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He disappears as quickly as he appeared.
I walk over to the table where Hannah is seated. The muted lights make her blonde hair glow, turning it the color of spun gold.
She glances up as I take the chair across from her, grabbing her water glass and taking a delicate sip. “That was fast. I figured he’d have a longer list of reasons on why you shouldn’t be out to dinner with me.”
I huff a laugh before picking up my menu. “Itwaswork. You like scallops?”
“Do you ever feel guilty about being rich?”
I raise one brow, caught off guard by the question. Something that happens a lot around Hannah. She has a tendency to ask me questions no one else has. Most people just whisper about my net worth with jealousy in their voice and dollar signs in their eyes.
“Asks the girl who grew up in a mansion in Montecito.”
Hannah rolls her eyes. “That was my parents’ money. And they both grew up middle-class. They paid for college, but then I was on my own.”
“I feelunworthyof it,” I say. “I’m just capitalizing on what was already built by someone else.”
“Is that why you’re always working? Trying to feel worthy?”
“That’s part of it, probably. The rest is, I don’t have anything else. I don’t enjoy going to parties. I go to them with a plan on who I need to approach and do days of research so I know exactly what to say to them. When I travel, it’s for work.” I force a smile, hating the way my skin crawls from the vulnerability. “My life is pretty boring. Might as well work.”
“What about women?”
I raise one eyebrow. “Asks my wife.”
Even in the low light, her cheeks are clearly red. I’m not sure if I should mention Quinn again or leave the topic alone. I meant what I told Hannah earlier, I shouldn’t have gone out with her.
“Have you ever been in love?” she asks.
I shake my head, but the motion is less confident than it would have been a couple of weeks ago. “For a while, I thought that part of my life was all planned out. I fooled around a lot in high school and the first year of college, rebelling against it the only way I could. After graduation there were a few women who lasted more than a couple of weeks, but not many. According to most of them, I worked too much.”
Hannah half-smiles. “Imagine that.”
“Good evening.” A waiter appears, setting a basket of bread on the table along with a tray of olive oil dusted with colorful spices. “I’m Steve, and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I get you two anything to drink?”
Hannah orders a cocktail and I ask for a whiskey. Our waiter says he’ll be back shortly, then disappears.
“What about you?” I ask as soon as he’s gone.
She grabs a piece of bread and rips a section off, before dunking it in the oil. “I’ve never been in love. My last relationship was kind of an experiment, to see what would happen if I put the effort in. He lived in San Diego, and between the distance and his schedule with the team, I didn’t see him all that often. Didn’t bother me, which should have been my first clue. I think I’m just defective when it comes to that stuff.” Hannah raises a shoulder, drops it, and then pops the bread in her mouth.
“You’re not defective.”
“You’re not boring.”
I half-smile, hiding how much those words mean to me. Because I feel it, a lot of the time.
“How did it end?”
I assume she’s talking about Declan, the guy Eddie mentioned at the bar. When she shifts in her seat, I know I’m right. “He, uh, proposed.”
“Wow.”
“Yep.” She sighs. “He called me a never-ending challenge.”
“So, exciting?”
Hannah smiles. “I think the implication was more that I was exhausting. Not worth it. Things didn’t end well between us, obviously.”
