Chapter 13
“I don’t know about you, but I’m stuffed,” Jack said pushing his plate away from him that was licked clean.
“Agreed.” Andrea looked just as full as he did; she hadn’t finished her plate, but the majority of it was gone.
“Can I interest you in any desserts?” Ben asked, coming back and starting to collect plates.
“No, I’m going to need a crane to get out of here.”
Ben chuckled. “You always say that.”
“Well, I feel it this time.” Andrea emphasized her point by patting her flat stomach as if it were a Buddha belly. “Can I just get a to-go box?”
“Of course.” Ben left and came back a moment later with two boxes and started to put her leftovers in one. “I slipped some baklava in the other,” he whispered to her.
“You’re a saint, but won’t you get in trouble for that?”
“No, I actually make it myself. I’d be happy to teach you the recipe.” Jack just bet the kid would. He was good, Jack would give him that. He reminded him of himself when he was younger. It was interesting to see it from an outsider’s perspective.
Andrea looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “Oh, uh…thanks.”
Now why did she stutter around her words with this kid, and yet if he had suggested something like that, he would have gotten the sharp end of her tongue?
“Can we get the check, please?” Jack asked, ready to leave this place.
Ben gave him a side glance, which was anything but friendly, and left.
“If you say anything about what just happened, I will hurt you,” Andrea warned when Ben walked away.
“Now why is it you get bashful when that kid talks to you, but I get death threats?”
“Because he’s a kid and completely harmless.”
“As opposed to me. I’m as harmless as a teddy bear.” He gave her his most innocent face.
“Ha,” she laughed at him. “You are many things, harmless is not one of them.”
“How would you know, you don’t even know me. You don’t know anything about me.” They had talked throughout dinner, but it had been nothing personal. The most personal they had gotten was him talking about his family, and that had been brief.
Andrea looked away, knowing she had been caught and trying to figure out a way to talk herself out of the situation. “You’re right, I don’t know you. I’ve made a lot of assumptions about you.”
“Have any of them been true?”
Andrea looked up at him through half-lidded eyes. “Maybe one?” she responded with a small smile.
“Do I dare ask which one?”
“Your womanizing.”
Ah, he’d always known that would come back and bite him in the ass one day when he was ready to settle down, but he had yet to find the woman he wanted to spend his life with, so it wasn’t much of a concern at the moment.
“I won’t apologize for my past. It’s true I’m no stranger to women, but I’ve never lied or cheated on one. I do have some scruples.”
“How noble,” she remarked sarcastically.
“It’s not noble, just truthful. I believe there should be honesty in a relationship.”
“Yes, there should.”
The check was returned to them, and Jack paid, throwing in several bills, not wanting to wait around for Ben to hit on Andrea some more. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
As they walked out, Jack saw Ben talking to someone.
Based on the uniform, he’d say another waiter.
They were talking in Greek. They probably didn’t think many people understood the language, but he did.
He was fluent in Greek. Jack saw red when he heard Ben describing to his friend all the things he wanted to do to Andrea.
The kid looked barely old enough to drink, let alone fulfill all his carnal appetites.
Ben was boasting to his friend that he’d made Andrea hot and wet, and she was just asking for him to give it to her. Jack had heard enough.
“I’ll meet you outside; I forgot something,” Jack said, stepping away from Andrea and heading straight for Ben. His eyes locked on him like a torpedo just waiting to detonate. Jack tapped Ben on the shoulder.
Ben turned around, his grin instantly fading when he saw him. Jack spoke in a low deadly whisper. Every word he said made Ben turn white.
“Do we understand each other?” Jack finished in English.
Ben nodded.
“Good.” Jack turned to leave, his step faltering when he saw Andrea standing there looking at him with an unreadable expression on her face. “Let’s go.” Jack ushered her out the door.
“You speak Greek?” Andrea asked once they were walking down the sidewalk.
“Yes,” was all he was willing to say on the matter.
“And obviously understand it.”
“Yes.” Again, his answer was clipped. Mainly because he didn’t want to talk about it and also because he was too angry at the moment to speak more.
“Why?”
“Why does anyone speak another language? I wanted to learn.” He shrugged, wishing she would drop the subject.
He should have just ignored the kid and kept walking.
Now she was probing him for answers he couldn’t give.
Jack was actually fluent in several languages.
He had learned during his time in the Navy.
It helped him infiltrate and extract information.
“Was it for work?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing fit for your ears.”
“Oh,” she commented, her words hollow.
Jack stopped on the sidewalk and turned to face her. “Look, Andrea, I know I should apologize for making a scene like I did, but I’m not sorry. I know you want to berate me for what I did, but can you please hold off until I’ve cooled off a bit?”
“What he said really upset you.”
Jack started walking again, needing the exertion to ease his anger. “It did. No one should be talking about you like that.”
“You know, no one has ever come to my defense like that before.”
“Really? That’s a shame.” Jack suddenly stopped walking, his gaze traveling up and down the sidewalk, not because he was lost but because he wasn’t ready for their night to end. “Are you set on going back home now?”
“Why?” That wasn’t a no.
“I was thinking if you’re up to it, we could go for a walk on the beach.”
Andrea’s lips pulled up into a smile. “I’d like that.”