How to Hack a Hacker - A.J. Sherwood Page 0,5
this. I think you’ll be surprised at how eager she’ll be to have you two married.”
Ari blew out a long breath. “Yeah. I might be overthinking this. I do that a lot with her. Alright, well, we’ll talk to her about it when we get home. We’re crashing at a hotel tonight, coming home in the morning. Anything else been happening while we’re gone?”
“Naw, nothing momentous. Just same ol’ same ol’.”
“So your guy is still doing things that gives you grey hairs, you’re still stalking him, and you’re still spending eighteen-hour days in your computer chair, is what you’re saying.”
“The man inspires my inner serial killer sometimes. He really does. Anyway, I’m fine. Just hungry. Go be horizontal for a while.”
“Music to my ears. Call if something comes up.”
“Sure, sure. Night.” Relieved he’d gotten Ari off the phone, Kyou pocketed it and went inside. The hostess took his name and showed him to his table, a small round one with a snowy white tablecloth. Kyou had even worn a suit for tonight, as this wasn’t the kind of restaurant you could wear jeans into. He felt a little posh sitting there, perusing the menu and having a sample glass of wine extended as a complimentary service.
Maybe he should treat himself to a nice dinner more often.
Ari and Carter married, huh? Honestly, Kyou had expected them to be married before Ivan and Aiden. Those two were joined at the hip. Neither of them would take jobs without the other anymore. But their worry over Remi made sense, in a way. She didn’t always react in a predictable fashion. But Kyou was pretty sure she’d be over the moon if they tied the knot.
Kyou placed his order—sushi had won—and sat back. Brannigan would enter any second. Kyou was perhaps a touch more excited about this than he should be. Normally he saw Brannigan at weird angles via a security cam. It was rare that he got to see him in real life like this, mostly because Kyou didn’t dare get that close most of the time. He still wasn’t sure what had prompted him to come out tonight. He’d just found the idea of sitting at home, watching this train wreck from afar, to be unappealing. After ten minutes of fidgeting, unable to settle, he’d made a reservation without questioning himself too deeply.
And there he was. Kyou felt a little flutter in his chest seeing his quarry. Ah, damn. Every time he did this, he remembered why he shouldn’t. It was far too tempting to do it again. And tonight, especially, would push the restraints of his control.
Brannigan Genovese looked downright hot tonight in the dark-grey, three-piece suit he wore like it was tailored to him. (It likely was.) Every strand of his dark hair was styled in a loose wave, suiting the strong, masculine lines of his face, and there was a smile etched onto his lips. A very strained smile.
Ouch. Date was going that bad already, huh? Kyou bit down on a cackle.
His date certainly looked the part of a supermodel. She was tall and thin, her immaculate blonde hair draped over her shoulder in a curling waterfall, every trace of makeup perfectly done to emphasize her high cheekbones and smoky blue eyes. She wore an off-the-shoulder dress that seemed to be giving her some trouble staying up. Or at least, she kept ‘stealthily’ rearranging her boobs in the top.
If she was trying to draw Brannigan’s attention there, it wasn’t working. The man was steadfastly looking anywhere else. Kyou could have told her Brannigan wasn’t a boobs man. He could and did appreciate an attractive person, but that wasn’t his primary focus. He was pan-sapiosexual, in fact, and it was why Kyou kept maintaining that asking out shallow people wouldn’t work for him. Brannigan seemed to feel social pressure to date, so he asked out anyone that people deemed attractive, but it backfired every time. He needed to find someone he found attractive, which was a very different kettle of fish.
The two sat, the model leaning forward to emphasize her boobs. Again. Brannigan focused on the menu so hard, it was like the man believed life’s source code could be found within its pages.
Unable to resist, Kyou took out the spare burner phone in his pocket and texted him: Need me to rescue you yet?
Brannigan took his phone out, read the message, and grimaced. He did not reply before slipping it back into his pocket.
The model started chattering about some