Page 15 of January Blues
“What do you mean?” I cocked my head. I hadn’t considered doing anything with the information. What was there to do?
“Will you tell your family that you know?”
“Ah, no.” I pushed my salad around the bowl. “I’m not in contact with them. Don’t even know where they are.” I shrugged, willing the aching loss of my siblings to slip from my shoulders. Being apart from them was much harder than I ever thought it would have been. I think it was my grieving for the loss of them that sent me into such a depression. It was a feeling I didn’t want to deal with again.
“Would your friend not be able to find them? Is that what he does for work?”
“Find people? Like a private investigator?” I laughed, the melancholy from the loss of my dad dropping away. “No, but he’d love that. Damon loves to be nosy.”
“Maybe he could still find them.”
“Maybe. I’m just not sure that he should.”
A family that could dump me at their earliest convenience wasn’t a family that I wanted to be a part of. I wished that one day my siblings would try to contact me, as unlikely as that was. I’d make my own family.
With assurances that I still wanted to go ahead with our date, Quill and I parted ways in the parking lot of the building.
Damon had insisted that I meet Quill at the restaurant that we had picked out after much negotiation. I got that he wanted me to be safe, but my date for the night wasn’t a stranger, we worked together. Instead of fighting him on it, I’d just rolled my eyes and said, “yes, Daddy.”
“Not my kink, but thank you, sweetness,” was his laughing reply.
My friend had lovingly left out clothes for me in an effort to show that he really was okay with this date. I was grateful for that show of support. Hurting Damon was the last thing I wanted to do.
I picked up the tailored navy woolen slacks and the black shot through with navy silk shirt he had picked out for me. Much like the suit I’d miraculously found in my closet weeks ago, these fit like they had been made for me.
Examining my reflection in the mirror, I huffed out a laugh at the cut of the pants. Somehow, they made my ass look fantastic. The black and navy shirt made my skin tone look warmer and brought out the flecks of green in my brown eyes.
It took me far too long to get my hair to behave. With all that had been going on with my sleep and the accidents, weird shadows, and new magic, I’d neglected to get it cut. The ends were beginning to curl in that stubborn way they did before I made myself go to a barber.
I’d shaved off days of scruff, leaving my skin smooth just in case there was a goodnight kiss. I so wanted there to be one.
Others might have been wary of dating someone below them in the hierarchy at work, but with my promotion just weeks away, that wouldn’t be an issue. Quill hardly worked for me, so if we did date, it would be easy to show there was no preferential treatment or abuse of power there. I’d done my due diligence and checked before, then double checked when he’d asked me out.
Quill was waiting just inside the door of the steak restaurant he’d suggested when I arrived. Damn, he was looking hotter than sin! He wore a silver-colored shirt; the sleeves rolled up casually, showing inches of hair-dusted olive skin. His forearms were straining the cuffs, and I wanted to see if all of him was as muscular. He turned to reply to the host and oh my goddess, that ass! I wanted to sink my teeth into it.
His gaze strayed to the door, his eyes lit up when they landed on me, a wide smile stretching across his face.
There was a moment where I didn’t know what to do. I’d gotten so rusty at dating. Did we hug? Kiss on the cheek? A handshake seemed too formal. Quill leaned in and grazed a kiss on my cheek. Just the barest of touches. He turned to face the host, twining my fingers with his as we were led across the room.
Conversation flowed easily as we ate dinner. I noticed Quill was a little evasive when it came to details about his life. Sure, he told me about growing up on a farm and that he had taken it over for a while. He said that he had come to work for Mars Acquisitions because he’d needed a fresh start, but was vague on the details.
That feeling rushed over me, a sense ofknowingtold me there was more there, but also that I was safe with Quill. The air between us was electric. It was obvious we were into each other, I just hoped our chemistry translated to a compatibility in the bedroom. He kept eye contact with me, his knees brushing my legs, flirty grins setting butterflies loose in my stomach. We gravitated towards each other. By the end, we were holding hands over the table, heads bent close. His touch brought out goosebumps. I desperately wanted to kiss him.
“Would you like to go somewhere else after?” Quill asked.
“Yes.” I said simply.
“Anywhere in particular?” His teasing smile was in place. His dark eyes glittering in the low light.
“My place.”
“Sounds good. Give me your address and I’ll meet you there.”
I rattled off my address, and with a squeeze of his hand, left Quill at the restaurant door to head to my car. Doubts swirled. I already knew someone was after me. Would I be putting Quill in danger? I texted Damon, partly to let him know I was safe, but also to make sure he knew Quill was coming with me. Nothing had happened since I’d renewed the wards, so maybe I could breathe deep again. It was likely they’d stopped when they knew I wasn’t such an easy target.
My phone beeped a “be careful and text me after” reply. I sure hoped that Damon didn’t want details, because we weren’t that type of friends.
I parked in my allotted spot, Quill pulling into the guest spot just moments after me. I’d been so distracted by what was about to happen, I hadn’t noticed the dark sedan following me.
