Page 4 of The Holy Grail
The brunette was the first to react by extending a hand and introducing herself. “Paige Clemons.”
“Nice to meet you, Paige,” Malcom returned politely, giving her hand a firm shake before pivoting toward the redhead.
After giving Paige a quick, irritated glare (which didn’t go unnoticed by Malcom) the redhead offered up her own hand for him to shake, before saying, “Jules Shaw.”
Jules,he thought, the name settling in his brain like it belonged there, his hand tingling from her touch.That’s perfect.
“Nice to meet you, Jules,” he murmured, looking down at her as if he had all the time in the world. When he realized he didn’t, and the moment was stretching out rather awkwardly, he shifted his focus back to the reason he’d come over in the first place. Clearing his throat again, Malcom said, “First, let me start off by saying that I normally don’t approach women in restaurants—”
“You don’t?” she asked, her expression clearly saying,And yet, here you are, approaching a woman in a restaurant.
“No. And especially not after she’s already been approached by another man.”
Jules gave him a long, assessing look, letting him know she’d come to the conclusion he’d seen the previous encounter with the other man. “Then why are you, now?”
He inclined his head a little to the left and waded in. “Because I figure I stand a better chance at being taken more seriously than … Brent.”
He saw the moment she realized he’d alsoheardthe encounter, since he knew Brent’s name. “And how do you figure that?” she asked.
He cleared his throat for a third time. “Well, unlike Brent, I’mnoton the douchebag spectrum.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly at that nugget, but before she could respond, he continued.
“I always wear normal socks, except when taking a shower, which I do every day. Or, you know, when I’m swimming, which I hardly ever do. Or, when I sleep. Anyway …” Malcom trailed off for a moment. “I’ve never attempted to, uh, smolder, nor have I ever gotten a manicure and the last time I used hair gel was in high school, when I was guilty of making a few regrettable choices.”
Jules leaned forward as if getting ready to share a secret. “It’s impolite to eavesdrop, Malcom.”
Paige, having just taken a drink of her water, started coughing.
Malcom quickly looked over to see if Paige was okay, and she waved him off. “Sorry. I just swallowed wrong.”
After a brief pause, Malcom turned back to Jules. “I agree it’s impolite. But I wasn’t eavesdropping.”
“You weren’t?”
“No. If I’d been eavesdropping, I would’ve been secretly listening to your private conversation, but I wasn’t—” he broke off as Paige started coughing again.
She quickly covered her mouth. “Sorry. Swallowed wrong again.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Malcom asked.
“She’s fine.” Jules didn’t even look in Paige’s direction. “So, you were saying?”
“I was saying I wasn’t listening to a private conversation,” Malcom said. “Your conversation was taking place in a public, crowded restaurant, so the expectation of privacy doesn’t apply, since anyone around you can overhear what you’re saying. Including me. I was simply overhearing things I couldn’t help but overhear.”
“And how much did you overhear?”
He paused. “Everything fromThe Godfatherreference on … for the most part. I couldn’t help it. Honestly.The Godfatheris one of my favorite movies, so that caught my attention. And I’m not saying that to pander—”
“Name all the Corleone children.”
Malcom’s eyes widened as the unexpected request caught him off guard. “In alphabetical order, or chronological?”
“Chronological is fine.”
“All right. The oldest is Santino, aka Sonny, followed by Frederico, aka Fredo, then Michael, who occasionally gets called ‘Mikey’. Last but not least, is Constanzia, aka Connie.”
“You forgot Tom.”
