AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes. A date.” A sexy grin slides across his lips. “Come on, we’re this way.” He points to the little pizzeria across the road. It’s one of my favorite restaurants. I just can’t imagine Hunter inside it eating pizza. I’ve never seen him eat, but I imagined him to be more of a sophisticated fine dining person who only visits restaurants that are booked out months in advance.
When he tugs on my hand, pulling me to go with him, I follow.
I catch the spark of interest in his eyes before he looks away and something inside me clears my thoughts of Ryan, telling me to stop thinking about him and explore this strange encounter with Hunter. This… date.
We cross the road and head into the restaurant. I’m not surprised when people recognize us straight away. Since our engagement, our faces have been plastered across every newspaper in the city.
We get VIP treatment the moment we’re spotted walking through the doors.
The smiley, well-dressed waiter who welcomes us in ushers Hunter and me toward a beautiful booth on the terrace where we’re away from everyone and have a great view of the garden. It’s the perfect place to sit on a sunny day like this.
The waiter hands us menus and Hunter orders a bottle of Italian wine for us to start with. To my surprise he also orders my favorite pizza. The American hot with roquito and chili peppers.
It’s the first and only thing I’ve discovered that we have in common.
“You look surprised by my order,” he states when the waiter saunters away.
“Just never figured you for a pizza guy. This is also the first time I’ve seen you wearing normal-people clothes.”
Like the other night, he chuckles in the deep hearty way that tells me I really made him laugh. “I guess I’m always dressed for business.”
“You are.”
“I’m always working. It’s easier to be ready when I need to be.”
“Of course.”
His gaze flicks down to the ring on my finger, and suddenly my mind is ravaged with the memory of how he gave it to me.
The moment breaks when the waiter returns with our wine and pours us each a glass.
“So, how are plans for your fundraiser going?” Hunter asks, taking a sip of his wine.
“It’s going great. Better than I expected.”
“Is that because soldier boy is working with you?”
I roll my eyes at him. I should have known he wouldn’t drop the topic of Ryan so easily. “No, it’s not because he’s working with me. I wouldn’t even go as far as saying he does. He’s only there as a representative from my father’s office.”
“Good for him.”
I groan inwardly and decide to let that comment slide. “What about you? I didn’t expect to see you again until the engagement party. Paige said you’d be crazy busy.”
He sits back and stares at me. “I’ll be around until later today, then I’m heading to San Francisco. I thought I’d see you, then register my boat for the sailing competition. You know, the one you saw in the magazine the other night.”
His smile becomes sinful and I realize that he was watching me that night for a lot longer than I thought. That sailing magazine was one of the first things I picked up when I went into his office.
“Right, I remember.”
“Good, so now you know I’m not boring.”
Great. He heard me say that too. He must have just stood there watching and waiting for me to get myself deeper in trouble before he made his presence known.
“I guess so. What happens in this competition?”
“We sail from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia. It’s roughly a three-day journey, but of course, whoever gets there fastest wins. I’ve won for the last three years in a row.”
“Really?”
