“You found me,” I murmur.
“You were going to Wildwood, weren’t you?”
I nod. “The new Wildwood. The Grots destroyed the original one, but yes. You… You know me.”
“Yes, I do, and I know that you think I should rest, but I can rest later. Right now, what I want to do is celebrate.”
“Fine, we can celebrate, but for that…” I reopen the front door. “Let’s go out and eat.”
“You’re hungry,” he says, his tone flat.
“Starving!” I beam at him.
He looks a little less than pleased, but he'll deal. I'm sure he can go for some food after being shot, and I don't know if it's the poison or what, and the crash of adrenaline may be adding to it, but I am so very hungry that I'm ready to eat myself.
I let Tox pick the place as I drive us around, and we go into a barely lit place. There aren’t any menus, and the waitress just asks a few questions about what flavors we like, if we’re allergic to anything, what we want to drink, and she’s off. She returns with two Long Islands, and I’m all for that even if it means we’ll be walking home and have to come back later to get my car.
The waitress then comes out with some appetizers, tiny sandwiches with glazes and meats and cheese. They’re all divine. My main course is some kind of strange pasta dish with all kinds of things mixed into the pink sauce. It’s exquisite, whatever it is, and the garlic bread, although blackened, isn’t burnt at all.
“Aren’t you glad I picked this place?” Tox asks.
“Yes,” I admit.
His dish isn’t like mine at all, various kinds of meat as well as several different versions of potatoes, and he holds out a forkful of meat for me to sample.
For me to enjoy is more like it, I realize as I lean forward and claim the food from his fork. I like it when he feeds me, especially if the meat is this tender and juicy, and I moan.
Tox licks his lips, watching me, and I grin. It’s clear that I’m having an effect on him, and maybe we can see about continuing the celebration back at my place.
By the time we’ve finished most of our plates, the waitress is back. “Will you care for dessert?”
“What is it?” I ask.
She grins. “You do know that’s not how this place works, right?”
I nod and eye Tox. “Do you want dessert?”
“That depends.”
“On?” I lift my eyebrows.
“If I’m only entitled to one dessert.”
“Oh,” the waitress says, “you can have more than one. Usually, people just want to split one, but if you want your own, or if you want two, and—”
“Not the kind of dessert I’m eyeing for the second one,” Tox informs her.
My face has to be beet red, but I’m more flushed from the heat of the promise than from being embarrassed. Maybe he’s helping me to come out of my shell a little bit.
“You can have two,” I tease.
“Great. Then, we’ll split one,” Tox tells the poor waitress, who averts her gaze and rushes away.
“You didn’t have to traumatize the poor girl,” I tell him.
“I wouldn’t have thought that would,” he protests.
“Did you see how young she is? This might be her first job!”
“Juliet was—”
“Juliet isn’t real, and nowadays, people get married in their twenties, sometimes thirties. Just because some people have multiple sexual partners doesn’t mean that all teenagers have sex. Some wait.”
“Wait for what?”
“Wait for love, the one guy for them. There are some who don’t have sex until their wedding night.”
“Is that so? I’m glad that’s not the case with you.”
“Hmm. What if I decide that maybe it should be? That maybe I shouldn’t just sleep with just anyone?” I wait, watching, knowing I’m going to enjoy his reaction to this.
“Ah.” He picks up his fork and shakes it at me. “I’m not just anyone.”
“No? What are you then?”
“I’m the one for you.”
“Hmm. That’s a bold claim,” I tease.
“It’s not a claim,” he snorts. “It’s the truth.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Admit it.” He shakes his fork at me again. “You’re mesmerized by me.”
“Mesmerized by the alien mercenary.” I shrug. “I suppose there are worse things a girl could be.”
“You are no girl,” he murmurs.
I laugh.
The waitress returns with some kind of chocolate tower, and when I break off a piece with my fork, molten chocolate oozes out, and I'm thrilled. Chocolate is one of my weaknesses.
We indulge, and at one point, Tox reaches over and wipes my lips, smearing chocolate on them. I lick it off, and Tox sits straight up as if he has something jammed inside of him. More likely than not, he has an erection that he can’t quite feel comfortable sitting on.
I grin to myself and make a point of licking my lips every chance I get, just to drive him wild, but the glint in his eyes isn’t lust. I know it’s not. Yes, he wants me, but it’s something deeper, something stronger that’s causing his eyes to shine.
Something I don’t want to worry about right now. We’re celebrating. That’s enough for me.
It’s not too much later that we pay and leave. The meal took a long time, and after we finished our Long Islands, we both switched to waters, so I’m willing to drive us home after all. Tox has his hand on my knee the entire drive home. I nearly jumped out of my skin when he first put his hand there, but he behaved like a perfect gentleman, not having his hand move up on my thigh until I parked in front of the house. Then, he inches his hand up, squeezing every few inches, and I turn to him.
“We aren’t doing anything in here,” I inform him.
“In the house then?” His eyes sparkle.
“I need to check your wound first.”
“Strange foreplay, but if that’s what’ll turn you
