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Rhys nervously stood in line. He took his hands out of his pockets and then put them back in. The motion of doing so repeatedly kept his mind from thinking the worst was about to happen. He didn’t care if the date went south. He only cared that Maisie was inside the restaurant, waiting for him. The rest he could easily deal with.
It was finally his turn at the host stand. Rhys smiled, and the young woman blushed. “I’m here to meet a friend,” he said as naturally as possible.
“You can go in. Most of the people waiting for their dates are at the bar. We don’t seat anyone until their entire party arrives.”
Rhys knew this from past experience, but hearing it tonight of all nights, stung. While he’d never stood anyone up, friends of his had. It always bothered him that people forgot about the feelings of others, especially on nights like tonight.
The entrance led into a small waiting space. Rhys maneuvered around couples waiting for their tables. He adjusted his red tie before he stepped into the bar area. People were crowded around the L-shaped bar. It seemed that Valentine’s Day had lost the magical romantic feel and had turned into an all-out party, like something he’d see on New Year’s Eve.
Were they single men and women looking for a date? Waiting to pounce on the person whose dates hadn’t shown up? The thought twisted Rhys’s stomach. He could never. He would never.
Rhys struggled his way through the bodies until he had a clear view of the bar. Each seat had someone sitting in it, looking lonely or lost, except for four people, two men and two women. He scanned each of the women, hoping for any recollection from the grocery store.
Both of them waved.
What the fuck.
They were seated at the end of the bar. He studied the second one, the one not on the edge, and deduced he didn’t know her, but she smiled, and he returned the gesture. Rhys stepped forward, and in that moment he noticed the expression on the face of the woman on the end. It went from excitement to sadness. Rhys moved toward her.Shewas the one he met in the store. He felt it in his bones.
A group of people cut him off, and it took him longer than necessary to reach Maisie. When he did, he caught the bartender handing her a slip of paper.
It had better be her tab and not his number.
The thought struck Rhys as odd, yet he also welcomed it. He had no claim over this woman, but something protective and decidedly alpha had emerged within the seconds he walked over to her.
“I’ve got this.” He had a hundred-dollar bill out and directed it at the bartender without taking his eyes off Maisie’s. Her breath caught and his body shivered in response to her. “I believe our table is ready. Shall we?”
Rhys held his arm out for Maisie to take and let her lead them because he couldn’t take his eyes off her. The response he felt toward her in the grocery store was now tenfold and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with that. The idea of humping her leg flashed in his mind, and he smiled at the thought. Maisie looked up at that exact moment, and Rhys had no choice but to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself in check. She was fucking beautiful, and he was officially smitten.
Maisie tore her eyes away from his and watched as he signaled for the hostess, and they followed her through the crowded restaurant. When the walkway became crowded, he slipped his hand into hers and kept her close. When they arrived at the table, which was thankfully tucked away in a corner, he held her chair out for her, and then sat across from her.
“I’m Rhys,” he said after the hostess left them. “And I’m really hoping the letter I read is about me.”
“I’m Maisie, and yes, it is. Thank you for showing up.”
“There’s no other place I’d rather be right now, then here with you.”
seven
Someone pinch me.
Maisie sat across from Rhys and clamped her legs together, in the hope of quelling the excitement she felt. The man across from her was the exact man she remembered from the store. Except, he was so much more. In the few minutes they had spent together, he was by far the most gentlemanly man she had ever met. When Rhys held her chair out for her, she wanted to jump up and down and ask for his mother’s number to thank her. The simplest of gestures went a long way with her.
And now, he held her hand while they waited for their food. Rhys leaned into the corner, in a casual way that told Maisie he was comfortable. He wasn’t rigid or looking around for an escape.
“I’m really sorry for what I did in the store. Is your head okay?”
“Don’t give it a second thought,” Rhys told her as his thumb swept back and forth over her hand. “Things happen.”
“I’m a klutz,” she told him. “Always walking into things or walking around a corner and crashing into my coworkers.”
“What do you do for work?” he asked as he sat up. Still, he held her hand.
“I’m an ED nurse.”
“That’s right. I forgot you mentioned it after we bumped heads. What’s ED?”
“Emergency department,” she told him.
