Page 54 of 7 Days and 7 Nights

“Only zee best for zee birthday girl.” He winked and nodded her toward the table. "If you’ll bring the wine and our glasses, we can get started.”

Olivia picked up the half-empty bottle in one hand and her own mysteriously empty glass in the other. She felt warm and wonderful and increasingly comfortable with the glow that enveloped her. Being thirty felt considerably less traumatic than it had that morning.

She unfolded the napkin, laid it in her lap, and scooted her chair in closer to the table. When she looked up, her wine glass was once again full, and Matt was passing a basket of rolls in her direction.

"Bon appétit.” His dark eyes were warm. Very warm.

Since her mouth was dry, Olivia took a small sip of wine to facilitate swallowing, and when he continued to study her, she took another.

“Bon appétitto you, too,” she managed.

Dragging her gaze from his, Olivia turned her attention to her plate. Her knife sliced easily through the duck’s butter-soft breast, and she lifted the first forkful to her mouth while Matt watched. The exquisite mingling of port wine sauce and smoky duck flooded over her tongue to tease her taste buds, and she forgot all about Matt for a moment while she lost herself in the sensation.

“Mmmm.” Eyes closed, Olivia savored the perfectly blended flavors, enjoying the taste that lingered in her mouth even after she swallowed. “God, that’s good.”

She opened her eyes to see him light up at the compliment, and she couldn’t help noticing how the candlelight added depth and shadow to the already arresting planes and angles of his face.

“Glad you like it. I’ve always been partial to duck, though it can be a bit tricky.”

“Well, you’ve certainly mastered this one.” She took another sip of wine and continued to meet his gaze full-on. His eyes were like two tumblers of whiskey, amber brown and ready to drown in. She felt a delicious tightening deep in her belly that had nothing to do with digestion, and she felt her hazy glow expand in size to encompass them both.

They ate in silence for a few moments, but the silence was mostly companionable if you didn’t count the depth charges going off in her stomach.

Matt lifted his wine glass and took a drink. His didn’t seem to be going empty anywhere near as often as hers was, and she wondered idly if his glow was keeping pace with hers.

“So what happened with you and Joe?” he asked.

“James.”

“What?”

“His name was, I mean his name is, James.” She eyed her wine glass and the untouched tumbler of ice water sitting next to it, torn.

“Okay, so what happened with James?”

Olivia reached for the wine. “I’ve been living with you for five days now, Matt; I know you’re on Twitter. Surely you know the whole sordid tale.”

“Just because I have a Twitter account doesn’t mean I’m on there every day or even that often. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

She took a sip of wine and finished the last of her potatoes before dabbing at the corner of her mouth with her napkin. "It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Just your usual unwelcome brush with infidelity.”

She watched him watch her and was surprised to find no smirk on his face or laughter in his eyes.

“So everything was great and then, boom, out of the blue he’s sleeping with someone else?”

Funny that no one had ever asked her that question before. Even she had avoided looking too closely at what had come before the unavoidable knowledge of the affair. Good old dependable unexciting James, chosen because he seemed the direct antithesis of both her father and Matt, had turned out to be so not what she had expected.

“No, I just wasn’t paying attention.” Because she’d been so busy burying herself in work and trying not to admit that supposedly safe and solid added up to dull and boring. “I’m a therapist. I help other people find answers, but I seem stupendously unable to do the same for myself.”

She took another swig of wine and told herself that the warmth in Matt’s eyes was also wine-induced. Still, she felt something stir between them. “It would appear I’m somehow not enough for the men in my life.”

“Ah, Livvy. You’re more than enough for any man. You’ve just had the misfortune to attract selfish oafs who can’t leave you alone even when they know they should.”

“Hmmph.” A lethargy invaded her limbs and she couldn’t seem to tear her gaze from his face. It was a fine face, good and true and strong. And at the moment it was completely focused on her. “My mother hasn’t been enough for my father for almost thirty years now, which makes me think it might be hereditary.”

She blinked and looked at her wine glass, aghast at the truths slipping out of her mouth, and unable to comprehend how her glass could be empty again. She reached for the bottle, intent on maintaining the warm, hazy glow that had wrapped so snugly around them, but Matt put a hand on top of hers.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, Olivia, but maybe you should take it a little easier on the wine.”

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