Page 17

Sighing, my gaze wanders around the parking lot and when I still don’t see her or the red dress she told me she would be wearing, I pull my phone out of my pocket and check for another message from her but there are no notifications.

“Wyatt?”

My head jerks up and I blink in surprise as a leggy brunette walks toward me, her red sundress swishing back and forth with the sway of her hips and her dark hair tumbling over her shoulder. The red lipstick she’s wearing conjures up images of her on her knees in front of me and she flashes me a smile.

Fuck.

She’s gorgeous.

“You are Wyatt, aren’t you?” she asks, her voice a mixture of nerves and playfulness and I nod dumbly as I push off the wall and scoff at how completely hopeless I am.

“Yeah, I am. It’s really nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” she answers, her gaze raking over me slowly before she glances over at the door to the restaurant. “Shall we?”

Nodding, I close the distance between us and place my hand at the small of her back before leading her inside. We stop at the hostess stand and a teenage girl with braces smiles up at us.

“Name?”

“Landry,” I answer and she glances down, scanning her list for my reservation before nodding and grabbing two menus from the shelf behind her.

“Follow me, please.”

Violet peeks over her shoulder, a coy smile on her face and our eyes meet. A blush creeps up her cheeks as she turns away from me and my dick takes notice immediately. Okay, this is definitely going better than the last time. The hostess leads us to an intimate little table in the back and I smile, pulling Violet’s chair out for her before taking my own seat. After the hostess hands us the menus and promises to be back in a minute with a pitcher of water, I turn to Violet.

“So…” I mutter, my brain shorting out as I try to come up with something to say. She giggles and glances down at her menu before meeting my gaze again.

“I have this theory. You want to hear it?”

I nod. “Absolutely.”

“I think if something is awkward, like first dates,” she continues, motioning between us. “Then if you just say it’s awkward, you steal its power.”

“Ah, I see. So if I just say, ‘goddamn, first dates are awkward as hell’…”

She nods. “Then, viola, no more awkwardness.”

“You know what? I think it’s working,” I tell her with a laugh, feeling my body release some tension and she smiles as she leans forward and props her elbow on the table and resting her chin in her hand.

“See? Like magic.”

“I’m impressed.”

The hostess interrupts us before she can say anything else, dropping off a basket of rolls and a pitcher of water before assuring us our waitress will be by in a minute. Once she’s gone, Violet flashes me an expectant look.

“Give me one random fact about you, Wyatt.”

I arch a brow as my mind goes blank. “Uh, like what?”

“Too vague?” she asks and I nod. “Okay. How about this, what do you do for a living?”

“I’m a private investigator and a member of the Bayou Devils MC.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of you guys! You help women in domestic violence situations, right?”

I nod, grabbing a roll from the basket and slathering it in butter. “Yeah. What about you? What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a cosmetologist but I don’t really consider it work since I love it so much.”