“This used to be one of my favorite places,” James said as he steered me forward to the hostess stand. “I’d come here all the time when I was in school.”
I snickered. “I could barely afford to eat out when I was in college,” I said. “A fancy night for me was when I could afford hot dogs and cut them up in my ramen.”
“Oh, god,” James said. He laughed. “Well, you’re here now.”
I looked at him properly, really looked at him. His dark hair stood in stiff tangles from his head and the dark circles under his eyes were severe, but he was still the most gorgeous man I’d ever met. Just standing next to him was enough to make me happy.
“I am,” I said, nodding. “I guess I am.”
The hostess showed us to a private booth in the back of the dimly-lit restaurant and I settled in across from James before looking down at the menu. It was funny – I hadn’t been hungry when we’d first walked in but now that I was seated and looking over the dishes, I felt ravenous. I felt like I hadn’t eaten in days.
“This looks incredible,” I said.
“You look incredible,” James replied.
I flushed. “At least, my stalker thinks so,” I muttered, shuddering as I remembered the creepy photos from the car.
“Hanna, don’t worry about that,” James said. “I swear, I’ll take care of it.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “But how can I not worry about it? I mean, someone is seriously deranged…and they’re following both of us!”
“I promise, my lawyers and the private investigators are handling it,” James said smoothly. “Now, don’t think about it anymore tonight, okay? Promise me?”
I sighed. “I’m not sure I can make that promise,” I said. “But I’ll do my best.”
The crooked, devilish grin James gave me in return was enough to melt my heart and I nodded.
“I promise,” I said finally. “At least, I’ll try.”
When the waitress appeared at the side of the table, James ordered a bottle of dry white wine for us to share. I ordered French onion soup in a bread bowl, a small Caesar salad, and a steak cooked rare.
“Wow,” James said, laughing. “You weren’t kidding.” He closed his menu and handed it to the waitress with a charming smile. “I’ll have the same.”
“Who knew paranoia could make you so hungry,” I joked once the waitress had left the table.
Under the table, James put his hand on my thigh. For a moment, I thought he was going to inch his fingers closer and closer to my body. But he kept his hand on my leg, gently rubbing me with his thumb. It felt good, and I realized he was trying to comfort me. Putting my hand under the table, I laced my fingers with his and squeezed his hand.
“So,” James said, leaning closer with a devilish smirk on his face. “Does this mean I’m forgiven?”
I rolled my eyes and pretended to think about it, humming loudly.
James burst out laughing. “Come on,” he said, shaking his head. “You can’t do that to a man!”
His laughter was contagious and after a few seconds, I giggled too.
“Yes,” I said, trying very hard to stay solemn and stern. “You’re forgiven.”
When the waitress appeared with the wine, James poured two glasses and handed one to me. “To us,” he said. “And to making it through anything.”
There was a serious tone in his voice that I wasn’t used to hearing.
“Like stalkers? And bad Christmas parties?”
James shook his head. “No,” he said. “To things harder than that, Hanna.”
I shivered. It was strange – somehow, I had the feeling he wasn’t just talking about casually dating. Was it possible that a man like James West was falling in love with me?
“I see,” I said softly before clinking my glass against him. Being with James was always so hard – part of me was yearning to throw myself at him and kiss him and tell him that I loved him deeply. But he was like a cipher, and I wasn’t quite ready to bare everything yet. After all, despite knowing each other for over a year now, I still didn’t know very much about him.
The silence was deafening as we sat in the booth. I took a long sip of wine, savoring the tart, alcoholic bite on my tongue.
“This is good,” I said, if only to break the silence. “Thank you.”
James grinned. “You’re my girl,” he said. “And now that I’ve found you, I don’t ever want to let you go.”
I shivered. It’s like he’s reading my mind, I thought as I took another long sip of wine. It’s like he knows everything about me, somehow.
After dinner – which was amazing – James escorted me back to the car. It had begun to snow, and I shivered as we climbed into the waiting backseat.
“So,” James said slowly. “You want to come over?”
I looked at him and nodded. “Yeah,” I said. “I do. But I don’t want to have sex tonight, okay?” I put my hand in James’s and squeezed. “I just want to be with you.”
James put his other arm around my shoulders and hugged me. “I understand,” he said. He smirked. “And if you change your mind later, well…”
I playfully punched him in the arm and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, right,” I said, shaking my head. “Not gonna happen.”
“Hey,” James said, sounding offended. “A man can dream, right? Especially when he’s next to such a gorgeous babe.”
I laughed and looked down at my casual clothes. “Yeah,” I said with a snicker. “Because I’m such a dream girl.”
James kissed me lightly on the lips and I melted at the touch of his mouth against mine.
“Yes,” James said quietly when he pulled away. “You are.”
That night, we curled up in James’s huge bed and snuggled. He held me close all night and even though I had nightmares about our stalker, I felt safe in his arms. It was strange to be so close to him without making love, but somehow I had a feeling he was relieved, too. This was such a stressful time that I didn’t want James to worry about anything silly like sexual performance.
In the morning, James had Nick drop me off at home before work. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face as I bounded up the steps. When I unlocked my door and pushed it open, Danielle was sitting on the couch. She smirked.
“Yeah, all that nonsense about coming back right away, huh?” She laughed. “You’re lucky I wasn’t worried about you – I’d have had to send a search party.”
I rolled my eyes. “We had a nice dinner, and then I spent the night with James,” I replied.
“Well, duh,” Danielle said. “I didn’t exactly think you’d slept in the street!”
“Hey, enough,” I said. I bit my lip, unsure of whether or not I should tell Danielle about the strange package and the creepy photos. But before I could make up my mind, Danielle frowned.
“Hey, something came for you,” she said. She tossed me a padded postal envelope. “Someone dropped it off this morning.”
I bit my lip. “Who?”
Danielle shrugged. “I didn’t get a good look at the guy – he just seemed like a regular courier to me. It’s probably like, paperwork from your office or something – maybe they’re finally putting your promotion on paper.”