Page 74 of When Morning Comes Around

“Fair enough; I can pretend I don’t see you.”

“Only until I come over to check on you,” said Taryn. “I’ll let you walk your lady over there and get settled.” She looked more serious when she turned to Sadie. “I do like to tease him, but don’t worry, I won’t encroach on your evening. I’m glad you’re here. Enjoy yourselves.”

“Thanks, and don’t worry – I’ll stop by to see you when I visit the ladies’ room.”

Taryn laughed. “That works for me. Although, you might make him paranoid.”

Dom smiled through pursed lips and placed his hand on the small of Sadie’s back. “I’ll talk to you later,” he told Taryn.

“You’d better believe you will. Dalton will be here soon, maybe the four of us can have a drink together on your way out.”

Dom guided Sadie to what had to be one of the best tables in the whole restaurant. When they reached it, he removed the card that sat in the middle of it, proclaiming it to be RESERVED.

“Which side do you prefer?”

The table was next to the window, both seats had what she imagined would be a fabulous view of the lake during the day. “I don’t have a preference, do you?”

He nodded slowly. “If it doesn’t make any difference to you, I’d rather sit facing the room than with my back to it.”

She nodded happily. “That works. If I’m honest, I’d rather not see all the other diners.”

He frowned, but didn’t speak as he held out the chair for her to sit.

When they were settled, she gave him a puzzled look. “What was that about?”

“What?”

“You looked put out when I said I’d rather not see the other diners.”

“Oh, I was going to let it slide but… hell, I’ll just say it… For one thing, it turns out that you did have a preference, but you weren’t prepared to tell me what it was until I’d already made my choice. You need to get over that and just tell me what you want.” He softened his words with a smile. “We can work on that together.”

She wasn’t about to tell him, but she had a feeling that it might take a while to do as he asked. She’d spent a lifetime making sure that other people were taken care of. Deciding what she wanted for herself wasn’t usually her first consideration.

He caught her gaze and held it with a smile. “I know, it’ll take some work, but I think you can get there. The other thing is that I don’t want you to think that I care about watching the other diners.” His face transformed as he smiled. “The only person I want to look at is sitting right in front of me.”

“Aww. That’s a nice thing to say.”

“It’s a nice position to be in. The only reason that I like to have a view of the room is so that I’m aware…” He frowned. “I guess it’s just in case there’s any kind of trouble. I can’t keep you safe if I don’t know what’s going on.”

A rush of warmth filled her chest. She didn’t expect there to be any kind of danger – they were in a lovely restaurant, in a peaceful small town, but that wasn’t the point. Just the fact that the thought of keeping her safe had occurred to him was enough to make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Are you laughing at me?”

“Far from it. I’m just going all weak-kneed and starry-eyed over here.”

He chuckled. “Now I don’t know if you’re really laughing at me, or…”

She shook her head rapidly and reached across the table for his hand. He took hold of hers and gave it a squeeze. “If you’re saying that you like the idea of me looking out for you, taking care of you, then I think that things are going to go well for us.”

She stared into his big, brown eyes, hoping that he was right.

Chapter Seventeen

After the server had cleared their dishes, Dom reached across the table. The feel of Sadie’s small, cool hand in his made him smile. He felt as though he’d spent the whole evening smiling – smiling or laughing. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d enjoyed himself this much.

Sadie raised her eyebrows. “Are you okay?”

“I’m so much better than okay. You?”

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