Page 52 of Love or Leave

He forced his shoulders to relax and looked down at the menu. "I'm just trying to decide what to order."

Max narrowed his eyes at him, looked around the table, then back. "It's a prix fix menu."

Antonio looked back down at the menu and saw that it was, in fact, not a menu, but a card explaining the different courses. No choices involved.

"Oh," he said, placing the card down and taking a drink from his glass of water.

This was going to be a long night.

"Are you feeling okay?" Cara's voice skated over his nerves, somehow both thrilling and calming.

He looked up and met her eyes. "Yes, fine," he said.

"Really?" she asked with a smirk that made her eyes sparkle even more. "You look like you might be a little cold. Maybe even free—"

"Nope," he cut her off, reaching for the wine and trying not to jerk his gaze away guiltily. "I feel great."

Just then, several waiters entered the cellar with the first course and, mercifully, the wine pairings. They all raised a glass to their first drink of the night before Ethan struck up a conversation about what lay ahead of them. Chelsea spoke a little about the bridal shower and Adam filled them in on the rehearsal dinner that his Uncle David was planning.

Antonio paid attention, but as was his usual habit, he mostly fell quiet to the extroverts of the group. He liked it best that way. The food was delicious, and the wine was the best he'd everhad, as were his friends. But nothing compared to the beautiful woman making eyes at him from across the table, and as drink after drink arrived, he struggled to remember why he was keeping her at arm's length, especially since she seemed very interested in getting closer.

Why was he still lying to himself about how happy he was to be near her?

And why the hell did he stop her from saying their code word?

He chanced one more glance at her, and when their eyes connected, he stopped questioning himself. Everything in that moment seemed crystal clear.

He wanted Cara. And not just for the night.

And he was sick of feeling guilty about it.

"The cab's here!"

Antonio spun on the sidewalk outside of the club they'd just left and found a small van stopped on the street waiting. He looked back at all his friends and then back at the van. No way were they all going to fit in that thing.

"Is there only one coming?" he asked.

Natalie blinked up at him. She and Ethan were standing with Jae, holding her from both sides.

"Uh…" she said.

Antonio smiled.

The night had taken a wild turn after the steakhouse. They'd gone to three clubs and the shots never stopped flowing. After a while, Antonio realized that someone was going to have to stay sober enough to keep Adam alive, so he started pretending to take the shots and dumped them instead. Cara had caught onto him and quietly called him out for it, but he carried on doing it, and she seemed to do the same.

Besides the two of them, Natalie seemed to be the most coherent.

"We should get Adam in," Natalie said.

Antonio looked over at Adam, who was splayed out on a bench next to Cara and shook his head. "I'll get another cab and take Adam with me," he said.

Adam was fine where he was, relatively speaking, but the rest of them were not. Max was swaying on his feet, carrying Willow on his back and Chelsea in his arms. Ethan and Natalie were struggling with Jae.

"You guys go," Antonio said, walking to the van and opening the door. He made sure they all got in before closing the door behind them, but when he spun to look back, Cara was still on the bench, sitting with Adam.

"Do you want to go with them?" he asked.

She smiled and shook her head. "You need my help with this guy."

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