Page 16 of Forced Mate Bride
After he checked out the book, he and Nikki walked out and made their way into the cool evening air. Jasper turned right. Nikki frowned, twisting to glance behind her.
“Where are we going?” she asked. “Your house is that way.”
He hadn’t missed that she still referred to it as his house versus theirs.
“I thought it might be nice to shake things up,” he said. “I was going to take you out to dinner.”
“Oh.” Nikki blinked, not even bothering to hide her surprise. “Where were you thinking?”
“You like Italian, right? There’s a place not far from here that’s pretty good.” He pointed in the restaurant’s general direction.
She slowed, giving him a speculative look. Jasper slowed as well, turning to look at her, one eyebrow raised.
“What’s up?”
“It’s not Marconi’s, is it?”
“Something wrong with it?”
“No. It’s actually my favorite restaurant,” she said. “How did you know?”
He shrugged, debating telling her that he had seen her go in there after her shift on more than one occasion. She would order takeout from there. In the end, though, he kept his mouth shut. He doubted admitting to her just how much attention he paid to her before this all began would be beneficial at this point.
“I didn’t,” he said. “I guessed since you mentioned loving Italian, and this is the best in town, but I wasn’t sure.”
Nikki nodded, still regarding him with a new curiosity.
Marconi’s was a small restaurant, with fake vines crawling along the beige, stone-colored walls and low lighting. The tables were small and intimate, and the entire place had a cozy feel to it.
“So what’s the occasion?” she asked when they sat, as if she was expecting an ulterior motive.
“No occasion,” Jasper said. “I just figured you might want to go out to eat instead of having to deal with my slop.”
“Honestly, I kind of like your food,” she admitted, playing with her fork. Her eyes glanced up at Jasper, then flicked away. “You’re a good cook.”
“Glad to hear it,” Jasper said. He glanced around, then leaned forward as if preparing to share a secret. “In that case, the real reason is that I’m feeling really lazy today and don’t want to cook.”
She laughed, her head tilting back the way it had for Amber. When she met his eyes again, some of her caution around him had ebbed.
“You’re secret’s safe with me,” she said, eyes dancing.
They ordered a bottle of wine when the waiter dropped off a basket of fresh bread. At first, their conversation came across as a bit stilted and uncomfortable, as if it were a muscle neither of them had stretched in a long time. But after some brief small talk, it got easier. Jasper asked about Nikki’s day, and she talked about an annoying patron who always complained about nonexistent late fees. Then, after a moment’s hesitation, she asked him about the latest self-defense technique he’d taught during the training lessons, and he tried to go through some of the more technical jargon without trying to sound too bland, though she seemed to cling to every word. From there, the conversation flowed to other things, and by the time they were on their second glass of wine and their entrees had appeared, no one would have expected there had been any discomfort between them in the first place.
“You said you were adopted,” he prompted during a segue. He had asked her if she wanted to invite her family to the wedding, and she’d vehemently refused with such gusto, it had taken Jasper by surprise. When he’d pressed her about it, she told him she was adopted and that she and her family were no longer close.
She nodded. “When I was little. Like five. I don’t really remember my real parents.”
“Did you like your foster parents?”
Her lips thinned. “No, not really. They weren’t…” She trailed off, hesitating for a moment, then relented. “They weren’t the best parents. Once they found out that I wasn’t going to be a shifter, they sort of lost all interest in me.” Another pause. “It was hard, you know? They told me on more than one occasion that I was worthless. I wasn’t even entirely sure why they let me stick around if they hated me that much. Because they certainly didn’t seem to have a high opinion of me.”
Jasper snarled, his eyes narrowing. “In that case, they’re idiots.”
She blinked at him, head tilting. Then she laughed. It wasn’t a deep, full-belly laugh, but it was more than she had ever given him before.
“That’s putting it a bit mildly,” she said, her eyes sparkling. She gave him a brief smile, the most she had given him since the night he had saved her from Lucas, before sobering. “I haven’t spoken to them in years. When I walked out at eighteen, I never looked back.”
He grinned. “Good for you,” he said, then poked at his penne. “That isn’t as easy as people make it out to be. It requires a certain type of strength that not everyone has.”
