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Across the table, Alanna pulled the first glass from the holder. “Cheers to… well, we haven’t really hit on any positive topics, have we?”
He took a gamble. “How about in memory of your cat?”
She smiled at that and raised her glass. “You were a bitch, but you were my kind of bitch.”
Sully held out his glass. They clinked. Their eyes met. Their hands were still touching. The smoothness of her skin beneath his palm heated his blood. He shifted in his seat and the chair squeaked.
Alanna giggled, sipped her wine, and then her face pinched. As soon as Sully took a sip of his own glass, he understood why. He was no wine connoisseur, but the tart flavor washing down his throat was nothing near smooth nor “richly complex” as Dylan had promised.
“Ugh.” Alanna set down her glass and scooched it away for good measure. “Whoever made this blend doesn’t know shit about wine.”
Another swing and a miss. Sully’s tie felt far too tight… and he wasn’t even wearing a tie. Shoving his glasses up his face, he glanced down at his phone screen in utter desperation. The sharks were circling, and his paltry life raft was taking on water.
“If you were a wrestler, what would your entrance music be?” he croaked.
“What?” She quirked a pale eyebrow in confusion.
With an imaginary groan, his raft broke apart and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. The sharks gleefully swam in for the kill.
“It’s an icebreaker,” Sully admitted miserably.
This was it. Alanna was going to stand from her uncomfortable, squeaky chair and leave. Maybe she’d toss some of the horrible wine in his face for good measure on her way out of his life.
“Can’t Stop Me Nowby Oh The Larceny,” she said.
Sully looked up and met her amused gaze.
“More icebreakers, hmmmm? Let’s see.” She plucked the second wine glass off the stand and swirled it absently as she thought. “If you had to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?”
Sully sat back in his chair, causing it to squeak. “Interesting question,” he murmured, immediately engrossed. “Let’s see. Well, first of all, it would have to contain all the vitamins and minerals I’d need to maintain a healthy life indefinitely. And it’d also need to include the right macro-nutritional balance. We’re talking proteins, carbs, and fat… what?”
She was staring at him, both blonde eyebrows now raised. “I would have said rocky road ice cream, but this is interesting. Please continue.”
Sully drummed his fingertips on the table. “Okay. I’d have to ensure the caloric load was sufficient over the course of three meals a day to meet my energy needs without an excess. Then, of course, there would be the issue of taste. Since I’ll be eating it for the rest of my life, I’m thinking a light vanilla, maybe with a little zest.” His brain hummed as he sifted through different possibilities. “Hmmm, I think the best option would be a smoothie of some sort. Something where I could mix a lot of different fruits and vegetables with protein powder. Fiber would be important, too. I’d need to do some research, put together some spreadsheets, do A LOT of quality testing, but that’s the general idea.” He sat back, satisfied.
“Your mind is an interesting place,” Alanna commented. She sipped hesitantly from the second glass in her wine flight, grimaced, and set it down on the table.
“Sorry. I used to be an engineer. I’m half robot.”
“And what’s the other half?” Her tone turned teasing.
“So, are we ready to order?” The cloud of cologne announced Dylan’s return. “And how’s that wine? Great, right?”
Sully glanced at the menu for the first time and tried not to groan. He couldn’t pronounce half the ludicrously priced entrées, much less figure out what they actually were. And if the food was half as bad as the wine, they were in trouble. Alanna looked equally wary.
Sully set down the menu. He’d made a mistake. A big one. He’d tried to give Alanna a frou-frou experience because that’s what he thought she expected. But that wasn’t him, and there was no way he was going to win her over by trying to pretend he belonged in a place like this.
He needed to show her the real Sully Brooks, terrifying as that prospect felt.
“Actually,” Sully said, smiling up at Dylan, “We’ll take the check.”
*
“You sure this pile of bolts is going to hold together?” Alanna asked in the passenger seat of Sully’s Mazda as they put the Desert Bloom Winery in the rearview mirror.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Sully told her. “I know she doesn’t look her best at the moment, but this car is a rockstar.” He patted the dash for emphasis. “Listen to that engine. Purrs like a dream.”
“If you say so.” A smile played on Alanna’s lips. She seemed intrigued by Sully’s abrupt change of plans. Fact, the only resistance she’d put up was at the arrival of the check. He’d practically had to pry it from her insistent hands, and she’d muttered something about male egos as he’d signed the eye-watering bill.
