AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They’re mine!”
“Sharing means caring,” he intoned piously, causing another outburst of laughter from her.
“I’ve stabbed people for less,” she threatened. “Mike had fork marks for a week.”
“They’re worth the risk,” he told her, reaching for another. That she didn’t do more than glare made him feel incredibly smug.
By the time they’d ordered and their food had come, at least half the servers and one of the managers in the restaurant had swung by their table to say hello. The rest had waved to Angel. It didn’t make for the steadiest flow of conversation, but it did give Adam an opportunity to observe her with other people. It was obvious everyone at the restaurant liked her, she was friendly but not flirtatious with the guys, although more than one of them gave Adam a challenging look. From what he could tell, she was a friendly, tactile, outgoing person. Some of the guys might misinterpret a hug from her, but they couldn’t miss the fact that she was obviously out on a date.
“Everyone here seems to like you, and not just because Q used to work here,” he said, waving his fork in a little circle to indicate the workers in the restaurant who kept stopping by to say hello.
“I’m friendly with a lot of people,” she said with a little shrug and another smile.
Friendly with, not friends with. It was a small but important distinction.
“Well, all of my friends like you,” he said. “In fact, I’m pretty sure you’ll be hearing from one of the girls soon. Jessica and Hilary are dying to spend more time with you.”
Immediately Angel’s face brightened.
Angel
“I like them too,” she said. “And Lexie. And Olivia.”
They were fun. She also didn’t have any close girl friends anymore, other than Leigh. They’d all drifted apart over the years. But she liked the women at Stronghold. They were fun, and she knew they wouldn’t judge her for the things she wanted in the bedroom. Jessica would be the last person to judge her, considering.
“Angel? Where’d you go?”
She blinked. “Sorry, I was thinking about your friends.”
The look he gave her reminded her of Mr. Grouchy. As if her answer had disgruntled him somehow.
“What about my friends?”
“I was thinking Jessica seems incredibly secure... I’m not sure I could handle a relationship with two guys,” Angel said, repeating her thoughts out loud for him. She trusted he knew she wasn’t being judgmental. “I’d always be worried I wasn’t keeping them both happy. It must be exhausting.”
The expression on Adam’s face lightened as he chuckled. “I think Jessica would agree with you about the exhausting part, but she doesn’t seem to have any trouble keeping them both happy. As long as she’s happy, they are.”
Which seemed a little opposite to Angel. Wasn’t it the submissive who was supposed to keep the dominant happy? Then again, she supposed in any relationship, if one person wasn’t happy the other one wouldn’t be either. Well, any good relationship.
The rest of dinner they ended up talking about each other’s various interests. They had a lot in common, like their taste in books and movies, and as many things they were complete opposites on. While Adam was obviously athletic and spent time in Liam’s dojo, he also loved to solve math problems for fun. Angel hadn’t done math that wasn’t necessary since her freshman year of college. When pushed, he admitted he was as likely to be playing his guitar as he was playing with numbers, but it still boggled her mind.
For his part, Adam seemed somewhat disturbed by her lack of desire for a nine to five job. He wasn’t the first person to have that reaction, but he was the pushiest, despite how subtle he was. Once they got on the topic of jobs and careers she listened to a carefully worded spiel about how his company helped people find jobs. It wasn’t until about ten minutes in that she realized he wanted to do the same for her.
And was disgruntled when she called him on it and when she told him she liked having part-time jobs.
“What about health insurance? And retirement?”
Angel shrugged, enjoying teasing him. “I’m pretty healthy and when I get arthritis and can’t sew or teach self-defense anymore, I’ll take over at my parents’ dance studio.”
“How are you going to do that if you have arthritis?” he asked, almost fiercely. It was kinda cute how concerned he obviously was, although she didn’t know whether or not to be insulted he didn’t seem to think she was capable of taking care of herself.
Then again, it’s not like she was giving him any other kind of impression. Angel laughed.
“Relax, I have an IRA I put money into, I’m teasing you.” She grinned at him, but Mr. Grouchy was not entirely appeased.
“What about health insurance?”
“I have basic insurance through the college I teach classes at.”
