Inked Persuasion (Montgomery Ink Fort Collins #1) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,49

looked over at Colton as he waved us over.

“They’re ready for us,” Colton said, and Paige smiled up at him before taking his hand. I backed up so Annabelle could pass me and then followed.

The hostess started talking to Colton about something or other, and I figured he must know her, as well. She took us to a low table in the corner where we could see everything we wanted but still gave us some privacy.

“Thank you, Sandy,” Colton said, and Sandy grinned and waved at everyone.

“Your waiter tonight will be Alejandro. He will be right with you. Enjoy your meal. It was so nice to meet you, Paige.”

Sandy bounced off, and we all took our seats.

“You seem to know everybody,” Annabelle said, and Colton shrugged.

“I come here often because I know the chef.” He looked up at us. “We went to culinary school together. However, I went into the smaller restaurant-esque area. Not like Dave here. What he’s done is amazing.”

“I’m excited because I’m starving.” Paige looked up at Colton. “Though I’m sure your food will be better.”

Colton shook his head. “As I said, I only have a small bistro. We’re opening a second one down in Denver, but I’m not going to be anywhere near this level. I like what I do and have, and it’s my dream. I don’t know if I could ever do something like this.”

“I don’t know, I think you could. As it is, you seem to make Paige happy,” Annabelle said, and I wrapped my arm around her chair, giving her a look.

She just grinned and ignored me. I didn’t know if we were here so Paige could grill me, or for us to grill Colton. But in the end, I was ultimately here for food because I didn’t want to disappoint Annabelle.

How that had become a significant part of my day, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want anything serious. I had enough on my plate. Even this date tonight cut into my work schedule. And Annabelle knew that and had even mentioned that we’d have to cut tonight short and head home early because both of us had meetings in the morning. Things we couldn’t get out of. Besides seeing each other a couple of nights a week for dinner and for sex, if I were honest with myself, we didn’t get to see each other all that often. We were both working, and we saw each other at my parents’ house on the weekend, but that was it. We were playing things as casually as possible and not getting serious. Except for the fact that tonight seemed serious. It didn’t matter that weeks had passed, both of us telling each other that this was just for fun and wouldn’t mean anything. Tonight seemed a little bit too much for me. And from the way Annabelle kept glancing my way, I had a feeling she was on the same page. Or at least I hoped she was. Because I didn’t want tonight to happen again. I didn’t want to put expectations on her family or her that would hurt her in the end. We were having fun, letting off some steam, and that’s all we could do.

I wouldn’t let myself feel anything more because that would only hurt us both in the end.

And, fuck, I could not fall for my brother’s widow.

That was the warning on a loop in my brain.

I could not fall for Jonah’s widow.

They were just serving dessert when Annabelle looked at me and put her hand on my arm. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice low as Colton and Paige talked to each other, smiles on their faces.

“Nothing, just thinking.”

She frowned. “About what?”

“About what I’m going to do to you later before we call it a night,” I lied and then leaned forward to gently bite her lip. Her eyes went dark, and Paige cleared her throat.

“Well, I assumed we were going to eat this chocolate soufflé, but I suppose if you need to go and take care of your dessert, you’re welcome to it.”

“Nobody is taking this chocolate soufflé from me,” Annabelle said as she picked up the spoon. “Oh my God, it looks amazing.”

“This one is pistachio with chocolate,” Colton added, gesturing towards the airy green dough thing in front of us.

I had no idea how to cook, and I wasn’t good at picking out fancy foods, but everything in front of us tonight had been delicate and decadent. And dessert would be no different. We