I stepped back out onto the shop floor, handing the dress over to the manager to bag up for me while I pulled my sunglasses from my purse, wanting to hide from Matt.
He took the dress bag for me and led me back to the waiting car. As we climbed inside, my stomach rumbled loudly.
“Hungry, Rogue?”
“No, I’m good. We should go back to the hotel.”
He tutted. “Don’t be a brat, Frankie. If you’re hungry, eat. And put your seatbelt on.”
“Fuck off, Matt.”
“Addie warned me not to let you get hungry, as you get all snappy.”
“Funny.”
“I’m not being funny. You want to go eat?”
“Yes. Do you still want to go?”
“I want whatever brings that smile back to your face, Rogue. I like how much you smile when you’re eating.”
Staring out of the window, the flustered feeling that our brief moment in the changing room created dissolved, replaced with the knowledge that this man wanted to go out of his way to make me smile.
When we arrived at the restaurant I’d wanted to try, Matt had a word with the owner, who showed us to a quiet table at the back of the room. Matt pulled out my chair for me, waiting until I sat before moving off to stand away from the table in the shadows.
“Matt,” I hissed. “What are you doing?”
He stepped back to the table. Leaning over me from behind, he pressed his hands onto the white linen tablecloth, lowering his lips to my ear so no one could hear us. “Letting you have dinner.”
I turned to look up at him, his face inches from mine. “I invited you to eat with me, not be my bodyguard.”
“Frankie, it’s not right. I’m just the hired help. If people see me with you, the press will have a field day.”
“Matt…”
“Would you have invited Neo to eat with you?”
“No, but you’re not him. Plus, he’s vegan, so he would never have eaten here.”
“I’m going to let you eat, Frankie.”
“Matt, you will sit your ass down and not make me look like an idiot. I don’t want people to think I’m the Cosmic God who makes her staff wait while she has food. Sit and eat with me or we leave, and you’ve already seen a hungry Frankie is a cranky bitch.”
He sighed. “Fine. I’ll eat with you, but you’re paying.” He winked as he sat across from me, signaling for the server. “You really are hard work, Rogue.”
“The good things are worth working for, Matt,” I replied, handing him my menu.
Matt
Ihadeveryintentionof letting her eat. When she mentioned the restaurant, I didn’t know she wanted me to eatwithher. It was unheard of. My job was to keep her safe and stay hidden. I prided myself on how good I was at going unnoticed, despite my size. I should have said no. I should have ignored those wide, honey-colored eyes. I should have ignored her threats, but I’d meant what I said in the car; I really would do anything to make her smile. So, I sat across from her, I called over the waiter and we ordered, aware that our photos would probably end up in some newspaper tomorrow with a story about Frankie’s ‘mysterious new man.’
No matter how uncomfortable I was sitting across from a Cosmic God, looking like we were having an intimate dinner for two in the prying eyes of everyone in the restaurant, I couldn’t deny how easily we chatted and how refreshing it was to be around a woman who was so much fun.
She laughed easily, spoke freely, and she seemed to give zero shits about what other people thought of her, and given who she was, it amazed me how ‘normal’ she seemed.
We ate, and I watched as she devoured an enormous plate of pasta and then a chocolate fondue with extra ice cream. Every mouthful was like my own personal hell.How could someone look so hot while eating?The desert almost tipped me over the edge, my cock twitching in my jeans as I watched her close her eyes, letting out a long, low moan as she wrapped her bee-stung lips around the spoon, licking the remnants of the chocolate and ice cream from it.
When I'd woken up with her asleep on top of me, feeling how my body reacted to her, I’d promised myself to put some distance between us, but the more I tried, the more she seemed to draw me to her like a magnet. I tried to focus on doing my job, but everything I did brought me back to Frankie.