5. Promise

CHAPTER 5

Isit at the table at The Mad Vine and tap at my wine glass like I'm starting the beat for a band, winding up a crowd or something. I glance over and see some of the other diners glaring at me. I smile at them weakly and gently set my spoon down and huff out a sharp breath.

I don't know how I let Petra talk me into this. I don't want to date. But she's trying out a new app and she's trying to build up the number of people who have used it to good effect.

But a matchmaking app? Ugh! I cannot believe I agreed to this. If I hadn't been so messed up from seeing Kade and worrying about what he makes me feel, maybe I would have noticed that she wasn't paying a helluva lot of attention to my sniping about him. Maybe I would have noticed that she was about to snooker me into doing this for her.

I drop my hands into my lap and twist them around and around until I'm wrapping my silk blouse around my fingers. My sleek pencil skirt and black pumps with the strap around the ankles actually looks like I might be on my way to a business meeting but I don't date so I did the best I could after Petra called me and begged me to go on this date. She ran me through her computer and said that she found me the perfect match.

Considering that I don't think there is one…I'm keenly aware that I do not believe this "app" works at all. But I wouldn't do anything that would hurt my bestie and she said she needs to prove to her boss that this app works. So she needs help and I would do anything for her.

"Well, well, little kitten. Here we are again."

I close my eyes and count to ten, picturing how I'm about to kill my best friend. Because she could not possibly have fixed me up with the one man that I hoped not to run into again.

I open them and look up and up and up. Right into a sparkling pair of pale green eyes and broad shoulders that are wide enough to block out all the light in the dining room.

He sits down and I immediately back away from the table like I can keep myself out of the massive firewall of sexy that is him. He's too young, too brash, too arrogant and way too sexy for me.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask. But I already know and am absolutely gonna hunt my duplicitous bestie down after I'm done with this date from hell. She is dead to me.

He grins and picks up the chic menu, eyeing it even as he peeks over the top at me.

"I thought that we've been working together long enough and yet we still haven't had a date. Seems like a serious breach of good manners to me."

I roll my eyes. "What a load of bullshit," I growl under my breath, jumping when he leans back, roaring with laughter.

"I love that you always tell me how it is. I don't have to guess at all what you're thinking."

"Yeah, well, I don't love anything about you." His bright eyes dim for a minute and my chest aches when I think that I might actually have hurt him.

"We'll revisit that later. For right now, I hope that we can have a nice dinner and maybe chat a little. That's all."

I roll my eyes and settle back into my seat. "Fine. But only for an hour and then I'm going to go hunt down my bestie and kick her ass."

He sits up and his jaw tightens. "Two hours. One hour will barely give us time to get our food and maybe eat."

"This isn't a negotiation," I snap.

But he sits back, his jaw tight and his arms crossed over his wide chest.

Which is when I notice what he's wearing. A dark blue suit with a pale blue shirt that makes the pale green in his eyes look like a gorgeous aqua blue. His shoulders are broad, the cut of his suit fitting so well that it looks almost like a second skin on him.

He looks scrumptious and I want to lick him and crawl into his lap.

I sit back and my eyes widen when I realize that there's a lot more going on here than I thought. I'm not just pissed at him.

I want him. He's sexy and funny and just too damn lickable to let walk away without tasting him.

Maybe if I learn a little more about him I will be disgusted and able to get myself straight.

So after the waiter takes our order, I lean forward, my chin perched on my fist. "Tell me something about yourself, Kade."

He lifts a brow at me and takes a sip of his water, his throat working and drawing my eye. Again, I can't stop thinking about running my tongue up his throat.

"I'm not married. I'm twenty-three. I graduated from college with a degree in business and got my dream job after I graduated. But when my parents passed away suddenly, I decided that I wanted to learn more about their life and I've always wanted to run a bed and breakfast so that's what I'm doing with their house."

I sit up, my body jerking. "You're planning on running a bed and breakfast next to me? Are you crazy?"

Now both of his brows lift. "I know there are several in town or around town already but I've already checked on tours and such in town and around town and I believe there is plenty of business for everybody."

"I don't want a hotel next to me."

He rolls his eyes. "Bed and breakfast. I'll have at most 7 rooms that I rent out. It's not a huge business. I've been looking forward to the planning and all the rest that goes along with a small business like this. I've even joined the small business clubs in town. I'm looking forward to all of this."

I need to think about this. Having a bed and breakfast next door might be a boon for my business or it might sink me or drive me nuts.

Then something else he said hits me. "You're twenty-three?" Shock hits me. "You're so young!"

He eyes me warily. "Yes, I said twenty-three. Why? How old are you?"

"I'm thirty-three. I'm ten years older than you!"

"So?"

"What do you mean, so? I'm too old for you." I jerk to my feet and slam into the waiter as he brings our soup for our first course and watch, open-mouthed as the bowls fly off of the tray and straight down into Kade's lap.

He screams like a little girl and then jerks at the front of his pants, springing to his feet. I race around the table and jerk at his belt loops until I get his belt undone and then rip his pants off of him. Then I grab the tablecloth and jerk it off the table, sending all the silverware and plates flying to the ground, the crash waking up anybody who might not have noticed the circus at our table.

I wrap the tablecloth around his slim waist as he moans and then jerk his boxer briefs off of him.

He stares at me, wide-eyed and I groan. "I'm sorry but I needed to get the fabric off of your…." I blush and point at his lap and he groans.

The waiter comes racing back. "I've called the ambulance and they're on their way."

He groans and falls back to the ground, his face pale and sweaty, his eyes closed.

I flush and nod at him. "Thank you. Appreciate it."

After he walks away, I lean towards where Kade is lying on the ground and whisper in his ear. "I'm so sorry. I'm so clumsy. I shouldn't have done this. I don't like to date. Mainly because I'm really bad at it."

He nods his head and grits his teeth. "It's alright, Promise. I'm okay."

But based on the way he clenches his jaw, I think he's lying. Either to me or himself. I'm not really sure which.

But as the paramedics roll in the door and poor Kade is taken off, I groan and stagger to my feet.

Heading home to have a quiet night and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then hunt down Petra and kill her where she sits.