Charlotte found herself staring at the menu, her mind too distracted to really understand any of the words on it. Jordan was being awfully quiet on the other side of the table, which just made things worse. The whole point of coming to this restaurant was to avoid people like Declan, not run into them. She turned the menu over to find the wine list before deciding she needed something stiffer than that.
"Charlotte?" She looked up to see Jordan and their waiter staring at her. "Did you want something to drink?"
"Another bourbon on the rocks."
"Make that two," Jordan added quickly.
Their drinks came, their menus were taken away with their order, and barely a word had spoken between them. Jordan just stared out the restaurant's windows at an enemy who had already disappeared into the night of New York. She knew how he felt. Hell, she would be the one staring out the front windows right now if she was the one facing them.
"Jordan?"
His eyes snapped back to her. "Sorry. I just…" His voice tapered off into silence before he drew a dramatic breath. "You never mentioned that you knew Declan Reed."
She shrugged, hoping it would hide the truth. "Didn't think it was that important to mention."
Jordan's eyes narrowed. "How well do you know him?"
"Knew him." Her hands nervously played the silverware in front of her. "I knew him well enough," she said quietly.
"How well?" he asked in a low, demanding voice.
"I knew him," she responded. "There's nothing else to say."
He stared at her with his stormy blue eyes. "I think there is."
"There isn't," she said forcefully as she grabbed her napkin. "Besides, I'm not going to let some hockey player ruin our date."
Jordan arched his eyebrow towards her. "I'm a hockey player."
"You're the captain of one of the best teams in the league. That other guy is just a hockey player."
She forced herself to smile, trying to reassure both of them that it was best to forget that other guy. Charlotte took another drink from her glass to try and cut down the tension that was filling the space between them.
Declan had done enough damage to her already. She wasn't about to have him spoil her date with Jordan in Manhattan.
Jordan shivered as they stepped out from the restaurant into the cold air. The reaction surprised him considering the heat he was trying to hold in.
"Well, not bad for a night in Manhattan, right?"
Jordan gave her strained smile. "Sure."
Except it wasn't. He remembered Charlotte's reaction in the car on trade deadline day when Declan's name was brought up, the way she reacted when he mentioned that asshole at her apartment after the charity dinner.
Jordan had to give her credit for trying to divert his attention at dinner. She asked how the team was doing or what was going on with Ethan. But there was a tension between them. He knew about Declan now, even if he didn't know exactly what there was to know. She was doing something he considered to be a stereotypical high society move: trying to distract him from the issue by asking pithy questions and talking about anything she could think of to fill the space. He liked Charlotte because she wasn't pithy, at least not until tonight.
Charlotte stopped in front of him on the sidewalk and put her hand into his, pulling him closer to kiss him. He pulled away slightly, his eyes staring at her for any signs that she would tell him more about their earlier run-in, but she was a blank slate.
"Let me get a cab for you," he said as he stepped out with his hand raised.
"How gentlemanly of you."
"I try," he reply flatly.
Jordan was thankful to see a yellow cab pull up so fast.
"You want to share this with me?" she asked quietly.
He shook his head. "I'm going the other direction, and it's only a few blocks away. Get yourself home."
