Page 9

Ignoring him, I pull up the message from Shiloh.

Shiloh062:

Hey, handsome ;)

I’d love to get to know you more.

Are you free soon to go out?

WyattL23:

I’m free right now, actually.

Want to grab a cup of coffee?

“So…” Smith asks, leaning across the table to try and see my phone as I move it away from his gaze. “What did she say?”

“None of your damn business.”

“Aw, come on. Let me see the fruits of my labor.”

My phone buzzes with a notification and I scoop it up as I shake my head. There’s no way in hell I’m giving him the satisfaction of this. “No.”

Shiloh062:

I’d love to.

Just tell me where.

I send her the name and address of the cafe across the street and she replies back right away, telling me she’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Setting my phone back down on the table, I run my hands through my hair as my knee bounces. Smith smirks.

“Jesus, dude. You look like you’re about to shit a brick.”

I pin him with a glare. “Shut the fuck up. I’m going on this damn date, aren’t I?”

“When is she going to be here?” he asks, grabbing his fork and cutting off another piece of lasagna. I watch in fascination as he shoves the bite in his mouth and chews for a second before making a face and spitting it out on his plate. “Fuck! I forgot how bad that was.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“It’s not my fault, man. It’s sitting in front of me, looking and smelling like lasagna and I’m so fucking hungry that my brain blocked out how bad it is. Now, answer the question.”

I scowl. “What question are you talking about?”

“You know damn well what question I’m talking about. When is she going to be here?”

Rolling my eyes, I glance down at my watch. “Ten minutes.”

“And just to give me an idea of how screwed you are, when was the last time you went on an actual date?”

“Fuck you,” I spit, crossing my arms over my chest as I turn to look out the window. It pisses me the fuck off but he’s right. The last time I went on a real life date was when I was married to Piper, before I deployed and my whole world collapsed. Since then, if I did hook up with a girl, it was always casual, something just to fulfill a need and dating was never required.

“Holy shit, please tell me you’ve been on a date since she left you…”

“I said shut up, Smith,” I snap, interrupting him and he blows out a breath.

“Oh, this is such a bad idea.”

My gaze flicks to his and I glare. “Now you tell me this. Five minutes ago, you were calling me a pussy and egging me on.”