Page 20 of The One Night Match
“Aren’t you supposed to want me to eat healthy and be thin?” I blurt.
He shakes his head. “No, I want you to be fed and happy. If I find out you’re starving yourself, you won’t like the consequences.”
I don’t get a chance to respond before we pull around to the next window and collect our food.
Three bags full, plus four different drinks.
Jesus, I think he really did order the whole menu.
“Are we feeding the whole reception?” I ask.
“No, I just didn’t know what you liked, and I figured you wouldn’t tell me, so I had to guess.” Cruz knocks on the partition separating the driver from us, and when it rolls down, he passes a drink and a bag of food through before the privacy screen moves back into place.
“You know your driver’s order?”
He nods. “Ben has been with me a long time. He’s one of the few people I trust.”
“Shouldn’t you trust everyone in your organization?”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t?”
“No.”
“Isn’t that kind of a problem?”
He sighs and pauses his rummage through the bags. “I didn’t think you’d care much for the Mafia side of things. But to answer your question, yes, it’s a problem. It’s what made me search for a wife in the first place, figured it would make me seem more settled and reliable.”
Something about his words makes my chest ache but I shake it off. It’s not exactly like I want to be here either. “I guess when you kill your dad and take his place, it’s hard to harbor a trusting environment.”
A laugh bursts from him and I can’t help but smile at the sound. “Weird how that works, huh?”
“Crazy,” I deadpan.
I nibble at my bottom lip when he passes me my fries and I hold them in front of me like I’m not quite sure what to do with them.
This is unexplored territory for me. All the boys I dated when I was younger seemed to be under the impression that women should only eat salad, and yet here Cruz is feeding me carbs like they’re going out of fashion.
He gives me a hard look, and I pop my first fry into my mouth, groaning as the salt bursts over my taste buds.
His gaze turns dark as he watches, but he shakes off whatever thought crossed his mind and starts eating himself.
We finish our meals in compatible silence, and once I take my last bite of my burger, I’m feeling a lot more calm. Maybe I was just hungry.
“So, Riley, tell me something,” Cruz starts, turning his body to face me. “Why does a girl who looks like you need to sign upfor a matchmaker service? I would have thought the first guy who got between your thighs would have locked you down. I know I would have.”
I don’t know whether to take his words as a compliment or an insult, but for some reason, I laugh, like what he’s said is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. “Yeah, no. Every guy I dated thought I was the disappointing sister. I wasn’t as pretty as Ari, not as smart and deadly as Cassidy.” I shrug. “So instead, I got to be the test case for the matchmaker.”
A rumble falls from his chest, and I look over at him in surprise. “I don’t want to hear you say anything like that about yourself again.”
“Why? It’s the truth?”
“No, it’s not.” He shakes his head.
I sigh and press my eyes closed. “Look, I know we need to make the best out of this. But when things don’t work out in the first ninety days, I won’t hold it against you when you walk away. It’s your right within the contract, and I won’t take it to heart.”
TEN
