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“I saw her years ago.” A mischievous smile spread across Rez’s face. “Although it took her a while to notice me.”
I wished I could kick him under the table, but since he sat nearest Jack, I worried I would kick the detective by mistake. The man was playing with fire. Rez hadn’t exactly lied, though. He’d seen me first, but we were going to need a decent ‘how we met’ story if we were going to pull this off around other people.
“Is that so? Where did you guys meet?” Jack asked, pretending to inspect his breadstick. He wasn’t fooling me. The man was fishing for information. But why? For the case? Or could there be another other reason?
My mind was working overtime trying to create a story about us meeting in high school or while on vacation, but my mouth refused to spit out the words. I was finding it difficult to lie to Jack. Not only because he was a detective, and I was worried he would easily pick up on any mistruths, but because it just felt so wrong.
It’s one of the signs of a mate bond.Rez said, not bothering to hide the ‘I told you so’ tone in his voice.
Seriously? How is that a sign? I grumbled.
No one wants to lie to those who matter most to them. Regardless of what your head believes about logic, your heart believes Jack is meant to be yours, and it does not want to lie to him.
Well, that was freaking dandy. I had a feeling this was going to be a meal consisting of mainly linguine and lies, because I would need to lie like Pinocchio if I intended to walk out of this restaurant a free woman instead of wearing a pair of sparkly silver cuffs.
I’d go back to partial truths. It was the only compromise I could find for my conflicting heart and mind.
“We met after hours at an employee thing. At the museum.” I stumbled over my words and wanted to facepalm myself. Real smooth, Arizona.
At least it wasn’t exactly a lie. We had met after hours at the museum. The employee ‘thing’ wasn’t exactly a party, but more like my cleaning shift. That detail wasn’t necessary for him to know, though.
“I see.” Jack’s eyes bore into mine just a moment too long, and I fought the urge to squirm. Huffing a laugh, he turned to Rez. “What do you two do for work?”
I opened my mouth, but Rez beat me to it. “I’m a healer, a doctor.”
He was a what now? I sat back in my seat, feeling stunned and trying to hide it. I thought back to the terrifying night at the museum when I’d been dying on the sidewalk and he’d healed me. Rez had never mentioned having a career, but more importantly, why had I never thought to ask him? I’d been so caught up in how their arrival had changed my life that I’d not learned much about who they’d been before awakening.
“That’s fascinating.” Jack chuckled. “My mother wanted me to be a doctor, but that would have ended badly since I don’t handle the sight of blood very well.”
“But you’re a detective. Don’t you see a lot of blood?” I asked.
“I’m not a homicide detective, but I still see more than I would like.”
That made sense. Our conversation was paused as the waiter brought plates overflowing with pasta. For the next few minutes, all that could be heard was the clinking of forks on glass plates and my moans of appreciation for my food.
Looking up, I realized I must have moaned loud enough that all three men could hear because they were staring at me with looks of hunger that had nothing to do with food. I sucked in a sharp breath, and my skin burned as though I had a sunburn. Rez and Zon’s desire had my blood heating, but the raw need in Jack’s eyes surprised me.
Having the three sexiest men I’d ever laid eyes on look at me like I was the only meal they wanted to eat had me wishing I was an archaeologist, so I could crawl under the table and start digging for bones.
The moment was broken when the waiter brought refills for our drinks. Once he left, we all went back to our plates of food. Well, I tried to go back to eating, but I wasn’t really hungry for pasta anymore.
“So, Zon.” Jack took a sip of his water. “What line of work are you in?”
I stopped, twirling my fork around in circles, curious about Zon’s answer.
“I’m a nanny,” Zon answered.
Jack choked on his bread, and his eyebrows shot to his hairline.
Neither of us believed for one second that the hulking giant of a man covered in scars was a nanny. Unless he was a nanny for the Mafia and changed diapers with one hand while strangling an assassin with the other.
Zon leaned back, crossing his arms with a scowl. “What? Don’t I look like a nanny?” Before we could answer, his stern features disappeared, and he chuckled. “I’m a personal trainer.”
Jack laughed. “That is far more believable.”
I was dying to know more about their lives before. I hadn’t really thought about them having careers, but I couldn’t ask questions now without raising Jack’s suspicions. They were supposed to be my old friends, which meant I should probably know almost everything about them.
“We are both taking some personal time off,” Rez added. “We just arrived in town a few days ago.”
