Chapter 4 #2
She takes a deep breath and then turns to me with a bright smile. “This is perfect, Kane. I’ve never been here before, so it’ll be nice to see what everyone’s been talking about.”
As soon as I open the car door, Jess moves to get out, but I put my hand on her arm to stop her. “I’ll come around for you. Okay?”
I could say it’s just good manners, like my dad always taught me. Tried and true standbys like always opening the door for a woman and making sure to walk on the outside of the sidewalk so she’s more protected.
I could say it’s for safety, making sure I’m right beside Jess in case of an unexpected threat.
Both would be true.
But I also like taking her hand to help her out of the car.
I like the feel of my hand on her back again.
And I really like the way she leans into me as we walk towards the restaurant, her shoulder and hip brushing against mine.
Once we’re inside, the hostess greets us with an automatic smile that immediately fades when her eyes light on Jess. “Jessica,” the hostess—Samantha, according to her name tag—says. “What a surprise seeing you here.”
Jess flinches. Her body stiffens. “Hi, Sam,” she replies quietly. “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine.” Samantha narrows her eyes at Jess. “But then again, I don’t have anything to feel guilty about.” Her gaze jumps to me and then back to my date. “Does he know? What you did?”
A quick glance at Jess shows her obvious discomfort. Her cheeks are bright red again, and her teeth are digging hard into her lower lip.
There’s a weird dynamic going on here; one I don’t understand. But I know I don’t like it.
Looping my arm around Jess, I tug her against my side.
Then I pin Samantha with my best I’m a police officer and don’t mess with me glare and say, “Our table , please?” Then in a slightly lower tone, I add, “And you might want to try being more polite to your customers. I’d hate to have to speak to the owner about one of his employees. ”
Samantha’s face goes from tan to the shade of lobster in a blink. She grabs two menus and takes a few stuttering steps away from the hostess stand before motioning for us to follow. “Of course. Right this way, please.”
All the way to our table, I keep my arm around Jess’s waist. Not just because I like touching her, which I do, but because of this intense need to protect her from any kind of threat—whether it’s from a would-be attacker or an unpleasant hostess who was rude to her.
Jess keeps glancing up at me with an indecipherable expression in her eyes. It doesn’t look angry, like she’s upset about me interfering. But it doesn’t look happy, either.
Again, I wonder if I screwed something up.
My mom always complains that I’m too overbearing. “I know you mean well, Kane. But don’t assume women always want your help. Ask first. She might actually want to do it herself.”
But that hostess was being rude to Jess. Upsetting her. And Jess wasn’t sticking up for herself. What was I supposed to do, just stand there and do nothing?
Still. I can’t help worrying that my mom might be right, and I’ve messed up the date before it’s even gotten started.
Once we’re seated at the table—which is actually just where I’d hoped it would be when I made the reservation, tucked into the corner beside one of the fireplaces—I touch Jess’s hand again and ask, “Was that okay? What I said before? I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Surprise flickers in her eyes. “Upset me? You ?”
“Yeah.” I take a sip of the ice water already waiting at the table. “For what I said to the hostess. I probably should have let you handle it. But she pissed me off. I didn’t like hearing her talk to you that way.”
Jess regards me for a moment. Tiny lines form between her brows.
Just as I’m thinking she really is mad at me, her face blossoms into a smile. And not the tight, fake one she gave Samantha, but a real one. Pink touches her cheeks as she says, “Maybe this doesn’t sound like the politically correct thing to say. But… I liked it.”
“What I said to her?”
Her small fingers lace between mine. “That you defended me. I’m not very good at standing up for myself. I should be by my age, but I’m not. So it was nice. Knowing that you had my back.”
As I look into Jess’s wide hazel eyes, I can see the truth in her words. And the trust she’s giving me by opening up about something she considers a weakness.
My heart lurches drunkenly in my chest.
I always want to have her back.
It’s irrational, feeling this way already. We’re barely half an hour into our first official date. Far too soon to be thinking about a future with Jess.
Then she smiles at me again, and I’m not so sure.
“So.” She unfolds her napkin and drapes it over her lap. “You mentioned rock climbing the other day. Is that something you do a lot?”
Right. Normal date conversation .
“Not a lot,” I reply. “But I’ve always liked activities like that. Hiking. Kayaking. Skiing.”
“And winter hiking, right?” Jess leans forward, her features lit with interest. “I remember you mentioning that before. Isn’t it dangerous, though? Hiking through all the ice and snow? And if you get stuck up there…”
“I’m really careful.” Pulling up my sleeve, I show her my Garmin smartwatch. “I have GPS tracking on my watch, plus I have a satellite locator that I carry in my backpack. So if I do get stuck, I can call for help.”
Jess brushes a finger across my watch, and the instant she touches my wrist, another zip of heat hits me. “That’s cool. But what about if you’re stuck on the top of the mountain, waiting for help?”
“I have an emergency blanket. And a tent. Plus a waterproof lighter so I can start a fire if I need to. But usually, I go up with someone else. My buddy, Dave. Finn, from Blade and Arrow. Or if Oliver’s not busy with Shea, he might come.”
“Oh. Okay.” She lets out a little sigh of relief. “Maybe it’s silly. But I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
As her words sink in, it’s like a boot slamming into my chest.
She wants to make sure I’m safe.
