Chapter Twenty-nine — Trinity #2
“Can’t you just take jobs from people who aren’t dangerous?”
“I could, but the dangerous people pay more. Besides, I try to take jobs that won’t cause any harm or damage. Sometimes doing the right thing still makes enemies. Especially if you’re as good as I am.”
“And humble, too.”
He smirked. “No point in being humble when it’s the truth. I’m one of a handful of people in the world who can hack almost anything. Computers make sense to me. They always have.”
“Is that how you found out my sizes for everything? Hacking?”
Aiden scoffed. “As if I’d need that when I have eyes.”
“You can tell a woman’s size by sight?”
“I also held you,” he pointed out. Then he smiled and let me pull his hand into my lap so I could still hold it. “And I asked your friends through the DuPonts. They gave me hell for it, too.”
My laughter filled the car. “Okay, that makes more sense. I trust your eyes, but women’s clothing fucks with us on the best of days. You guys don’t have a chance.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
When I released his hand, he hesitated. “Is this all right?”
His hand hovered over my thigh, skin bared through the slit. “Yes.” The feeling of his hand on my skin was the equivalent of a heated blanket. He may have hesitated for my consent, but there was no hesitance now. His grip on my thigh was firm and possessive. Comforting in its own way.
“Why hacking?”
His thumb rubbed back and forth on my skin, distracting. “What do you mean?”
“If you’re that good at computers, you probably could have done anything you wanted. Why choose something illegal?”
“It’s not always illegal.”
I laughed. “I’m a reporter. I can tell when someone’s trying to dodge a question.”
He was silent for a few seconds, but it wasn’t a harsh silence. “I’m trying to figure out how to word this.”
“It’s that bad?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s… I grew up in an environment where laws were optional, and there were certain expectations of me and what I would do. Computers and hacking were the best way to extricate myself from that environment. Hard to make someone stay if they don’t have any leverage on you.”
The way he worded it told me he was avoiding some of the details. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“It was a long time ago. But thank you.”
I put the pieces together in my head. The defense systems and the obscured past. The people he left behind weren’t people he ever wanted close to him again. But he also said he tried not to cause harm.
The way the DuPonts described him seemed spot on. Honorable, but willing to color outside the lines if necessary.
“Sure you can’t tell me where we’re going?”
“It won’t take too long to get there,” he said. “So I’m not going to tell you. But I think you’ll be able to guess in a minute.”
He was right. We were nearing the coast a bit north of Clarity, where there were more cliffs and fewer beaches. There were things to do, but they were more in the DuPont’s price bracket than mine.
But he’d called them to get my sizes…
I turned in my seat. “Are you taking me to The Grotto?”
Aiden smirked, but didn’t take his eyes off the road. His hand still rested on my thigh, completely comfortable. “I knew you’d put it together.”
“Whatever you promised the DuPonts for my sizes, double it for getting you into The Grotto.”
The restaurant—which was in a cliff cave that was open to the sea and had been converted—had one of the longest waitlists in the country.
It was supposed to be incredible. I made good money, and I was more than comfortable, but I wasn’t going to places where the bill for dinner could be four figures.
“They didn’t get me in.” A quick glance and a smile at me. “And no, I didn’t hack the waitlist to put us on it.”
“Then how?”
We were pulling up to the valet now. Aiden stepped out of the car and held out a hand to the young Beta about to open my door. He did it himself, taking my hand and lifting me out. “Forgive me. I don’t want another man touching you tonight. Even for something as small as this.”
“I don’t mind a healthy dose of possessiveness. As long as that’s all it is.”
“It is. As far as getting into the restaurant.” A grin. “I’m a man of many secrets. But mainly, though I left the life I told you about behind, I still have connections through it. People know my family.”
“You’re only making me more curious.”
“A reporter through and through.”
We approached the entrance, his hand once again on my lower back. The woman at the host stand looked up and smiled. “Welcome, Mr. Fletcher. Your table is right this way.”
I narrowed my eyes at the woman. She was pretty, and I was feeling my own healthy dose of possessiveness.
A large hand enveloped mine and wove our fingers together. “I know you can’t sense it yet, but I promise you, the desire I have to even look at someone else is in the negative percentages.”
“Is that even a thing?”
“For the purposes of this conversation? Yes.”
We followed the hostess toward the back of the restaurant, where it was open to the ocean.
Our table was practically next to the railing.
An alcove enclosed with curtains so fine and sheer they shone.
As the sun fell to the horizon, the deepening color of sunset matched the candles around the restaurant.
Our table was cozy, with a rounded seat carved from the rock and added cushions. We could sit next to each other, but it didn’t feel weird the way it did when couples sat on the same side of a booth.
My feet rejoiced as I sat. “I’m glad you chose a restaurant with these shoes. These are display shoes only.”
“How do you know I’m not taking us dancing later?” I shot him a look that made him laugh. “Don’t worry, I’m not.”
“Are we doing something else after?”
A tall man poured water into our glasses. The menu on my plate was a gilded single sheet with a few options. And… oh.
I took a slow breath. This was probably something I should have thought of, but I hadn’t.
Food and I had a weird relationship. One reason I hadn’t given Logan my list of foods was that I was a picky eater.
I always had been, much to my own embarrassment and everyone else’s frustration.
I would try things, but sometimes I just didn’t like them, even when everyone else seemed to.
Here in Clarity, that meant a lot of seafood. I’d never liked it, and I’d tried. And this menu, other than dessert, was fish.
Probably should have seen that coming. But it was okay.
I was used to finding my way through menus that didn’t cater to me.
Hell, I had to do that for most of my childhood.
I certainly wasn’t upset with Aiden. He had no reason to know my preferences yet, and him bringing me here was still incredible.
This place was beautiful.
“What’s wrong?”
I looked over and found Aiden closer than I expected. He leaned into my space, that delicious chocolate and cherry scent curling around me. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”
He tilted his head and looked at me, like he was puzzling something out. “We’re doing this to get to know each other and figure out if we’re a good match, right?”
“Right.”
“Then I’d like to act that way. As your Alpha, and your dom.”
Because dancing around each other without testing the reality of what being together might be like, this was a waste of our time. “I’m okay with that.”
“I’d like to touch you and kiss you. Everything else I’ll ask.”
“Yes.”
Aiden pulled me closer across the seat and cupped the back of my neck. Tilted my face upward with his thumb. “Good.” He closed the tiny distance between us and kissed me.