Tony caught sight of me first, but other than his eyes flickering over me for a moment, he didn’t give my presence away. He simply picked up his wineglass, drained it, and replaced it on the table before lifting his linen napkin and wiping his mouth.
Beside him, Zariah was leaning toward her date. It was an intimate move, but her vacant gaze told me she wasn’t interested. From the expression on her face, she seemed bored to death. But she played her part, acting like she was having a good time.
Did she know I was coming and had decided to put on this little show for me? Or was this how she typically was with a date?
Jealousy bubbled up inside me, and I chose to believe it was the former rather than the latter. Stopping behind the man’s chair, I waited for Zariah to notice me. Her blue gaze lifted, and I knew without a doubt she’d been expecting me. Which was why when she placed her hand flirtatiously over her date’s and rubbed her thumb over his knuckles, I didn’t immediately react.
There was a dare in those blue depths. Fuck, that sparkle in her eyes was so damn sexy. She’d made her move, and now she was waiting for me to make my own. The tip of her tongue teased over her bottom lip, and I swallowed a groan. She might as well have begged for me to put my cock in her mouth.
Arching a brow at her in challenge, I dropped a heavy hand on the date’s shoulder. “I believe you’re in my seat, friend,” I said through gritted teeth, while still keeping a smile on my face.
The man jerked at my touch before stiffening and then jumping to his feet to confront me. But when he had to tip his head back to meet my gaze, his throat bobbed in wariness. His forehead crinkled with recognition, and he muttered my name hesitantly. “Nolan Krenshaw?”
I dropped my hand from his shoulder to his elbow and guided him out of the way as if he was a frail old woman. “Thanks for keeping my chair warm. Nice of you to entertain my date while I was delayed. But we’re all good here now, so you can be on your way.”
Grasping the back of the heavy chair, I pulled it back and sat before scooting forward, completely ignoring the other man as I reached for Zariah’s hand. “Sorry I’m late, Red. Someone sent me on a little scavenger hunt.”
She looked down at where my hand swallowed up her own, my thumb caressing her palm lovingly, before jerking her gaze back to my face. “Which one was the weak link?” she demanded. Huffing, she answered her own question. “It had to have been Vito. He’s such a sucker for pitchers. After this, I’m definitely telling Mom that he was the one who broke her favorite jade vase when he was twelve. I can’t believe I took the blame for the little brat.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny which or if either twin assisted me in finding the treasure of my extremely fun scavenger hunt.”
“For a baseball player, you speak oddly like a lawyer, Krenshaw,” she grumbled, picking up her glass of red wine with her free hand.
“That’s because the love of my life is a lawyer. I used to listen to her studying and practicing arguments for hours.” I winked when her eyes glittered at me, the two of us sharing the memories of those long-ago nights when she would walk around the living room after we’d spent hours making love in her bed. I needed to get up for an early morning practice, so she would go into the living room, but I was just so enthralled with how effortlessly she came up with her arguments or new points of view on the fly that I couldn’t help but listen to her until exhaustion finally consumed me. “I picked up all kinds of smart-sounding jargon while listening to her brilliant mind at work.”
Someone cleared their throat loudly, and I lifted my head to find the date still standing where I’d left him. His face was blood red, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head from either embarrassment or anger, probably both. Keeping Zariah’s hand trapped in mine, I lifted it to my lips and kissed her knuckles while leaving my eyes locked on his rapidly purpling face.
“Sorry, did you need something?” I asked as I slowly lowered Zariah’s hand back to the table as carefully as if it were priceless crystal.
He made a noise in the back of his throat that, surprisingly, didn’t break glass. As it was, Zariah and several others around us made whimpering noises from the ear pain of the high pitch. I turned my chin toward Tony. “Isn’t your job to keep the trash away from her?”
His lips twitched. “Funnily enough, she told me that you were the trash only a few hours ago. Yet here she is, holding your hand like she doesn’t want to let go.”
Gasping, Zariah quickly tried to pull her fingers free, but I only readjusted my hold on her so as not to harm her delicate skin. “Easy, Red,” I cautioned. “You bruise like a Georgia peach.”
“I’m here on a date, Nolan,” she hissed, lowering her head so those around us couldn’t hear her whisper-shout at me. “You’re causing a scene.”
“We spoke of this earlier,” I reminded her calmly. “You were supposed to wait for me at your house, and we were going to talk. This—” I lifted my chin at the date who had gone from making that piercing screeching sound to something resembling a hissing cat “—is just you being stubborn. I probably deserve whatever punishment you’re attempting to administer, but you shouldn’t play with other people’s feelings to get back at me, baby.”
“He’s not wrong,” Tony told her, cutting into his steak as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Besides, Perry over there has been worse than that Patrick idiot from a few weeks back. And it took a handful of us to dispatch that piece of shit. Including Torin Kennedy and his guards.”
Her lips curled at the mention of the billionaire. Kennedy had actually been a regular at the Red Sox games in the past. He had his own box, but it was rarely used these days and almost never by the man himself. I’d met him a few times, but other than to say hello, we’d never held an actual conversation.
I didn’t like the face Zariah made at the mention of the elusive billionaire, though.
Catching the look in my eyes, she made ahmphnoise. “My sister had a thing for him,” she said with a shrug. “Not me, idiot.” Then she quickly pointed her finger at Tony. “Don’t go spreading that around to Milo or anyone else, T.”
The bodyguard shrugged and continued to eat his steak, all the while the date—Perry—stood over our table, listening yet still doing that strange cat imitation of a hiss, and the three of us pretended like he wasn’t there. Sighing, I lifted my hand, alerting the nearest waiter.
The young man bounced over to the table. “Yes, Mr. Krenshaw, sir?”
“Have security show our unwanted guest out,” I instructed. “And then bring me the porterhouse, fries, and salad.”
“No.” Zariah stopped him, her eyes glittering with annoyance, and I figured she was about to tell the kid to have security toss me out. Instead, she surprised me when she instructed, “Bring him the salmon with the steamed veggies.”
I instantly pouted at her, swallowing my relief that she wasn’t fighting me on staying. “But I want red meat.”
“What did you eat last night?” she countered, both brows lifted.
“Steak,” I muttered, sulking. But really, I was practically purring in my seat because she was falling back into the pattern of the old days when she would watch my diet to make sure I was taking care of myself nutritionally as well as physically. It was just one of the hundreds of ways she had shown me that she loved me.
And that was whatshe’dwanted fromme.
To show her, in little and occasionally huge ways, that I loved her. Not just with words, but with actions. As she’d done with me every day of our relationship.
As she did right then.
“Right.” She turned her head back to the waiter, a warning in her tone that he was smart enough to listen to. “Salmon and vegetables.”