“Wow, you really know your wine.”
“You’ve probably had wine that didn’t taste quite right before. Or smell right. That’s corked, though there are other issues that can cause problems. Basically, if it tastes funny, send it back.”
She seemed impressed. “Where did you learn all this?”
He shrugged. “I like wine. Good wine.”
The waiter returned with another bottle and the sommelier, who apologized profusely for the previous bottle. The new one was fine, so the waiter poured two glasses and disappeared again.
Angie sipped from her glass and smiled. “Well, I don’t know much about wine, but I know I like this one.”
“It’ll be perfect with steak.”
“You surprise me, Colt. I had no idea wine was your thing.”
“It’s one of my things. I like good food and wine.”
“And you cook and clean house.”
“I’d make a great house husband.”
Angie laughed. “I guess you would. Except you’d be gone a lot with your job, so maybe not quite so great after all.”
“Maybe I just need a woman who’ll keep me in style so I can quit my job and take care of the house.”
She blinked. “You’re joking.”
He grinned. “Yep, totally.”
He could picture himself settling down with someone the way Jace had settled down with Maddy, and the way Brett was currently settling in with Tallie. But, like them, he wasn’t leaving BDI and giving up his profession. It was too important. Doing his job meant that the world stayed safe so ordinary people could get married and have babies and live their lives without any idea about all the rotten shit going on behind the thin layer of civility they enjoyed.
Angie’s cheeks were beginning to flush pink with the wine, and her eyes sparkled. He pictured a future in which he settled down with her, in which he kissed her goodbye in the morning and went off to battle the world’s monsters.
But he knew it wouldn’t work. He couldn’t ask her to be a part of his world. It was too dangerous, too unpredictable. She was too fragile. He’d have thought the same thing about Maddy and Tallie, to be honest, but it turned out they had hidden strengths that Angie didn’t have.
How do you know she doesn’t have them?
He pushed that voice away. He knew. She’d had trouble bringing herself to the level of merely talking to him. How would she ever grow accustomed to his life when it was filled with the possibility of violence and danger?
She’d had a taste of it once, when Natasha Orlova, aka Calypso, abducted her and then used her to get to Maddy—shooting him in the process—and he didn’t think she wanted more. He didn’t think she particularly liked that Maddy was going to marry Jace, but she’d never actually said anything to the contrary.
“How did you and Maddy meet?” he asked, deciding to steer the conversation in a new direction.
“High school,” Angie said. “We met in homeroom, and that was that. We’ve been best friends since we were fifteen.”
“You grew up in Annapolis then?”
“Yes. It’s home, though my parents moved to Florida about eight years ago. They were older when they had me, so they’ve retired and headed for warmer weather.” She took another sip of wine. “What about you?”
He’d known the question was coming but he didn’t have a good answer for it. He opted for the truth. It wasn’t a secret. It just wasn’t something he talked much about. Too many minefields to navigate. “I grew up in France. My dad died in an accident when I was fourteen, and we moved to California.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh no. I’m so sorry about your dad.”
He felt like she meant those words. He still had trouble talking about it. Everything changed when his dad was killed. The trajectory of his life, his mother’s life. “Thank you. It was a long time ago now, but yeah, it was hard.”
“So you’re French then?”
“I am. But I’m an American too. My mother’s from Napa. She met my dad through work. They married and she moved to France. When he died, we moved back.”
There was more to it than that, but thinking about those particular minefields would piss him off. And he didn’t want to be pissed off while on a date with Angie. Especially since it might be the only date they ever went on.
“I guess you grew up bilingual.”
“I did, though I consider French my first language. It’s what was spoken most when I was a child. My mother was the one who spoke English to me.”
“How did you end up in Maryland?”
“Ian Black found me and recruited me.”
Angie tilted her head as she studied him. “I have a feeling you left a lot out of that story.”
He had, but there were things he didn’t like to talk about. “It’s not all that interesting.”
“Okay,” she said. He liked that she didn’t push. “What about brothers and sisters?”
“No brothers or sisters. I have three first cousins though.” Cousins he hadn’t seen in fifteen years. Not since his uncle took control of the family estate and fortune.
“Do you see them often?”
“Not often, no.”
Their steaks came then. After the waiter was gone, Angie ate a bite of steak and then sipped her wine. “Oh my god,” she practically moaned. “That’s perfect, isn’t it?”
He grinned. “The right wine makes everything perfect.”
“Seriously, how do you know so much about wine?”
“My father was a winemaker. My mother works in the business. It’s in my blood, I guess.” That was more than he’d told anyone in a long time. Because it still hurt, knowing he’d been cut from the family business when his uncle took control.
“Yet you didn’t go into the business yourself.”
“I didn’t. It’s not for me.”
Angie didn’t say anything else about the wine, thank God. They moved on to more superficial topics then. Ones that didn’t make his insides tighten, or cause the dull light of old anger to flare
