so hard between them back then. It felt more natural. Destiny could just think of him as a friend. A friend she wanted a lot more from than just friendship, but this was a step in the right direction.
“How did your meeting go, or are you not allowed to talk about it?”
“It was fine. Typical meeting.” Destiny noticed a sheen a sweat on Mike’s forehead. He looked as nervous as she felt.
“Oh.” It wasn’t like she wanted state secrets or anything, but something more than typical would have been nice. She tried to think of another subject that would get him to talk more. Since she had known him for a few months now she already knew about the basics. She knew about his family and where he grew up.
Oh, she knew one subject that usually got him talking. His coworkers. They were closer than family. Every time he mentioned them, Mike lit up. She was bummed she had never met them. As much as Mike talked about them, she felt like she already knew them, but never once had Mike introduced them. She knew Ben hosted barbeques at his house all the time, but never once had she received an invite.
“How’s Olivia settling in now that she’s not on the run anymore?” Olivia’s ex used her job to import drugs and weapons into the country. Olivia had feared for her and her daughter, Ivy, so she fled New York and settled here in Fort Irwin to keep off-grid. Unfortunately her ex tracked her down, but a team of people, who remained nameless, intervened. Destiny had an idea of who was responsible for that. Now that she was safe with her name cleared and found love with Heath, she decided to stay.
“She’s good. Heath helped her get a job on base. Ivyis doing great in school, too. She misses the big city sometimes, but she has a great friend here so it keeps her out of trouble.”
Destiny could only imagine the trouble two teenagers could get into in a small town. “That’s good. It’s easy getting bored and looking for trouble.” Not that Grandma would have let her. Nor had she wanted to. Destiny had been busy studying and cooking with Edna. She had never felt the rebellious teenager streak. She always did what she was told. Never stayed out past curfew. Grandma had trusted her with her freedom and Destiny had never abused that privilege. Grandma had always given her a choice instead of forcing her, which was quite contradictory to her cutthroat ways in the boardroom where she was master of her universe and expected everyone to follow her rules.
“I can’t imagine a sweet little thing like you getting into a lot of trouble.”
What? Sweet little thing? “Ah nope, I was pretty boring.” When most of the men you dated were only interested in your bank account it didn’t inspire much dating. Same went for friends. People wanted to hang out with her for a status symbol, not because they liked her.
“I find that hard to believe.” He leaned closer to her almost knocking her into a couple walking past them.
“Sorry,” she called to them. “Well you shouldn’t. I didn’t go out a lot. I was either at Grandma’s house,” which was more of a mansion, but he didn’t need to know that, “or at the library.”
“Decoding?” he teased, wagging his eyebrows. Okay, seriously, what was wrong with him? This was not normal behavior for him. If he was trying to irritate her and get out of the date he should never have said yes. Not act like a weirdo with winks and eyebrow wags.
Destiny shrugged. “What can I say, it was always a gift. For my birthday, Grandma would have staff hide stuff around the house and leave me clues and puzzles to find it.”
“That sounds like torture, but I’m sure you enjoyed it. You’re very smart.”
“Thanks. It was fun for me. Finding the gift was half as much fun as being able to play with it. Grandma saw I had a passion for it so she introduced me to others who enjoyed it. I fell in love with it even more. We would even send each other coded letters in the mail. Now I get to make a career out it.”
“It’s not often someone gets to do their passion for a living. And you are a passionate woman.” There was that wink again.
Okay that was it. “Mike, what’s going on?” She asked, stopping in her tracks. People made some comments as they blocked the sidewalk, but she didn’t care. Mike was acting strange and she was worried about him. She couldn’t be certain, but she felt like he was flirting. She guessed it was flirting. That or he was having a medical emergency. He could be dehydrated. That made people act funny didn’t it?
“Nothing,” he said quickly. Too quickly.
“You’ve been acting strange since you picked me up.” She licked her suddenly dry lips. “It’s not because of the kiss, is it?”
“No.” His eyes widened in shock.
“With all the over-the-top compliments, eyebrow wags, and eye winks, I don’t know what to think,” she said honestly. If he had been flirting it was unlike any flirting she had ever seen before.
Mike’s whole body drooped. “I’m making a mess of this.”
Destiny guided them to the side of the sidewalk so they didn’t block the path any more. “Talk to me, please.” She wanted to understand what he was thinking. If he was just nervous, she could work with that. She was, too. But if it was something else, she wanted to face it head-on. She had been the one to ask him out and initiated their first kiss. If he wasn’t ready for all this, all he had to do was say so. She could be patient-ish.
“I was trying to be flirtatious.”
So she was right.
“I’ve seen a lot of my friends flirt with girls in the bar and…I don’t know, I thought it might make you like me more.”
Oh, this sweet man. If she wasn’t already in love with him she’d fall head over heels in this moment.
Destiny stepped closer to him, breathing deeply his earthy scent, and placed a hand over his chest. “I like you as you are, Mike. I don’t need flirting and false compliments. I love your honesty and you just being you. Please don’t change that. It’s what I lo-ike most about you.” She really needed to watch her tongue. She almost said the L-word. That usually sent men running. Especially ones you hadn’t even had a real date with yet.
Mike nodded placing his hand over hers and giving her a lopsided grin. “That’s what Ben said, too.” Destiny had heard stories about him. He used to be quite the ladies man in their group. A few of them were like that. Ben had made it into a sport. Taking bets how many women he could lure into his bed. That was until he reconnected with his first love, Hannah. Now he was a one-woman man.
