Now, I just want him to be unable to resist me and think I’m the sexiest woman in the universe.
My, how times have changed.
“Okay, we’ll take the dress.”
“And no bitching about how much the shoes are,” she warns me. “Because they’re going to be hella expensive, and totally worth it.”
“Gird your loins,” I whisper to my credit card and prepare myself for the shopping shitstorm that’s about to happen. “I wonder how Jace is doing with the puppies?”
“They can’t even walk yet,” Noel reminds me. “They just eat and sleep, and their mama does pretty much the same, so I’d say he’s fine. He’s a surgeon, after all.”
I laugh as we take my shopping bag down to the shoe department. “You know, being a surgeon doesn’t mean that he’s stellar at everything.”
“Is there something he’s not good at?” she asks. I have to really think about it.
“He was never good at writing papers.”
“Life stuff,” she says. “Is there any life stuff that he sucks at?”
“He’s not a great cook, but he doesn’t suck. I know. He’s a really bad bowler.”
She smirks. “I stand corrected.”
“Holy fuck, we’re not going anywhere.”
And . . . all of the shopping torture was completely worth it. Jace is standing on the other side of my threshold in a black suit that molds to his body, wearing a grey tie. The suit isn’t one I’ve seen before, so it looks as if he went shopping, too. That makes me smile.
The way his grey eyes roam up and down my body leaves me flushed and turned on.
My God, he’s hot.
“Come on in.” I step back and close the door behind him, then move to get my clutch. But Jace hooks his hand on my waist and pulls me against him.
“I’m serious, I want to strip this magnificent dress off you and fuck you into next week.”
“We have tickets,” I remind him softly against his lips. “And dinner reservations.”
“I don’t give a shit.”
“I might get naked for you later,” I say before I kiss him quickly. “But it’s a first date, so we’ll see. I’m not usually that kind of girl.”
“This isn’t our first date,” he says, furrowing his brow.
“Everything before was as friends,” I remind him, then step away to grab my clutch and check on Angela. She’s just been outside, has eaten, and is in the whelping box with her babies.
“I should have brought you flowers,” he mumbles with a frown.
“You’re forgiven,” I reply. “Dad’s going to stop by in a couple of hours to check on Angela, so she and the babies should be fine.”
“Let’s go before I talk you into staying.” He holds his arm out for me to take and escorts me to his car. We drive into the city, leave the car with a valet, and walk into a restaurant I’ve never been to before. It’s fancy—maybe the most opulent I’ve ever been.
Once we’re seated and given our menus, our waiter appears to take our drink order.
“A bottle of champagne for the table,” Jace says, smiling at me. He knows I love the bubbly. “And we’ll start with the oysters.”
“Yes, sir,” the waiter says, bowing before leaving us to look over the menu.
“Aren’t you fancy?” I say with a grin.
“I want you to have a good time.”
“I already am,” I reply and reach over to squeeze his hand. “Thank you in advance for tonight.”
He lifts my hand to his lips, keeping his gaze on mine as he kisses my knuckles. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as beautiful as you are tonight.”
“How can you fluster me after all these years?”
“I could ask you the same question.”
The waiter returns and makes a show of popping the cork on the champagne, pouring us each a glass and setting the bottle in a tall ice bucket at the side of the table.
The Cristal has just the right amount of bubble, tickling my nose as I take the first sip.
“That’s a new suit,” I comment as I peruse the menu. “You look quite handsome in it.”
“Thank you,” he says with a smile. “I went shopping with Noel.”
I lower my menu and stare at him in surprise. “No way.”
“It’s true. I wanted something new, and Lia was busy. Noel was excited to go.” I giggle, and he tips his head to the side, watching me. “What’s so funny?”
“My sister is a piece of work.” I sip my champagne. “She took me shopping for this dress. She basically arranged our entire wardrobe for tonight.”
He smirks. “Sounds like her.”
“We’ll have to get a photo and send it to her.”
“Deal.” He returns his attention to the menu, and when we’ve both decided on what we want, the waiter returns to take our order.
“Any word—” I begin but am interrupted by a tall brunette woman in a shockingly red dress with a slit up to the side of her hip. Her lips are painted the same red hue, and her blue eyes are pinned on Jace as she sets her hand on his shoulder and smiles.
“Jace, so lovely to see you.”
“Hello, Maria. This is—”
“I haven’t seen you around the hospital lately,” she says, clearly not interested in who I am.
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “I’ve been on leave.”
“Well, hopefully not for too long,” she says with a wink. “We need to arrange for another romp in the supply closet.”
Her blue eyes rake over him, from his face to his shoulders and dipping lower.
This isn’t like the girl flirting with him at the grocery store. No, that was harmless and even funny.
This isn’t funny.
He fucked her.
“Not going to happen, Maria,” he says, the smile gone from his face. “This is Joy, my girlfriend.”
“We’ll see,” she says, winks, then walks away, her hips swaying in her tight dress.
Before either of us can say anything at all, the waiter arrives with our dinner. He places the plates before us, offers freshly ground pepper, and tops off our champagne. I immediately drink half of my glass.
Jace’s eyes are pinned to mine, apology and anger shining in their depths. And frankly, I don’t know how I feel.
Embarrassed, which is stupid because I don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. I’m surprised. And I suppose, reminded that I don’t know everything there is to know about Jace and his past.
Once the waiter is gone, neither of us reaches for our utensils to eat. I’m still sipping my drink, and Jace just watches me, his chest rising and falling as he breathes.
“I owe you an apology.”
“Why?” I ask, setting my glass down and reaching for my fork to dig into my chicken Alfredo. “Have you fucked her since we’ve been together?”
“Of course, not,” he says with a scowl.
“Well, then, you don’t have anything to apologize for.” I take a bite. “Because if we need to be sorry for every person we’ve slept with since we were nineteen, tonight isn’t the time for that.”
He narrows his eyes, and his hands curl into fists on the table. “No. It isn’t.”
I swallow hard and take another sip of my drink. “It’s also not your fault that she’s a bitch. And rude. That’s on her.”
“You’re entirely too calm about this.”
“Why?”
“Because if a man you’d been with had done what she did, I would have laid him out flat.”
I smile before taking another bite of my meal. “Well, I might have given a thought to breaking the hand that touched you.”
“That would have ruined her day,” he says, finally taking a bite of his own dinner. “And maybe her career as a surgeon.”
The fact that she’s a surgeon only twists the knife in my chest. I’m successful in my own right, and I don’t need to compare myself to her, but damn it.