and forth between us, but as he set our plates down, he didn’t ask any questions. Since he was so polite, I took pity on his curiosity. “He’s a writer.”
“Ah.” He nodded and smiled. “I hope his muse doesn’t let the food get cold.”
I chuckled. “I’ll drag him away from it in just a minute.”
Then, taking a chance, I focused my smile on him. “I was telling him about a dating app I’d signed up for a few weeks ago and mentioned someone’s profile that had caught my eye. It gave him an idea, so he’s making some notes.”
The waiter’s cheeks heated faintly. “Those can be…interesting.”
“Yes, especially when getting across what you want can be difficult. Words like ‘curious’ and ‘open-minded’ can mean so many things.” I gave him a pointed look that had his eyes widening slightly as he nodded.
“Very true.” His gaze bounced between us again. “Being a bit more…descriptive would probably be better in those situations.”
“Yes, words like ‘take-charge’ or ‘commanding’ would be more descriptive, or even pointing out that someone is more deferential when it comes to making decisions could be helpful.”
“Yes, I can see that.” He took a second then stepped back from the table smiling, his professional mask back in place. “Please let me know if there’s anything else I can get for you.”
Letting him change the subject, I nodded. “I think we’ll be good. Thank you.”
With another canned reply, he walked off, giving us privacy once more. As I watched Dakota still frantically scribbling, I couldn’t help but smile. Things could have been very different if I hadn’t responded to the curious job offer, but I had a feeling fate would have stepped in either way because I knew that the sweetly curious man before me had always been meant to be mine.
Chapter 15
Dakota
“Do you think we should have Eddie check out the waiter?” I looked over to see Tristan smiling. “What?”
He chuckled, shrugging as we pulled up to a light. “I’m trying to decide if you want to ask him about his dating experiences or invite him to join the club.”
Both.
“There’s nothing wrong with either answer.” It came out a bit primly which seemed to tickle him even more.
“So you want to interrogate him and ask him to join? Well, I think both are reasonable providing he’s curious enough.” Tristan’s gaze flicked back to the road as the light changed. “From the quick exchange we had he’s at least curious, but—now, I’m just bringing this up as a question—is asking Eddie to look into someone’s background before they’ve even said they were interested a bit…shady?”
I shrugged, but since I wasn’t sure if he could see that or not, I spoke. “I have no idea.”
He seemed to be holding back more laughter. “Okay, well, have you at least considered that?”
“Yes.” For a few seconds. “Honestly, I worry more about Wade than I do about a stranger’s privacy. So yes, it’s probably wrong in the strictest moral sense, but I’m not going to do anything that puts any of the guys in danger.”
If that meant my moral compass was a little off then so be it. Besides, it was straighter than Austin’s, so I wasn’t going to feel bad.
We pulled up in front of the house before Tristan had a chance to reply. Nothing in his expression said I had anything to worry about, so I just waited. Parking, he turned to me as he turned off the car. “I can understand that. But—and I want you to take this in the way it’s intended—I’m going to point things out when I see them…think of me as an extra conscience.”
I chuckled. “As long as you understand that I might not see it the same way. I promise to do my best to stay on the right side of things…no matter what we find in backgrounds, we won’t do anything crazy with it and we’ve even started looking for people like doctors and lawyers in the lifestyle to help people we run into.”
When he cocked his head and I could see his questions forming, I continued. “Like there was this guy at the party. He just screams abused or something, so we’re going to push someone his direction once the club starts. So…good meddling, not bad.”
His lips quirked to one side in a half-grin. “I should probably tell you not to meddle at all, but I’m not going to go that far. I just can’t sit back and watch something happen without saying something. It’s