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I push back from the table and stand from my seat. I’ve had enough of his antics. “Did you just bring me here to make fun of me?” I cross my arms over my chest and glare down at him. Yeah, I’m pissed, but the thought that he only wants to poke fun at me stings, too.
He stops laughing, wisely sobering in light of my anger.
“Sit down, kitten,” he orders me stoically, never rising from his seat.
“I think I should just go home. I’m sure this isn’t going how you planned it would,” I tell him honestly. Seriously, what is he doing with me here? I don’t know how to act around him. He brings out the worst in me.
“Sit down,” he repeats more firmly this time.
I harden my jaw at the order.
He finally looks up at me and sighs heavily. “If I have to get up out of this chair and make you, you won’t like the consequences. I promise you.”
I glare at him some more, indignant at the way the man keeps bossing me around. He holds my gaze with his golden eyes, challenging me. I slowly lower myself back down to perch on the edge of the chair, his threat still ringing in the air between us. I don’t know what the hell he’d do, but something tells me I don’t want to find out.
“Eat,” he commands, gesturing to my untouched dinner plate with his fork as he proceeds to take bites of his entree. I lift the dome of my own entree and take a cautious bite of the food.
Not because I’m obeying him. But because it smells delicious and I actually am hungry.
His eyes light with triumph at what he takes as my obedience.
I consider stabbing him with my fork.
Instead, I ask him, “So what do you do when you’re not stalking women and threatening them over dinner?” I cock my head to the side innocently and smile sweetly at him in what’s a blatant display of sarcasm.
“You’re so beautiful when you smile at me like that,” he murmurs. His statement catches me off guard, and my breath catches in my throat. His eyes never leave my face. He’s staring at me in that intense way of his, and I have to fight to keep from squirming under his scrutiny.
I swallow the bite I’m chewing, not even tasting it. He gives me a breathtaking smile of his own like he knows exactly the effect he’s having on me.
“I own a software development company.” He says it likes it’s no big deal, like it’s a normal job.
“That sounds complicated,” I comment back.
“It’s demanding,” he admits. “What about your job at the nursery?” he asks. “Do you enjoy it?”
“Should I even be surprised that you already know where I work, stalker?” I cock an eyebrow at him.
He grins devilishly. “One of the perks of owning an advanced software company. Plus, your dad was more than willing to volunteer the information while I was waiting for you to come down.”
He frowns as he notices my untouched wine glass. “Do you not like the wine?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “I’ve never had wine before.”
“Try it,” he orders.
“I’m technically not old enough to drink,” I point out to him.
His lips twist up into a smirk, “Since when are you averse to breaking the law, kitten?”
My eyes shoot daggers at him, but I take a tentative sip of the deep burgundy liquid anyway.
It’s not the best thing I’ve ever tasted, but it’s not the worst either.
He chuckles at the look on my face.
We continue to talk as we eat. Nick mostly asks me about the types of things I do at my job and if I’ve always lived here. What I like to do in my spare time. He keeps the conversation focused solely on me, and he pays such rapt attention to all my answers, his eyes never wavering from me like he’s trying to memorize everything I say. It’s both flattering and a bit unnerving. I’m not used to having such intense focus on me.
The food really is delicious, though, and Nick pours me another glass of wine after I finish the first one. I don’t know if it’s the wine or the conversation, but I begin to relax.
