Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Adalyn stood with her hand on the handle of the huge front door, halting in place and drawing in a deep breath. She really did not want to do this. She had never been good at dating, and especially after her debacles with Shawn and then Jaxon, she had no real desire to deal with men ever again.
She glanced through the glass at all the people seated inside.
Who was he? She literally knew nothing about this guy.
Was he divorced, or had he been single his entire adult life?
Was he as uncomfortable with this arrangement as she was?
Would he be offended if she canceled and told him she wasn’t feeling well?
Immediately, guilt assailed her. It wasn’t this guy’s fault that her previous relationships had all crashed and burned.
She at least needed to give him a chance.
Determined to try to be more positive, she pulled open the door and stepped inside.
Tamping down her unease, she smiled shakily at the hostess.
“Hello. I’m here to meet with Harvey Levenstein. ”
The hostess returned her smile. “Right this way, miss.”
Adalyn followed her to the back of the restaurant, weaving between tables full of people. Groups of men who she assumed were holding business dinners were interspersed between couples seated intimately in a dimly lit dining room.
The restaurant itself was beautiful. It was upscale without being overdone, the lighting soft and flattering.
Large frosted chandeliers in a circular shape approximately five feet wide hung from the ceiling over various parts of the room.
They cast their soft glow over the patrons, lending to the ambience.
The hostess halted beside a chair and shot Adalyn another smile. “Anything else, miss?”
“No, thank you,” Adalyn replied.
Across the table, Harvey didn’t bother to stand.
In fact, he barely looked away from his phone.
Adalyn settled into her seat as the hostess made her way back to the front of the restaurant.
Finally, as if just noticing her presence, he lifted his head and smiled at her.
A mixture of surprise and pleasure lit his eyes.
“Wow, you’re a lot prettier than Dad let on. ”
“Um… thanks?” Adalyn wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not.
The waitress came by, and Harvey dove right in, ordering a bottle of red wine.
Adalyn barely held back a grimace. She hated red wine, even the sweet stuff.
She didn’t drink very often, but when she did, it was usually a white dessert wine that tasted more like Kool-Aid than rotten grapes.
Without giving her a chance to look at the menu, he went ahead and placed their orders.
The waitress gave a perfunctory nod and strode back toward the kitchen.
Adalyn didn’t recognize the name of whatever he’d ordered, and she barely managed to tamp down her irritation as she turned her gaze back to Harvey. “I don’t think I’ve had that before.”
She wasn’t terribly picky, but it was the principle of the thing. She hated that he felt like he had the right to order for her.
“Oh, don’t worry,” he assured her, “you’ll love it.”
Adalyn sat back in her seat, not entirely convinced, but unwilling to fight over it.
Her phone buzzed as a call came through, the vibration pulsing through her purse where it hung over the back of her chair.
She leaned over and peeked inside just in time to see the salon’s number flash across the screen.
She briefly debated answering then decided against it.
Amy was probably calling to make sure everything was going okay, and she was determined to make it through this date if it killed her.
Silence fell between them for a moment before Harvey spoke up again. “So, you run a bridal shop?”
“Actually, it’s my shop. I own it,” Adalyn clarified.
“Ah, I see,” he said as he winked at her. “You’re one of those women.”
Adalyn bristled at the statement, but she tried her best to keep her face expressionless. “What kind of woman would that be?”
“Oh, you know.” He waved a hand in the air. “The kind of woman who wants a fairy-tale wedding. Prince Charming on a dashing horse and everything that goes along with it.”
Adalyn tried not to be insulted by the statement. “Actually, no,” she responded. “I don’t think marriage is in the cards for me just yet.”
“Oh, come on,” he scoffed, giving her a knowing look. “Every woman wants that. Actually, I think it’s great,” he commented. “I can make that happen if that’s what you want.”
Who did this guy think he was? Adalyn opened her mouth to shoot him down, but he continued, barreling right over her.
“Not that I’m proposing,” he said, lifting his hands. “Not yet.”
Was this guy for real? Adalyn’s stomach roiled as he shot her another wink, and she forced herself to take a drink of water to keep the contents of her stomach from ending up all over the table. The waitress arrived by the table and uncorked their wine, then poured a bit into Harvey’s glass.
Adalyn watched as Harvey swirled the deep red liquid around the glass, then inhaled deeply. He took a tiny sip and seemed to chew on it for a good ten seconds before finally swallowing. Pressing his fingers to the base of the glass, he slid it toward the waitress. “That’ll do.”
