Page 80 of Dangerous Temptation
‘Did you play football?’ Elena asked as she took a sip of the Chardonnay. It sat nicely on her tongue. He’d chosen well.
Alex frowned. ‘Where did that come from?’
She crossed her legs. ‘I’m trying to figure out what you were like growing up.’
She was also trying to distract him and make him relax. People were still stealing looks, but most had gone back to their meals. She was nervous about showing her face, but they couldn’t constantly be on guard.
‘I can see you being a quarterback,’ she decided.
He finally settled back in his seat. ‘I played lacrosse.’
‘But you were the captain, right?’
The corner of his mouth twitched. ‘Somebody had to be.’
She rolled her foot in circles underneath the table. A woman at a table way over in the corner had just pointed at them.
‘I just can’t picture you as a computer nerd,’ she confessed.
That got almost the hint of a smile out of him. His gaze flicked to the far table, and the nosy woman snapped forward in her chair. Elena relaxed a little when he laid his arm protectively along the back of the bench seat. ‘I was an only child, and I bored easily. To keep myself entertained, I took things apart and put them together again. Computer games and programming were a natural extension.’
His brow smoothed and his look turned pensive. ‘My curiosity got me into hot water more than a few times with my parents.’
It was the first time she’d ever heard him talk about them. ‘When did they pass away?’
‘When I was in high school.’
A difficult time for any teen. And he’d been left with that monster of a grandfather? She laid her hand on his leg.
‘I’m sorry.’ The touch was hidden by the crisp white tablecloth, but she didn’t care who might see.
That pensive look deepened. The table setting was military precise, but he realigned his salad fork.
Her fingers tightened around the delicate wine glass, and she set it down before she broke it. The woman over in the corner had stopped trying to steal glances, but her friend was talking into her phone. She had a straight-on view, and she wasn’t even trying to be discreet.
Elena smiled politely when the waiter approached with their food, but she forgot everything else when she saw what the chef had prepared. She didn’t want to appear unsophisticated, but it was hard not to stare at the creations. Both dishes looked like works of art.
The seafood tasted like culinary art, too.
Jean-Georges was out of range for poor college students, and it was her first experience at a three-Michelin-stars restaurant. She wasn’t going to waste the experience worrying about gawkers.
She took a bite that melted in her mouth. ‘From what I’ve read, you started Wolfe Pack while you were still in college.’
‘I didn’t think I was being entrepreneurial. It was another project built out of boredom, but it kept growing. More and more pieces were fitting together in my head.’
‘Enough so that you left school?’
‘It wasn’t a decision that was easily accepted at the time. Believe me.’ He buttered a piece of black bread that had come with his meal. ‘But I knew I was onto something. I was determined to see where it would take me.’
She’d seen that unflinching determination. It had brought him far but, truth be told, it hadn’t been that big of a risk. He’d had old Wolfe money to fall back upon.
Or maybe that was exactly what he’d been trying to get away from.
‘I think you’ve done OK for yourself.’
Their gazes locked, grey to brown. For a moment, she thought she’d put her foot in her mouth. There was the scandal. He’d spent time in prison. Yet the molecules in the air between them started vibrating. She felt a pull, almost like gravity, in his direction.
His voice dropped low. ‘Yeah, I really have.’
