Dire(57)

“You’re so different than how you originally appeared.” She ran her teeth over her bottom lip. She was thinking.

“Maybe it’s because you saw me the way you wanted to see me.”

“Couldn’t I say the same thing about how you saw me? As the girl from your dreams?”

“Yes. But you’re even better than I expected.”

“In what ways?”

“You’re even smarter and more interesting than I imagined.”

“In other words you were only thinking about how I looked before.”

“And how you felt. I loved talking to you in my dreams, but our talk always turned into something else.” I ran my thumb over her hand. “Seeing you yesterday…” I could still picture every inch of her, wet and so beautiful. “Maybe if I play my cards right I’ll get to enjoy that again?”

“Is that what tonight is all about?” She tensed.

“Of course not. Tonight is about enjoying each other’s company and going on a real date.”

“A real date with real after date activities?”

I laughed. “Let’s focus on the real date part. We’re going out for sushi.”

“How are you so calm about everything?”

“Why wouldn’t I be calm?” I continued down the long dirt road. Had she picked up on my bad mood earlier?

“Moving so suddenly, knowing you still have to finish changing Gage, trying to find a way to end the hunt. There’s so much to not be calm about.”

“You only live once. Why waste the good moments with worrying?”

“This is a good moment for you?”

“Taking my soon to be mate out on a date when she looks absolutely breathtaking? Yeah, that’s a good moment.”

“Why did we have to tell the Sabers that we were already mated? I mean, they are going to figure out the truth anyway.”

“They already have. Well, Jocelyn has.”

“Then what was the point?”

“I didn’t want them meddling, second guessing our decisions.”

“In other words you didn’t want them trying to convince you that you had the wrong girl.” She looked out the window into the darkness.

“I knew I was right.” I put a hand on her leg to get her to look at me. “That was never in question.”

“But they might not think so.”

I pulled off onto the highway that would lead us back toward town. After living in so many different places, they were starting to blur together. Back country roads always felt the same, whether they were covered in snow or surrounded by cypress swamps. Nearly all of them had seen better days and were fine when no one else drove down them, but were infuriatingly long when you were stuck behind someone slow. I wasn’t in a rush that night, but the highway was empty. It was just Mary Anne and I in the old Chevy truck. She wasn’t shivering now. She’d thrown on one of Jocelyn’s coats for when the shock and awe of the mild fifty-five degree weather wore off. It was far warmer than it had been further north, but it wasn’t warm by human standards.

Her face was marred with worry lines. She wanted to ask me more questions, but something was holding her back. Maybe it was out of fear of upsetting me?

“How far out from the city are we?” That wasn’t the question she wanted to ask.

That didn’t mean I shouldn’t answer it. “Back at the place it’s about twenty miles. We’re nearly there now.”

“Have you spent much time down here?”

“In New Orleans?” I shook my head. “Not recently.”

“Yet, you know restaurants?”

“I asked around.”

She looked at me funny.

“I suppose it’s strange to you I’d have friends.”

“No.” She seemed horrified. “That’s not it at all.”

I laughed. “Relax. You didn’t offend me.”

“I can never tell how you are actually feeling, and it frustrates me.”

“I’m impressed you care about my feelings.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She gave me what I assumed was supposed to be an intimidating glare, but it was too cute to do much more than make me smile.

“Just that I’m glad you’re warming up to me.”

She slumped down in her seat. “Don’t get carried away, I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings.”

“I bet.”

We drove the rest of the way in silence, but she seemed more relaxed at least. I found some street parking about a block away from the uptown restaurant, and we headed toward it. Luckily there wasn’t much of a wait, and we walked through the decorative curtains to our seat toward the back of the restaurant. I’d requested the seat specifically. Part of keeping a low profile was staying away from everyone else. I also liked the privacy it afforded us. Even with her coat on Mary Anne attracted lots of attention. Once she took off the coat, forget it. Every man in the restaurant and plenty of the women watched us as we walked to our seat.