He snorted. “Fine,” he said. “But drinks? Wine?”
“Sounds perfect,” I told him honestly. “But you’ll have to pick the one.” I didn’t mind picking a meal to go with the wine he chose, and I didn’t feel comfortable ordering a drink before I ordered my meal. But at the same time, I knew that I would feel a hell of a lot more comfortable when I had a drink inside of me.
Daniel smiled at me again. “All right,” he said. “Take your time.” While I perused the menu, he went out to talk to someone in the main room.
When he came back in, he gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. I raised an eyebrow at him. “Aren’t places like this supposed to send waiters to the back rooms?” I asked, the words spilling out of me before I had really considered them.
I blushed, but Daniel laughed. “Yeah, I guess,” he said. “But I’m a business owner. I know that it’s easier for them to serve me at the bar than at the table. So might as well make things easier for them. I guess.”
I laughed. “You’re a good guy, aren’t you?” I asked.
Daniel stared at me for a moment and then silently nodded. He didn’t try to defend himself, and he didn’t bring up those stories that were always in the tabloids. Instead, he just left it at that, leaving me to draw my own conclusions.
And all I wanted to do, just then, was climb across the table and kiss him—or more. I’d never been like this with anyone else, so I didn’t know where the feelings were coming from. But I did know that I was definitely powerless to stop it.
Daniel grinned across the table at me, though, and somehow, that eased my nerves. I grinned back at him and then tapped my fingers on the edge of my menu. “So you’re ready to order?” I asked him.
Chapter 19
Daniel
I WASN’T SURE I HAD taken Abby to the right place. I could tell that from the moment she entered, she was uncomfortable and uncertain. As though she thought that she didn’t belong here. As though she was expecting this to be some kind of elaborate joke I was pulling on her.
I wished there were some way that I could convince her that this was far from a joke and that she was the most attractive woman in that bar that evening.
But I found myself inexplicably feeling tongue-tied and uncertain. At least, until she finally grinned across the table at me. Then, I’d found myself grinning back at her, and I’d realized that everything was going to be all right.
When I realized that she had finally relaxed, it gave me free rein to relax as well. And think about how damned sexy she looked. Her work clothes, of course, were tailored to fit her. So it wasn’t like her curves were any sort of surprise. But at the same time, I had never expected her to look like this. In heels and a fitted black dress, well. I didn’t even know what to say to her.
“Work has been going well,” I said lamely.
Abby flinched, actually flinched. I watched her swallow hard. “Right,” she said. “Work has been going well.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I said, only to watch her emotions plummet. “I mean, it is. I’m not saying that I want to fire you or anything. You’ve been doing a great job. Just, all I’m saying is that...you look really good tonight.”
Abby stared at me for a moment, like it was taking her a while to figure out what it was I had said. Then, she gave me a small grin. “You think so?” she asked, preening and flirting like there was no uncertainty there.
I couldn’t help feeling that maybe there was more than one of her inside that head of hers. That she didn’t know how to act around me, that she didn’t know how to respond to me. I wanted to put her at ease, to let her know that everything was okay, but I didn’t know what to say. Or do. I fidgeted for a minute with my hands, and she grinned at me.
“I thought you would be the kind of guy who didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought of him,” she said. Then, immediately afterward, she clapped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
I laughed. “Don’t worry about it,” I told her.
She still looked unsure. “Just, I don’t think of you like this,” she said. “Not that I read the tabloids, and not that I spend that much time thinking about you. But you’re the famous billionaire. You’re the guy who’s well-known throughout all of Chicago.”
“The player,” I said flatly. Is that all she thought that I was? She probably thought that this whole date was just about me finding her attractive. She probably thought I wanted nothing more than to fuck her. But it was so much more than that.
I couldn’t find the words to convince her, though. The more I thought about trying to convince her, the more sure I was that I was just going to sound desperate or overly excited.
I didn’t want either of those things.
“It’s not that you’re a player. Or a socialite,” Abby said, though, shaking her head. She frowned. “Or a bad boy, or whatever else they call you.”
“So it’s about my money?” I asked jokingly, trying to hide how hurt I was.
But that had Abby herself looking hurt. “No, of course not,” she said. “It’s just that...” She trailed off, and I could tell that it was bad, whatever it was that she wanted to say to me.
“What?” I asked tightly.