Page 38 of The Prettiest Outlaw

The warmth and coziness of the restaurant welcomed us. The place wasn’t large, and it was only moderately full. The hostess led us to a booth by a window.

“Good morning. Your server for today is Veronique.” She set two menus on the table. “Enjoy your meal.”

“Thanks.”

“Thank you,” Julianna said at the same time.

She took off her coat. I followed suit then slid into the booth. She slid in opposite of me and grabbed the menu.

“What’s good? What do you usually get?”

“Pancakes, steak, eggs, hash browns—the ‘Mountain Man’ skillet. It has eggs, veggies, turkey sausage, cheese, and mushrooms.”

“That’s a lot of food, sir.” She didn’t look up at me when she spoke.

I shrugged, even though her eyes were planted firmly on the menu.

“Wasn’t it you who told me the other day that I was a lot of man?”

“It was. I guess I didn’t realize exactly how huge your appetite is.”

I caught the menu in her hand so that she would give me her attention.

“My appetite is voracious, lil bit. I’m practically insatiable.”

She chuckled. “That remains to be seen.”

“Oh, you’re talking cash money shit. Okay. I got you. Guess I’ll show you exactly how much it takes to satisfy me later on today.”

“Promises. Promises.”

“You’re gonna pay for every word that comes out of your pretty little mouth.”

She giggled. “Okay. I’m shutting up now.”

“Too late.”

We sat in silence for a minute. She continued to peruse the menu, and I responded to a text from Kayla about the shop.

“You have a name for your cookie and cupcake business, yet?” I asked her.

“Nah. Not at all. I haven’t even really thought about it.” She set the menu on the table. “How’d you come up with the name for your body shop,Emerald City. That’s fromThe Wiz, right?”

“Nah.” I sniggered. “I mean, yeah. Emerald City is fromThe Wiz, but that’s not why I named my shopEmerald City.The shop’s named after my ex-fiancée. We were engaged when we were young. We never made it to the altar, though. She had a very aggressive form of ovarian cancer. We lost her sixteen years ago, and I still think about her every day.”

She reached across the table and took my hand in hers. “Damn. I’m sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine being so young and losing my fiancé. You were how old?”

“I was twenty when we got together. Twenty-two when I lost her.” Our eyes met. “When you talk about your struggles and your pain, trust me…I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

She gave my hand a firm squeeze before releasing it then followed that up with a mischievous grin. “Tell me about Emerald. I’ll bet she was beautiful. Was she all exotic and racially ambiguous?”

I laughed aloud. “Kinda like Gianni Outlaw?”

She giggled heartily. “Touché. You’ve got a point. My daddy was running around town, looking very much Latino or Italian and identifying very much as black.”

“Emerald was a very beautiful woman. I can’t front about that. For some reason, I was with Coe when he stopped by a banquet hall where the…familywas celebrating her eighteenth birthday. One look at her, and it was up.”

“Wait.” Her face scrunched up. “Her family is part of?—”

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