Aside from my mom, I can’t remember any woman saying that to me. And it feels a heck of a lot different coming from Jess.
It feels like a spark kindling into a flame, warming me from the inside.
Just as I’m about to ask her if she’d like to go on a short winter hike sometime, maybe just through Rockefeller Park or one of the smaller peaks in the Catskills, our server comes over to take our drink order.
Fortunately, he’s not rude like the hostess, so Jess’s smile is still intact when he leaves.
But something I’ve noticed whenever she talks to someone is the way her hand twitches up to her neck. Covering the scars there, at my best guess, though I wish she didn’t feel like she had to.
I’ve noticed them, of course—a pattern of faded pink hash marks on her neck and jaw.
I don’t know where they came from and I haven’t asked.
If she wants to tell me, I’ll listen, but they’re not something I think about.
Scars have never been something that drew my attention.
They’re just a part of our history, like the jagged scar on my leg from that time I fell out of a tree in middle school, or the puckered crease I got on my arm after a guy we were arresting took a shot at me.
But I get the feeling there’s more to Jess’s story than mine. Could I do some research to try and find out? Sure. Thanks to the police databases, I can find out pretty much anything I want. But that’s not how I want to find out. I want Jess to feel comfortable telling me herself.
Her hand is still hovering in the vicinity of her neck, and without thinking, I capture it with mine.
Surprise moves across her face, but she doesn’t pull her hand away.
“Did I mention how beautiful you look tonight?” I ask. “Because you do. I just wanted to make sure I told you.”
The cutest smile curves her lips; hesitant but pleased. “You did. But you can say it again.”
With a grin, I repeat, “You look beautiful, Jess. And I’m really glad you agreed to come on a date with me. ”
Our server approaches again, this time with our drinks in hand. He places Jess’s glass of Pinot in front of her, then sets down my bottle of beer. We make a quick toast, clinking glasses with a shared smile, and then I reach for her hand again, threading her fingers between mine.
“After dinner,” I start, “are you still going to show me your game?”
Jess blushes again. And shit, it really is the cutest thing. “Do you still want to? I wasn’t sure if you changed your mind.”
“Of course I want to see it. If it’s something you enjoy, I’d like to know more about it.”
“Well. I did install all the updates on the laptop,” she says. “So if you wanted, I could show you my character, and then you could make one yourself. And I could show you around some of the easier zones. Maybe take you on a simple quest.”
“Zones?”
“Yeah.” Enthusiasm brightens her expression.
“So there are zones in the game. Each one is a different… theme, I guess. There are ones with forests, deserts, dungeons, cities… and they’re geared for different levels.
So my character, she’s maxed out at the highest level.
So she can go pretty much anywhere. But for you, I’d take you to a starter zone.
So you wouldn’t get killed by the NPCs right away. ”
“What are NPCs?”
“Non-player characters,” she explains. “They’re the monsters you have to kill on the quests.
Or when I’m with my guild—” Jess stops. Her smile wavers.
“Is that lame? That I have a guild and go on hours-long quests? I know most women my age are out doing social things. Or they’re taking care of kids. Or?—”
“It’s not lame at all. I think it’s really interesting.” Pausing, I take a small swig of beer. “And if you’re playing with other people, isn’t that social, too?”
Her lips lift again. “It is. Some of the people in my guild; we’ve been playing together for years. I’ve never met anyone in person, but it feels like I have. Like there’s this woman, Hazel, who lives in Vermont. She’s great. We keep talking about meeting up, but it’s just never seemed to happen.”
Before my eyes, hesitant Jess has been replaced by a confident one, bubbling with enthusiasm for a game she obviously enjoys.
And I like it. A lot.
This is the Jess I see when it’s just us talking.
Sweet Jess who worries about my safety while I’m hiking.
Thoughtful Jess who baked cookies to thank me for setting up her security system, even though I insisted she didn’t need to do anything.
Intelligent Jess, who just got a promotion and talks proudly about her job, explaining how good it feels to know that her work as a medical technologist actually helps people.
Eager to keep her going, I say, “So, your character. If she’s the highest level, she must be pretty kick ass. What can she do?”
Jess leans even closer to me, close enough to see the flecks of gold and amber in her eyes and the adorable dimple in her right cheek.
“She’s an undead rogue. So Nyx—that’s her name—focuses on stealth and close-up damage.
She can sneak up on an NPC and stab them in the back before they realize she’s there. ”
“Nyx?”
“Yeah.” Pink tinges her cheeks again. “Nyx is the Greek goddess of night. So I thought it was fitting. She’s beautiful, can travel through shadows, and she’s supposed to be more powerful than Zeus. I thought that was cool.”
“It is,” I agree. “And I like it. Nyx.”
Somehow, it fits her. Not because I think Jess is sneaky. But she’s beautiful. Strong, though I have a feeling she wouldn’t agree. But I don’t know many people who could have held it together considering the threats thrown at them nearly as well as Jess.
And somehow, she crept into my daily thoughts without me even realizing.
“So you want to try it?” she asks. “ Tenebris Veil ? After dinner?”
As I look across the table at her, my heart does another drunken flip.
And I know I’d say yes to just about anything if it means I get to spend more time with her.
“Yes.” I hold her gaze, memorizing the joy blossoming across her face. “I would love to.”