Page 42 of Catch You

“Sure do. Things still going well down there?”

“Yeah, it’s doing good. Harlow, this is Kat. Her dad owns this place.”

“Hey,” I say politely, forcing a smile onto my lips.

“Table for two?”

“Please,” Core says, placing his hand on my lower back. A move that Kat clocks, but she doesn’t look pissed or jealous. Just … happy.

“Right, this way then.”

We follow her out onto the patio area, and she seats us at a secluded table in the corner.

“I’m assuming you’d like a beer and …” She looks to me, but despite the riot of emotions bubbling up inside me, she doesn’t look anything but professional right now.

“A rum and Coke, please.”

“Perfect. Here are the menus—not that he needs one. I’ll be back in a few moments.”

“Thank you,” we say in unison as she disappears around the corner.

Silence falls between us as I battle to banish the jealous that erupted from nowhere.

He’s not yours, Harlow. Reign it in.

Corey’s brows pinch as he studies me, already able to read me well enough to know something is wrong.

“This place is nice. How’d you find it?” I ask, hoping to distract him from asking questions I don’t want to answer.

“One of my first clients recommended it. I’ve been addicted ever since.”

“I can see why.”

Silence returns with only the chatter of the other patrons and the crash of the waves below filling our ears.

“So, how come you left the army?” I ask, needing to know more about him and how he came to be here.

“Medical discharge.”

“Oh?”

“We ended up somewhere we shouldn’t have been. Things didn’t go too well. Only a few of us made it out.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It is what it is,” he says, using my line from earlier. “I lost some great friends that day. But it got me back to civi life.”

“You didn’t want to be in the army?”

He looks out to the ocean, getting lost in his memories. “I didn’t have a lot of choice. The day I was born a boy, my dad decided I’d follow in his footsteps and enlist the second I left school. He had dreams of me becoming an officer, making a difference to my country and all that.”

“You weren’t interested?”

“It was more that I didn’t want to do what I was told,” he says with a laugh. “I can’t say I never would have signed up of my own accord—it was in my blood, after all. My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all military men. But I didn’t take well to being told.”

“I can understand that.”

“So, what about you? Have you always been a hockey fan?”

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