Chapter 9
SEBASTIAN
We were roughly five minutes into dinner by the time I realized this was a mistake.
Not that it would’ve taken a genius to come to that conclusion before we ever sat down at Blush, one of a handful of independent restaurants in town that did not abide by the rule of closing on a Monday night.
Some people couldn’t afford it, while others liked to capitalize on the flow of diners who couldn’t get a reservation anywhere else that didn’t involve a corporate logo or a buffet.
“This place is gorgeous.” Hadley was extremely complimentary, the way she’d been ever since we met up in the bar area to enjoy a couple of drinks while our table was being readied.
Everything was gorgeous, amazing, stunning.
She was trying much too hard to be likable, which struck me as odd since she seemed like she would have been very likable if she wasn’t so determined to come on to me.
Which meant I needed to visit the doctor soon.
Since when did I complain about a woman complimenting me?
The touches to my knees and shoulders, the hand she occasionally brushed over my chest when laughing too hard at a joke that wasn’t very funny in the first place.
There weren’t many things I disliked more than a hard sell, and that was exactly what she was going for.
Not that I had any room to be surprised. She had practically thrown herself at me like a fastball to the head in the kitchen yesterday. I was hardly unaccustomed to that kind of treatment, but for some reason, it felt different coming from her.
Probably because it so clearly irritated the hell out of Claudia.
Hence, we now sat down, the four of us around a square table near the center of the dining room.
I had challenged her without coming straight out with it, offering this dinner, knowing she would crawl over broken glass before she would say no.
Because at her core, we were the same. Much too competitive, too prideful, too intense.
I didn’t imagine she would up the ante by looking extraordinary tonight in a simple, black wrap dress that accentuated her tiny waist and the full hips it flared into.
She might have been petite, but she was every inch a curvy, enticing woman, especially with the addition of a little makeup and the attention she’d paid to her hair.
I had seen her looking professional as well as completely casual on her day off.
This was another version. Unfortunately, this version presented the challenge of keeping my dick from getting hard in public.
And dammit, I resented the hell out of her for it because Hadley was gorgeous—tall, willowy, with strawberry blonde locks that floated like a cloud around her shoulders.
She was every inch the sophisticated New York woman, showing just enough skin to entice but holding enough back to keep a man wanting more.
At least, that was the case when it came to her sexy yet modest dress and sky-high heels.
Her body language told another story. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d asked a woman to keep her hands to herself, if ever, come to think of it, since it had never been a problem for me in the past. But sometimes, a man wanted to make the first move, and she was not interested in waiting.
I made a point of moving my leg out of her reach once we sat down, playing it off like I was too distracted by the menu to notice the attention.
“I like what they’re doing here,” Lucas observed, glancing at me from over the top of the leather folder holding tonight’s offerings.
He had clearly taken pains to clean up tonight, looking much sharper than usual in a crisp dress shirt and slacks.
“Have you ever eaten here before?” I asked him, and he shook his head. “I was well acquainted with the head chef years ago when we were both starting out.”
“I didn’t know that.” He looked deeply interested, even setting the menu aside to turn his attention to me from across the square table. It may as well have been the two of us together, talking shop while Hadley practically stood on her head to get my attention.
“Oh, sure,” I explained. “In fact, we considered opening a restaurant together.”
Now, even Claudia seemed interested. “With Kristoff Darden?” she asked from my left, maybe a breath or two away from offering a disbelieving laugh from the sound of it.
“Is that so unbelievable?” I asked, my interest piqued for the first time tonight. The conversation until now had been interminable at best.
“Not unbelievable,” she retorted. “Just surprising.”
Angling my body toward hers, I tipped my head to the side. “How so?”
She arched an eyebrow. “How much time do you have?” A brief, playful smile tipped the corners of her mouth.
“Considering service seems a bit slow around here, it seems I have plenty.” Like her, I arched an eyebrow. We could play this game all night if she wanted. I would win. I always won.
“Wow, all this backstory. Tell me more,” Hadley offered, her elbows on the table, propping her chin on her hands. “I want to know everything about the genius restaurateur.”
