I ordered the handmade tagliatelle and Kiegan had the burger. We ordered some crab nachos to share.
“Won’t be too long,” she told us with a smile, and was gone.
“That’s why I’m really here,” Kiegan continued, his gaze piercing into mine. Uh oh, I knew this was too good to be true. What does he really want? “I want to know why you left.”
I looked down at my lap, then repeated the answer I practiced the odd time someone found out who I was.
“Well, it’s easy. I had just about turned eighteen, and I decided I didn’t want to live the Hunt family lifestyle anymore.”
“You’re better at shot put than you are at lying.”
I glared at Kiegan. “I could have been good at shot put.”
He shook his head. “No you couldn’t. It would have gotten in the way of your studies, and you would have given it up pretty quickly.”
“Not as quickly as with your help.”
“You’re welcome.” Again, he flashed me that annoying grin. That gorgeous, annoying grin. I felt a tug at my stomach, a desire that I’d kept repressed for so long, but I couldn’t help feeling like the temperature in the room had just gone up ten degrees. “Anyway, you’re avoiding my point. Which is you’re lying.”
“I’m not lying.”
“You are. You were such a good student, and you had your heart set on going to a good college. That would have gotten you away from the family, but you would have kept the money.”
“I’m sure you already know, so why make me say it?”
This time the surprise on Kiegan’s face looked genuine.
“I don’t know. That’s why I came. I wasn’t… wasn’t really at home much then anyway, since I’d turned eighteen the year before you, and then when I would come back I eventually found out you’d gone, but no one would tell me anything. It was all very hush-hush.”
“Wait… so you actually have no idea why I left your family?”
“Correct.”
This was new to me, and a surprise. I figured he must have known. I had never really imagined a world in which he didn’t.
“Well, it’s not something I want to talk about.”
“So you’re not going to tell me.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“We’re going to be here long enough for you to buy me breakfast, too, if you want that list in full.”
“Fair enough. I guess I haven’t been the best big brother.”
“There’s the understatement of the century.”
For a few seconds our eyes connected. I know it’s cheesy, but it really was like there was an invisible force connecting us, an electricity that hovered in the air between our bodies.
“Something happened, didn’t it?”
“Stop prying, I’m not going to tell you.”
“Fine. But I can tell. You might not tell me what it is, but I know it was something.”
Just then the waitress brought over our food, and the two of us ordered another drink. We dug in, and the conversation waned for a while.
This was definitely one of the best pasta dishes I’d ever had. The fresh noodles were amazing, and the truffles were out of this world. I didn’t think that even in the four years I’d spent in the Hunt household, that I’d ever had truffles before. Some Random Bar definitely lived up to its reputation.
The whole time I was eating I could feel Kiegan’s eyes on me from time to time. I knew he was thinking, trying to figure out what had made me leave the family. No matter what, I wasn’t going to tell him.
“So what are you doing now, as a job?” Kiegan asked.
“I’m… in between jobs at the moment.” A small smile formed on his face, and I could almost sense the tease that was coming.
“Well, I’m looking for an assistant.”
Wait, what?
“Wait, what?”
“Mine just quit on me. The fourth this year. But I pay enough that you can move into an apartment that you can fit a bed into. And even enough that you can buy your own bed. I’ll even give you a signing bonus. Twenty grand if you say yes before we get back to the car.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re smarter than this, Tina. You know exactly what I’m talking about. I want you to work for me.” He lowered his voice. “Every single day, doing whatever I tell you, no matter what. Can you live with that?”
My body had two reactions at once. A part of me shivered, disgusted by the idea of being bossed around by Hunt the Cunt every single day. The other part of me felt a tug in my nether regions, felt my panties getting just a little bit wet as I thought about everything those words could mean. Oh God, what is wrong with you?
“You’re serious?” I asked, not sure if my voice actually came out louder than a whisper.
“Of course I’m serious. There’s nothing I would love more in this world than to get to boss little miss perfect around, and as a reward, I’ll pay you way better than anything else you could get.”