I shook my head, not wanting anything to do with his gun runs.
Hanging out with the brothers had always been good times. Sun and women. Drinks and, on occasion, some of the best drugs, but over the past couple of weeks, things weren’t feeling the same. They were dabbling in things way too dangerous for my tastes, and I was finding it hard to relax around them anymore.
The rush to get off the yacht and away from the guns and bullshit was always there.
The shit Jonathan and Curtis were messing with didn’t seem real. They didn’t seem real anymore.
Maybe the elderly people at Twin Oaks who were so close to death were giving me a new perspective.
Maybe it was Shannon.
Either way, I didn’t hate it.
“I’m out, man,” I said, standing from my seat and working my way toward the door. “Be careful out there.”
He nodded, taking the cigarette from his lips. “All right, man, see you later.”
I left the yacht sober and ready to get back to my house. I drove across town to my place with the window down and the music off, enjoying the rushing of the wind and the silence of the moment.
I was opening my front door when the text message came through. I had texted her hours before asking when and where, and my face lit up with a grin at seeing the name Red come across the top of my screen.
Red: Little Italy 6 P.M.
I had never even heard of a place called Little Italy, but if she wanted to go there, then so be it. I had my GPS. As long as I had that, I could find any place.
Me: See you there, gorgeous.
Red: I’m rolling my eyes.
I laughed.
I didn’t doubt for one second she was rolling her eyes at me, and I loved it. She had a way of making me smile about the smallest of things.
I showered after having been on the yacht for a good part of the day and dressed for my outing with Shannon. Putting the restaurant’s address into my GPS, I was happy to see she kept us in town for the evening.
I got to the restaurant before her, but instead of a valet out front to park my car, I had to drive around the packed lot until I found a space to squeeze my car into.
I didn’t go inside. Instead, I waited on the side of the entrance for her to get there. Even though it wasn’t a date and I hadn’t picked her up, I still felt like it was rude to go in and have a seat before she got there.
She pulled up in an older Toyota, the bumper plastered with bumper stickers and tape across the back window. The car was blue and rusty, and seeing as how she had her window down, I assumed there was no air conditioning. It was fall, but we were in South Carolina, and the night was exceptionally warm.
She pulled into a parking spot close to my car, which I’d recently gotten back from the shop. She had chosen the restaurant. Anywhere I would have chosen would have parked our cars for us.
She didn’t see me when she started toward the building, and I didn’t do anything to draw attention to myself. Watching her without her knowing she was being watched was intriguing. She repeatedly smoothed down her clothes and tugged her shirt down as if she couldn’t cover herself enough. Little did she know she looked amazing.
The dark leggings she was wearing molded to her long, thick legs, and when she dropped her keys and had to turn and bend over to get them, I wanted to take a bite out of her luscious ass. It was wide and round, perfect for grabbing when I fucked her from behind.
The light top she wore was thin and caught the breeze while she walked. It kept slipping down, the plunging neckline allowing me a peek of her cleavage when the wind caught it. Her hair was down, red waves sliding across her flushed cheek. Using a finger, she pulled at a strand stuck to her glossed lips. They shined under the parking lot lights like beacons calling me to kiss her.
She paused at the sidewalk and took a deep breath. She was nervous, and it was fucking adorable. I moved from my spot and caught her attention just as she stepped onto the sidewalk outside the restaurant entrance.
“Oh, hey,” she said. “I didn’t see you there.”
“You look hot.”
It was the truth.
Her brows tilted down. “Wow. Really? Way to make a girl swoon there, Matthew.”
She moved away from me and started to open the door to the Italian restaurant she’d decided on. It wasn’t Bellacino’s, my favorite five-star Italian place, but it was food.
Reaching out, I pressed my palm on the glass door, keeping her from pulling it open.
“That was a compliment.”
“If you say so.” She shrugged.
She confused me. Most girls would have blushed and taken the compliment and ran with it.
Not Shannon.
She kept me on my toes.
I needed to up my game for this girl.
Pulling the door open for her, I moved to the side to let her in. “Ladies first.”
She grinned at me and shook her head before entering the restaurant.
I fell in behind her, my eyes taking in her thighs and ass as she walked.
“Table for two?” the hostess asked, her eyes moving over me.
She smiled at me and ran her fingers through her long blond hair. Shannon didn’t miss the girl’s actions, but instead of getting upset, she chuckled and rolled her eyes.
“Yes, please.”
The hostess grabbed two menus and turned away from us. “Follow me.”
The restaurant was packed with families eating dinner and large groups. It was nothing like the regular places I frequented for dinner. The expensive places where I usually ate had secluded tables and soft music. Arranged lighting with a relaxed ambiance and a breeze off the water cutting through the open doors.
This was a blue-collar family restaurant. The lighting was cheap and dangling over each table, and instead of soft mood music, there was the clinking of silverware on plates, mumbled conversations mixing together to make a long hum, and the sound of crying babies.
It was the least romantic place I had ever been.
Not that I was going for romance.
I wasn’t.
I was going to have sex, and if I had to eat cold pasta and drink cheap wine to do it, then so be it.
I followed Shannon and the hostess, my eyes taking in the cut-rate place settings and tacky Italian décor. Fake plants covered in dust hung from the light fixtures, and a wall of lattice, also covered in dusty fake greenery, separated parts of the restaurant.
I could see what they were going for, but I had actually been to Italy, and they weren’t even close.
“I hope you find something here you like,” the hostess said as she stopped in front of our table.
I slid into the only secluded booth in the back and smiled up at her since it was obvious she was talking to me.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Seriously.” She grinned. “Anything you want in this restaurant we’ll make sure you get.”
She was offering herself to me.
Right in front of Shannon.
We weren’t on a date, but the little blond hostess didn’t know that.
Before I could open my mouth to respond, Shannon cut me off.