Or that she’d be the type of woman to drink a chocolate martini. But she’d seen it on a show on Netflix and she’d wanted to try it. Didier, being gallant, ordered one as well. Jamie would say she felt posh, and she wouldn’t disagree with him.
“Why did you decide to work with Winners Inc.?” she asked, sipping her cocktail.
Didier leaned back, one arm around the back of their curved bench, the other hand holding his drink. “It felt the right thing to do.”
She watched him from over the rim of her drink. “You don’t miss soccer?”
He shrugged. Instead of answering, he focused on his drink.
This was why Jamie was so concerned about his friend. “You’d tell us if something was wrong?” she asked.
He smiled but didn’t answer. “Today is a day for you. We should be discussing when you’re going to ask Otto on a date.”
She pursed her lips. “Do you think he’ll want to go out with me?”
“Oui,” the Frenchman said, the affirmative coming from the depth of his soul. “I have seen the way he looks at you.”
Funny—she’d said the same thing to Danny about Jules. “Like he could look at me forever?”
“No one has forever, Lottie,” he said with unaccustomed somberness. “That is why you should go for it. Every day you wait is a day that’s lost.”
She blinked at him. “What have you lost?”
His smile was tipped with bitterness. “Nothing. Yet.”
Eleven
Jules stood outside the pizza place, looking through the window. She saw Danny immediately—he stood out like a bright spotlight was on him—hot and attractive, sitting at a corner table, the one reserved for special customers who’d been coming here forever, like herself. He looked different than the other clientele, but somehow, he still fit in there.
The owner of the place bustled over to him, pouring him a glass of wine as he effused about something. Danny smiled—God, when he smiled, she could literally feel a tug between her legs—and said something back that obviously pleased the owner because he clapped his hands together and beamed.
She was wise enough to know that she’d picked this place as a trial run for tomorrow night. If Danny could get past Ennio tonight, she didn’t have anything to worry about with Louisa and Connor.
She snorted, wanting to believe that but she knew better. Louisa and Connor were not pushovers. In his previous life, before he’d met Louisa, Connor was known as the Big Bad Wolf. There was a reason for that—and his monster teeth still came out on occasion, particularly when he felt like he needed to protect his loved ones.
Why had she agreed to take Danny to meet them?
As if feeling her thoughts, Danny looked up and met her eyes through the window. He arched his brow.
She wondered if he meant it as a silent dare. Probably, she decided with a wry smile. She wasn’t one to back down from dares, so she straightened up and walked inside.
Besides, tonight she planned on getting more than kisses—if Danny was on board for that.
She held his gaze as she wound her way toward him. She bet she could convince him.
The warmth of the atmosphere hit her right away. Like usual, it smelled of tangy yeast, tomato, and candles inside. She let the familiarity of it as well as Danny’s waiting grounded presence calm her.
He stood up as she drew close. “Hey.” He reached for her hand, searching her face. Whatever he saw must have assured him because he hummed low in his throat and bent to place a kiss on her lips.
She swayed toward him—actuallyswayed.
He smiled, a secret smile just for her. One hand on her back, he pulled the chair next to his out for her. “I was starting to worry you weren’t going to come,” he said as he waited for her to sit down. He pushed her seat in a little before he retook his.
“I had a couple things I needed to take care of at work.” She put her napkin on her lap. That was an understatement. One of the partners was suddenly on her case about the upcoming trial. A lot was riding on her winning, because the opposing firm, where Julian Holland worked, was their biggest rival.
“Everything okay?” he asked as he poured her a glass of wine.
“I’m handling it.” She’d been expected to go back in after dinner, but she’d told them that she was taking the entire weekend off.