Chapter Twelve
The air was cold, as usual, as McKenzie and Byron made their way down the busy Seattle sidewalks. “Was it your idea to walk?” Byron grumbled as they turned a corner.
“You aren’t going to melt from a little bit of moisture. It’s ridiculous to take a cab or drive a few measly city blocks,” she said, huddled up beneath her coat.
She’d been so flustered leaving the offices, she’d forgotten to grab her gloves, so she stuffed her hands into her pockets There was no way she was going to admit to Byron that she was in the least bit cold, though. Not after calling him a wuss. She would, however, pick up the pace a little bit.
When she stopped in front of a dingy-looking place, she caught Byron’s eyes before she stepped up to the door.
“Here? Seriously?” he asked.
“Look, buster, you’re the one who weaseled a dinner invite out of me. Now, if you want to join us, you’re stuck eating where we like,” she said, reaching out to open the door.
Byron jumped forward right before her fingers connected with the handle, and he opened it for her. Noise from inside blared out, and McKenzie had to smile. Although it wasn’t exactly posh, she had eaten at the place many, many times, and the food was one of the best-kept secrets of Seattle. The head chef was a personal friend of hers now, as she probably ate there more often than the owners did.
“I’m fine with this place,” Byron said as she went past him, mumbling a thank-you because he’d opened the door.
“You don’t appear to be fine with it,” she pointed out, her stomach dipping the slightest bit when her body brushed his. He had purposely left her hardly any room to get by him.
“I was just thinking we’d be going somewhere a little more quiet.”
“Ha! You mean you were hoping to go to a place a lot more fancy.”
“You’re putting words into my mouth,” he said before leaning down, leaving her zero personal space as his eyes bored into hers. “If I want something in my mouth, you’ll be the first person I tell.”
She was frozen as his breath washed over her face. The noise, the crowded front area, the people — everything disappeared except for him and those irresistible lips.
McKenzie was grateful when a group of college kids came up behind them, bumping into Byron and pulling McKenzie from the spell she’d been under. She’d been just about ready to let him kiss her right there in a crowded room full of strangers and servers who knew who she was. She really needed to pull herself together or she wasn’t going to last even a few more days, let alone two more weeks in this man’s presence.
“This way,” she told Byron, and she began moving through the crowd. Jewell would already be there, guarding their favorite table, and with luck she’d have a drink ready and waiting. McKenzie really needed that drink if she planned on getting through this dinner in one piece.
The back corner of the place offered almost a measure of privacy — almost, not quite — and there, Jewell sat, a virgin daiquiri in front of her and a cold mimosa on the opposite side of the table. Thank goodness!
“Sorry I’m late, Jewell,” McKenzie said.
Her friend gave her an easy smile before her eyes widened as she took in Byron.
“Um, no problem…,” Jewell replied, leaving the words trailing off.
“Good to see you, Jewell,” Byron said easily. “McKenzie took pity on me since we were working late tonight and I haven’t had a thing to eat all day.”
Byron leaned against McKenzie so he could reach around and pull out a chair. As her blood raced, she lost her thoughts again, and almost plopped down into the chair instead of sitting down properly.
When Byron sat next to her, she had to bite her lip. Had she been thinking, she would have slid in next to Jewell on the side of the table with a bench, giving herself some much needed space away from Byron. But then, of course, she would have been forced to look at the man during the whole meal. She wasn’t sure which setup would be worse.
She looked at Jewell and could see a myriad of questions in her friend’s eyes, but Jewell compressed her lips and then gave Byron a gigantic smile.
“It’s good to see you, Byron. You work so much, and your brother complains that you don’t come over more often.”
“I’ll have to change that,” he said.
Just then, the waitress, Marsha, appeared, notepad in hand and eyes glued to Byron. “I haven’t seen you in here before,” she said, her cheeks flushed slightly.
McKenzie made eye contact with Jewell and rolled her eyes just a bit. What was it about good-looking — okay, incredible-looking — men that turned normal women into drooling messes?
“Well, if the food turns out as good as it smells, I’ll have to become a regular…Marsha,” Byron said, after looking at her name tag. He practically beamed at the waitress, irritating McKenzie even more than she’d already been at the whole ridiculous situation.
Marsha giggled, actually giggled, making McKenzie roll her eyes again. But as Byron turned to give the waitress his full attention, his leg brushed against McKenzie’s, and her agitation turned into raging hormones. She tried to pull away from him, but he just pushed a little closer, and she couldn’t find an escape.
“What can I get you to drink?” the waitress finally asked, as if knowing she’d been staring for too long.
“I’ll take a Jack Daniel’s, straight up,” Byron replied, and the waitress practically fluttered her eyes before rushing away to fill his order.
“It must be nice to fluster people like that,” Jewell said with a laugh, and Byron turned to her with his eyebrows raised. “Oh, come on, Byron, you had to have noticed the way our waitress was drooling all over you. And she’s normally sane.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, but McKenzie knew he was very aware of his effect on people — on women in particular.
“I’m starving,” Jewell told them, “so please figure out what you want to eat. We should get our orders in before the rest of the people now piling through the doors.”
They were silent for a few moments as McKenzie stared at her menu, not seeing a thing on it. Thankfully, she was a creature of habit and already knew what she wanted for dinner, so she wouldn’t be required to use her brain for a few moments.
When Byron set his menu down, he captured Jewell’s attention. She threw him back an amused look that McKenzie had no doubt was meant to irritate her. It worked.