God, help me. I was barely able to withhold an eye roll. Rather than let her see the sourness I couldn’t hide, I stayed focused on Claudia, who rolled her eyes while lifting her menu.
“There’s not much to tell,” I explained with a shrug. “We had a falling out.” Over a woman I hadn’t thought about in years, not until that very moment while trying not to demand Claudia tell me what the fuck that comment was supposed to mean.
“Oh, was it over a girl?” Hadley was now fully invested in the conversation while Claudia swirled what was left of the wine in her glass. When Lucas smiled her way, she returned it, but it didn’t last long. Damn, I need to stop watching her so closely.
“Something like that,” I admitted, but that was as far as I was willing to go. “Anyway, it was all for the best. He’s been successful here, and I’ve had my success as well. Life has a way of working out the way it’s meant to.”
“I have a hard time believing the two of you could work well together. I’m sure you’re right about it being for the best.” Claudia had a way of turning what was probably supposed to sound empathetic into a blatant insult, and she did it with a smile.
“Oh, the two of you are well acquainted?” I asked with a smile roughly as genuine, meaning it was entirely fake. “I didn’t know that. Otherwise, I’m not sure how you’d know about his working style or habits.”
Lucas cleared his throat, reminding me to settle the fuck down. It was all her fault. This was who she turned me into. “Life pretty much always works out like it’s supposed to.”
“I agree.” Hadley flashed a brilliant smile. “That’s what I keep telling Claud.”
“Oh, really?” I turned her way, setting down my menu in favor of giving her my attention. “How so?”
Though Claudia made a strangled, disapproving sound, Hadley would not be stopped. She had already put away two glasses of wine and was working on the third, so it seemed like she was hardly in the mood to pick up a hint when it was pretty much dropped in her lap.
“Well, she never imagined herself all the way out here in Las Vegas. We always used to imagine living together as big, established career women in Manhattan. But life has a way of doing what it wants, right?” she asked, wearing what looked like an almost regretful smile. Or sympathetic.
“What brought you out here in the first place?” I asked Claudia, pointedly ignoring her scowl. “I know what Sienna told me, but why was Las Vegas on the table in the first place? You were riding this wave of popularity.”
“Oh, she didn’t tell you about that?” Hadley asked.
“And I didn’t intend to,” Claudia warned in a sharp tone, pairing her words with an unblinking stare. I took too much pleasure in getting under her skin, but even I would have stopped there if she looked at me that way.
Hadley, unfortunately, was having a little too much fun to notice. “Sometimes, a girl needs a new start when her fiancé goes and—”
“I’m hungry,” Claudia announced, practically shouting the words to drown out her friend’s voice. “Is everybody ready to order?”
Fiancé? I knew better than to stare, especially when she so pointedly avoided looking at any of us in favor of searching the room for the girl who’d presented our menus.
“This pear and gorgonzola gnocchi looks delicious,” she murmured, her voice trembling slightly.
Was that pain I heard or simply anger? Did it make a difference?
It was clearly something she hadn’t meant to share.
Lucas looked apologetic, even reaching out to touch her arm at one point. She barely met his gaze, giving him the sort of look that was probably meant to reassure him, but it resembled a pained grimace more than anything else.
Luckily, someone provided a distraction from the discomfort. “Sebastian Kennedy.” Kristoff Darden strode across the dining room, quietly greeting a few diners but quickly returning his attention to me. “I heard you were here with us tonight. What a pleasant surprise.”
I took him in all at once. The same unruly, dark red curls, the same wiry frame he never could seem to bulk up no matter how hard he tried.
His brown eyes glittered in a way that was anything but warm or friendly, no matter how he pretended otherwise.
“Kristoff,” I said with a smile, standing to shake his hand. “Allow me to introduce—”
“No need! We have a celebrity in the house.” Kristoff took one of Claudia’s hands in both of his, clasping tight, almost bending over her much smaller frame. “What a pleasure. I’ve been meaning to stop in and sample some of your work.”
Then he turned to me, grimacing comically. “Then again, I understand there’s nothing new happening over there, anyway. It’s pretty much the same dessert menu as ever, right?”