Oh, God. Figured the man would be a wine connoisseur.
Adalyn barely managed to hold back her eye roll.
She knew this date hadn’t been a good idea.
Still, it was the first time she’d been out in months, and she was determined to enjoy it despite the poor company.
Harvey prattled on, making small talk, and she made noises at the appropriate times to acknowledge his statements.
She allowed her mind to wander, thinking about next season’s fashions and the samples that she wanted to order.
The new Marchesa was to die for, and she couldn’t wait to get it in her shop.
She needed to make sure she ordered some new shoes too, since the style had changed from spring and they were moving now into summer and fall wear.
She also needed a couple new headpieces—
She jumped in her seat, ripped away from her thoughts as Harvey let out a cringeworthy guffaw. Her shoulders shot up to her ears, and she fought the urge to look around the room to see if everyone’s eyes were on them.
God, the man had the worst laugh ever.
Thankfully, they were saved seconds later by the waitress delivering their meals. “Anything else?”
“No,” Harvey responded for both of them. Adalyn was too busy eyeing her food to formulate a thought. Bones stuck up out of a cut of meat that looked less than appetizing. She picked up her fork and poked at it. “What did you say this was again?”
“Osso buco.” Harvey gestured with his chin. “It’s good, you’ll like it.”
“Right…” Adalyn drew out the word as she cautiously cut into it. “But what exactly is it?”
He looked at her like she’d just asked what year it was. “Veal.”
Nope. Just… nope. Adalyn set the knife at the edge of her plate and speared a potato, then popped it into her mouth.
She liked hamburgers at a backyard barbecue.
She even loved the occasional steak once in a while, though it wasn’t really in her budget these days.
But she drew the line at eating meat from baby animals.
She watched, stomach churning, as Harvey turned his attention back to his own plate and dug in.
The clatter of silverware against porcelain filled the air as he cut into it with vigor, and she dropped her gaze away.
She didn’t care if she offended him by not eating it—he hadn’t bothered to ask her opinion before ordering, anyway.
At least the vegetables were good. She’d grab a snack before bed once she got home.
She pasted on a polite smile and forked up a carrot, counting the minutes until she could escape. Maybe not out the front doors—because that would be rude, right? At this point, she wasn’t sure she even cared. She’d been on a handful of bad dates in her life, but this one took the cake.
His sheer obnoxiousness grated on her nerves, and she gritted her teeth before setting her fork on the edge of the plate.
She glanced around, desperately trying to catch the eye of their waitress.
God willing, she’d take pity on her and bring the check so she could get out of here.
All she wanted to do was go home, kick off her heels, and have a glass of wine.
Or maybe the entire bottle. And not the crappy red that she could smell from here, the smell of fermented grapes so potent it permeated the air.
She sighed. Though it sounded nice, she knew she would never do it.
Being a single mom, she always had to think about Jaclyn first. What if there was an emergency in the middle of the night?
She hadn’t drunk a drop since she’d found out she was pregnant, wanting to always be coherent in case something happened.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and she had the sensation of eyes burning a hole in the back of her head.
She glanced surreptitiously toward the tables to her left, then right, but everyone was busy eating or talking.
Unable to seek out the source of her unease, she picked up her fork and speared another stalk of asparagus.
“Do you need something?”
The sound of Harvey’s voice jerked her attention across the table. She opened her mouth to speak just as she realized he was looking over her shoulder.
“Yeah.”
That voice… Deep and masculine, she was sure she had heard it before.
That same tingly sensation skittered down her spine as she slowly turned toward the man hovering beside her chair.
She took in the thick, muscular thighs and a snug black T-shirt that if she looked closely enough—and she totally did—she could just barely see the outline of the man’s abs.
Thick, corded arms and broad shoulders came into sight next.
Then something caught her eye. The neckline of his shirt played peek-a-boo with a dark tattoo that she swore she’d seen before. Her eyes lifted to the man’s face, over beautiful lips curved into a smug smirk, a nose that she was sure had seen a fist or two, then…
Her heart thudded to a stop as her gaze collided with a pair of blue eyes—eyes she hadn’t seen for almost two years.
He knew the moment it clicked; she could see the satisfaction in those glimmering depths.
She was dimly aware of the fork falling from her fingers, the clank of silver on porcelain muted as blood thrummed in her ears, blotting out everything else.
Oh, God… Why was he here? What did he want?
His smile changed, becoming more predatory as he seemed to read her mind. “My wife.”