Mary that you’re here. Why don’t you both sit? I think we can skip the whole helping with the chair routine this round.”
“Thank you,” I said dryly, taking my own seat.
Merdon did the same, only he did it with a goading look on his face. My fingers curled with the urge to claw his damn judgy eyes out, and suddenly the width of the table didn’t seem far enough apart.
As soon as James disappeared into the kitchen, I propped my forearms on the table and glared at Merdon.
“Was it your idea, or Emily’s, to be my dinner partner?” I asked.
“Why?” The smooth tones of his voice gave nothing away.
“So I know who to kill in their sleep,” I said sweetly.
He leaned forward in his chair.
“I don’t sleep.” He tilted his head. “It looks like you don’t either.”
Two more inches closer, and his disapproving eyes were mine.
“Thanks to you and Emily.”
He grunted and sat back just before the kitchen door swung open.
Emily emerged with a welcoming smile on her face and those stupid plastic cards in her hand.
“Thank you for joining us. Tonight, we’ll be cooking duck with orange glaze, baby potatoes bathed in butter, and dilled carrots as our main course. It takes a while to prepare, so make yourselves comfortable. We’ll start you off with an appetizer and soup of the chef’s choice in a bit. While you wait, we would like you to ask each other questions. If you can’t think of any, you can use these.”
She held out the cards to me.
I stared at her, my mouth slightly open in disbelief for so many reasons. First, that she thought I’d actually use her stupid cards. I’d read the inane questions on them when I’d laminated them. Like “what’s your favorite color?” I didn’t give a damn about Merdon’s favorite anything. I wanted my drink and to get out of there.
“Are you kidding me?” I said. “The food’s not even done yet?”
When I didn’t take the cards, she shifted to hold them out to Merdon. He took them from her with a nod.
“The food isn’t even started,” he said as she fled back to the kitchen.
I glared at him then decided I’d find a silver lining in that tempting little bottle before me. I reached for it.
“Fine. I can wait.”
The bottle disappeared from the table. I blinked and saw it in his hand.
“You’ll need to earn this,” he said, watching me closely. The anger and judgment were absent in his gaze. He almost looked—turned on?
My stomach pitched. While I was fine making out with some random fey for a drink, there was no way I could do that with Merdon. No matter how bad it got, I knew he wasn’t an option. He didn’t play by fey rules, and that spelled big trouble. He’d proven that again and again.
“No, thanks.” The words came out breathy and more than a little shaky.
He blinked at me and tilted his head.
“You don’t know what you need to do to earn it. Why refuse what you want most?”
I snorted and crossed my arms protectively in front of me.
“I can guess what you want. It’s the same thing all you fey want. Pussy, right?”
“Hannah!” Mary scolded from the other side of the door.
I flushed but kept my arms belligerently over my chest. Damn eavesdropper. I should have known she was standing with her ear pressed to the kitchen door so she could find out if her little experiment was working. She should have picked more agreeable test subjects.
“You can talk about rolling pins, but I can’t say the truth?” I called back to her.
Mary poked her head out of the door. Her pouf of white hair was neatly pinned back, and her cheeks tinted a vibrant shade of pink. She’d gone all out for this.
“This is different,” she said. “It’s a date. Act like it.”
“It’s not a date. It’s practice.”
“Then practice or leave.” Her hard tone brooked no argument.
Unfolding my arms, I swallowed down my resentment and faced Merdon. A heavy weight settled in my stomach, but I told myself what he wanted didn’t matter. If he wanted to make out or even have sex, I’d ensure I drank enough first so it’d all be fine. That’s what I did best. Drink everything away so the pain didn’t matter.