Scars of Yesterday (Sons of Templar MC #8) - Anne Malcom Page 0,83

you want that?”

She waved her hand. “No, the kids have the cool babysitter tonight. So it’s takeout. Loads of it. Whatever they want. And that homework stuff is stopping as soon as your mother leaves, dude,” she winked at Jack.

I just grinned.

Even Jack’s mouth twitched ever so slightly. No one was immune to Mia’s charms.

“I won’t be late,” I said to Mia.

“You can be as late as you want,” she replied. “We’re totally good here. Just let me know if there’s anything on fire when you drive past my house, won’t you?”

“Of course,” I said seriously, such a prospect not actually outside the realm of possibility.

Edmond had made reservations at Valentines.

We were meeting there, despite him trying to convince me to let him pick me up. He was very old fashioned, it seemed, because I’d had to be pretty damn firm about driving myself. It irritated me in a way it shouldn’t have. He was only being polite. Chivalrous. But I had said no once. I’d always thought you shouldn’t have to say no to a good man more than once.

Then again, what did I really know about good men?

They didn’t exist.

There were only shades of gray.

I arrived exactly on time, which was only because Mia had arrived at my place early

He was already waiting at the table when the hostess led me to it. It was a good one. Tucked away in the corner, romantic lighting, view of the town below, the ocean beyond that.

“Elizabeth, you look beautiful,” he said, standing as soon as I approached the table. He leaned in to kiss my cheek, lingering just a bit longer than I’d expected. His cologne smelled expensive and not overpowering. But I didn’t like it. My body tensed the second his lips touched my cheek.

If he noticed, he didn’t let on.

“You look very handsome yourself,” I sat after he pulled out my chair for me.

And he did. He wore a very stylish suit. Expensive but not flashy. Well-tailored. No tie. He was clean shaven, his dark hair gelled to the side, not one strand out of place. There was a very large and pricey looking watch on his wrist. Nice hands. I knew if I looked at his palms that there wouldn’t be calluses from working on cars, no oil stains. He most likely got manicures.

“I took the liberty of ordering a bottle of wine for us.” He nodded to the bottle in the middle of the table. “So it has time to breathe.”

I bit the inside of my lip. It was a nice gesture. A romantic gesture. But what if I didn’t like wine? I didn’t want some pretentious bottle of wine that needed to breathe. I liked beer, I’d told him that, hadn’t I? Sure, wine was great too. But I liked the pink, chilled stuff. A red was great, too, but I usually kept it under fifteen dollars. Ranger and I had always kept a nice selection of faithful bottles in our rotation.

Admittedly, I wasn’t really worried about how the alcohol tasted lately, just how well it numbed.

But none of these things were appropriate to say on a first date. Nor was thinking about what Kace would’ve done for a first date. He’d probably take me on a picnic or stop by a food truck on a ride down the coast. That was definitely more my speed.

“That’s perfect,” I lied with a painted-on smile.

I tried to push away my irritation, focusing on putting my napkin on my lap, grabbing the menu and studying it.

I wondered if I could hide behind it the entire night.

“I had a great time,” I voiced through gritted teeth.

It wasn’t a lie, exactly.

Okay, it was a total fucking lie. I didn’t have a great time. But that had nothing to do with him.

Okay, another lie.

It had a lot to do with him.

Not because he was a bad guy.

Or maybe because he wasn’t a bad guy. He was too ironed, perfumed, polite. With the wine, with him recommending what I should order that would pair well with the wine. Yuck.

He had asked me questions about myself, about my kids. I might’ve imagined the slightly snide look on his face when I’d told him I had been a stay-at-home mother all these years.

I’d asked him questions too. Mostly because I wanted to stop talking about myself, not because I really cared about his history.

He grew up in New York state, to what I could gather was a wealthy family. Had what seemed like a