Page 33 of Locking Down Qetesh

"I'm glad you feel safe."

"I do."

The waitress appeared to take our order, leaving Jacob smiling when she left.

"What?" I asked.

"I knew you were going to order the fig salad."

I laughed. "What if I'd not been in the mood for figs?"

"Then I wouldn't have said anything and still looked smart."

"It was a good bet. I also really like goat cheese."

"It does make a good salad," he said.

"You don't mind that we're somewhere with mostly vegetarian food, right?"

"Of course not," he assured me. "I do like to eat meat, but I wouldn't want to restrict your choices just so that I could have it. Besides, if I'm honest, it's just good food that I like."

"Getting ideas for the menu for the hotel? You can change that in just over a week."

He chuckled and leaned closer. "I don't think so. I know better than to mess with chefs and their menus."

"Fair enough. Did you know that Poseidon is a chef?" I asked.

"No?"

"You wouldn't want to go to his restaurant, he mostly does seafood. But it's supposed to be good."

"I should tell Ella, she loves seafood."

"I'm sure Nadia has taken her there already, she knows all the best spots in town."

Our waitress set out drinks down on the table between us, and I picked up my glass, glad that I'd gone for a non-alcoholic option.

"Put off by wine?" he joked, nodding towards my glass.

"I had enough of it at the weekend," I joked. "I'm just more of a social drinker. If I'm left to my own devices, I'm more likely to go for something non-alcoholic. I've actually been enjoying Ella being on her no alcohol before the wedding events kick."

"Did she actually manage?"

"When she was around me, she did. I'm not sure about anyone else."

"I'm impressed. I know what Ella is like."

"Chaotic," I responded with affection. "Unless she's talking about plants, and then she knows everything the moment that you mention the name of what you're looking for."

"She does do that. She was always spending time in the nursery as a kid. Our grandparents used to run it, and every free moment she got, she'd be there asking Grandad about the names of all the plants and everything else he could tell her about them."

"Did you not like that?"

"I didn't want to be confined by what I was," he said. "Don't get me wrong, I like plants as much as the next dryad. But I never wanted them to become my personality. So I tried to do other things. I liked playing tennis when I was a teenager."

"Would you believe I've never played it?"

"I don't imagine it was a thing in Ancient Egypt."

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