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“Baby, let go of that thing for a minute. It’s rude,” Dominic whispered in my ear, and my flesh instantly raised in goose bumps.
With a sigh, I put the phone down and pouted, pretending to be sad.
“Happy?” I whispered back.
“Very,” he said with a wink, then his eyes fell on my chest, my cleavage, and his fake smile dropped like a rock. The others noticed—I could see them from the corner of my eye, which was why I grinned at Dominic, something that would be the appropriate response to his reaction.
He reached out his hand and squeezed my fingers only for a second, but a second was more than enough to send jolts of electricity up my arms. It faded quickly when I imagined what he meant by that squeeze: good job, Teddy. You’re doing great. Keep going. Like I was some kid in need of pats on the back.
But the conversation picked up again, and I got to eat the fish filet that tasted more like lemon than anything else and look around at the tables close to us, which were strangely still all empty. The rest of the restaurant was full, but not one person was sitting close to us. Arranged by Freddie Olson maybe?
Dominic talked and talked, and eventually he took off his jacket and bow tie and unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt. He did it all so naturally, and he spoke with so much passion about the weapons Bennett Technologies had created, you’d think he made all of them himself. Once again, I was impressed by his acting skills, and the more these people saw of him, the more he spoke, the more comfortable they became.
When dinner was over, and the waiter took away our plates, none of them asked for dessert except me and Margaret.
“I’ll have what she’s having,” she told the waiter with a wide smile.
“Right away, ma’am,” the waiter said and practically ran away from the table. Though humans didn’t really know about the existence of the supernatural in the world, they could still feel the energy in the air, and most of them tended to want to keep away from it.
“Can I just say, your hair looks amazing,” Margaret said and ran her own fingers through her messy bob do. It looked great on her, actually. The chestnut highlights went perfectly with her eyes.
“Thank you,” I said, much louder than necessary. “It’s a wig, but I fixed it myself.” And I made a point of touching the waves Sandra’s assistants had done.
“Wow, I couldn’t even tell,” she said, her eyes on my hairline. I’ll admit, I was a bit scared she’d call bullshit or—God forbid—ask to feel my hair. But she didn’t. “Long hair never looked good on me,” she said instead, and the sweetness of her voice was soft.
“Oh, I’m sure you’d look great with some longer layers,” I said, folding my hands under my chin. “What are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Dryad,” she said, and my bullshit radar went off like crazy. She was no dryad. Dryads were nature nymphs. Their energy was calm, relaxed, and Margaret’s was a tiny bit nervous, somehow. Jittery.
“Oh, I’d have never guessed,” I said, waving my hand away. “I’m a pixie, if you couldn’t tell.” Another laugh.
“How could I miss it?” she said with a cheeky grin.
“Right? I couldn’t pretend to be something else if I tried. You dryads have it easy,” I said and played with the diamond of my necklace. Her eyes moved to it just for a split second, but her smile faltered all the same.
“So, what do you do with these guys? Are they always as…erm,” I looked pointedly at the men she was here with, “professional, I’d say.”
“I think you mean boring—and yes, they are,” she said. “But that’s the nature of the business, I guess.”
“Eh, not really. My boyfriend is a true professional, too, but he’s the least boring person in the world,” I said, putting a hand on Dominic’s shoulder, who didn’t even flinch, just kept the conversation going with the men. “But I think that might just be ‘cuz he loves me, you know?” I looked at him with a goofy smile and ran my fingers over the back of his neck. That made him stop for a second and turn to wink at me.
Yep, a true professional.
“It’s very obvious,” Margaret said, nodding. “You guys are lucky.”
“Right?” I laughed. “He more than me. You can’t even imagine all the things I have to go through for this man. All the late-night talks about weapons and goggles and tiny explosive needles…it does get tiring, but I know he has nobody else to talk to about it. Nobody else he trusts.” And I kept playing with the tips of Dominic’s hair. Soft. Thick. Perfect.
Not that I noticed.
“So, he tells you everything?” she asked in a hushed voice, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
“Everything,” I repeated with a nod. “It’s hard for him, too, you know. He has all these people to take care of. So many families get fed because of his work. Did you know he employs over three thousand people?”
I could have sworn Margaret was going to roll her eyes, but she stopped herself at the last second. “That’s a lot of people,” she finally said. “I imagine you help him out at work, too?”
“No, not really. Office work bores me. I’m a pixie,” I said with a shrug. “I do help when he needs to carry something or keep something safe. Like I said, nobody else he trusts is around him. And now with his dad gone…poor baby.” I pouted and rested my head on Dominic’s shoulder.
“Yeah,” Margaret said, and when I closed my eyes almost all the way and could only see flashes of her through my lashes, I saw her staring at the diamond around my neck intently. “Yeah, poor baby.”
