Page 18 of Wake Me Up Before You Cocoa

Immediately, Wade thought about the fantastic and mind-boggling donut and drink he’d had with Marina at The Coffee Loft. He supposed he wasn’tthathungry. He just needed a real meal.

“Don’t say ‘starving,’” Lydia chided now. “It’s uncouth.”

“I’m still a growing teenager at heart, I guess.”

Lydia purred, sliding her arms around his waist, and tilting her chin up at him. “And you grew into a fine specimen of manly qualities.”

“Now you’re embarrassing me.”

“I only speak the truth, darling,” she said, slipping an evening wrap Wade hadn’t noticed around her shoulders. “I’m off work tomorrow to go wedding shopping with my mother, so you and I can stay up late and play,” she murmured suggestively.

“You may have the day off, but unfortunately, I don’t. I have an appointment first thing.”

Lydia’s face fell and she frowned. “What? I thought Fridays were a slower day for you.”

“It’s a new job I’m quite pleased about. I guess I forgot to tell you. An older woman wants to discuss putting her Victorian home up for sale, and it needs a big overhaul. New plumbing, electric, and heating systems, as well as remodeling. She wants the best price she can get so she can have a nest egg when she moves into a smaller home, possibly with her granddaughter, and yet have enough left over for an assisted living spot when—or if—that time ever comes. She’s a spry and healthy eighty-something at the moment.”

“You can’t have your assistant manager take care of it?”

Wade let out a quick laugh, shaking his head. “No way. I’ve been dying to see this house for years. It’s one of the best in the Garden District from a famous architect of the nineteenth century. Ihaveto see this place in person. So much history aswell as the style and architecture. It’s a job I want to personally oversee.”

“Even at the expense of being with me?”

“Honey, we’re going to dinner right now and spending the evening together. We also ran errands all morning together. This has the potential to be a big project for my company—which helps pay for our wedding.”

She took a step backwards, her hands abruptly dropping from his forearms. Her eyebrows creased. “Butmyparents are paying for the wedding. All of it. It’s their gift to us. Besides, it’s normal for the bride’s side to pay for the wedding. The groom books the honeymoon.”

It was Wade’s turn to look confused. “But didn’t you already book us a house in Paris for our honeymoon?”

“True, and it’s going to be fantastic,” she said, looking up at him through her eyelashes. “Butyou’repaying for it, of course. Oh, remind me to give you back your Amex Black Card.”

“Okay, then here’s your official reminder,” he said, shaking his head at her. “Hand it over, sweetheart, before you max it out and I end up in poverty.”

Lydia wiggled her shoulders at him. “That’s not very funny. It’s in my handbag, I’ll find it. Don’t you trust me?”

“Of course, I trust you,” Wade said, holding out his hand for the credit card.

She slid her arms around his neck, trying to bring him in for a long kiss, but Wade pulled back, giving her a raised eyebrow.

“Card first, please,” he said sternly, Inside, he suddenly felt very strange kissing her when he’d so recently had a conversation with Marina, not to mention the deluge of memories that were attached so strongly to his old girlfriend.

He’d buried those memories for so long that the strength of the emotions had caught him off guard. He was trying to push away the time he’d spent with her just an hour ago—bury it allagain even deeper this time—but it wasn’t working. Not at all. Which disturbed and worried him.

Perhaps he would feel more normal tomorrow when he got back into his regular work routine. Right now, he would attempt to force this afternoon’s unforeseen time with Marina away so he could get through dinner without acting too strangely.

Lydia abruptly dropped her arms and stepped back. “We’re going to miss our reservation now,” she said and swatted his arm in exasperation.

Wade couldn’t tell if she was upset or trying not to show her displeasure at his rebuff. “After you, milady,” he said with a sweep of his arm.

After grabbing his leather jacket against the chill spring evening air—and an umbrella for good measure, Wade helped Lydia into the front passenger seat of the red Bentley. He had personally washed and cleaned the vehicle a day earlier just for her benefit, but the drive to the restaurant was unusually quiet.

Despite his thoughts of Marina, Wade did his best to focus on listening to the vehicle’s automated voice giving him directions while Lydia stared out the window for the first five minutes in silence.

She was obviously upset, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Lydia didn’t take teasing or joking when the subject was about herself. So, he left her alone and tried not to blow through the perpetual red lights of city traffic.

Pulling out her phone from her evening bag, Lydia ignored him, checking her email or scrolling social media. Her head bent, she tapped her blood-red fingernails against her teeth, the diamond ring flashing in the dusk of sunset.

Wade wasn’t sure if she was trying to show off the ring or annoy him.

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