Page 171 of A Dangerous Kind of Love

Michael leans back against the bench with a sigh. He reaches for my hand and tugs me closer until I’m standing between his knees.

“See?” I tell him. “You’re surviving.”

“Barely, Doll. Barely.”

Almost exactly thirty minutes later, “Sarah, party of four. Sarah, party of four,” crackles over the speaker.

We all stand and follow the host through the crowded restaurant. Michael keeps one hand at my lower back the entire way to the table. The host stops beside a table near the back. Michael pulls the chair out for me before taking his own seat beside me.

“Your server will be right with you,” the host says with a polite smile before disappearing back toward the front.

Across from us, Sarah and Luca are practically vibrating trying not to laugh. Michael, meanwhile, looks deeply uncomfortable. He adjusts his chair twice, smooths his napkin across his lap, and glances around the restaurant.

I reach over and rest my hand on his knee.

He looks at me. “What?”

“Thank you,” I say softly.

The tension in his face eases just a little. His hand comes up to my cheek, brushing one of my curls behind my ear.

“Anything for you, Doll.”

Right then, a waitress appears beside the table holding a stack of menus.

“Welcome to Olive Garden,” she says brightly.

Michael closes his eyes for a long moment while Luca completely loses his shit laughing beside him.

Chapter 61

Michael

“So,” Katie says as she settles into the SUV. “How was it?”

I stare straight ahead. I don’t want to answer because answering means admitting that Olive fucking Garden was good. I’ll have to admit the breadsticks were incredible, and that I’m already thinking about the leftover shrimp fettuccine alfredo sitting in the takeout container in the SUV’s tiny refrigerator.

“It was okay,” I say.

Sarah bursts out laughing. “Oh my God. Don’t be a little bitch. Just admit you loved it.”

I glance at her in the rearview mirror. “I said it was fine.”

That only makes her and Luca laugh harder.

Katie leans across the center console with a grin. “It’s okay, babe. You can eat your leftovers in secret.”

I shake my head. “Let’s just go watch your dumbass movie.”

She smiles and falls back against the passenger seat. “Okay.”

I get my satisfaction once we’re inside the theater and Katie nearly climbs into my lap the second someone gets murdered onscreen. She swears she loves horror movies, but I’m starting to think she actually just enjoys being terrified. Most of the movie is spent with her face buried against my shoulder while I hold popcorn she’s too distracted to eat.

“Doll,” I whisper, amused, “his death was incredibly avoidable.”

“Shut up.”

“He literally walked into a dark classroom alone.”