Page 29 of Targeted By Vengeance

Her brows came together. “I don’t think I like where this is going. Are you about to drown me or something?”

I almost laughed. “Or something.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll close my eyes, but I’m not putting that thing on.”

“No. I don’t trust you’ll keep them closed.”

“I will. Promise.”

I shook my head. I’ve wasted enough time arguing with her. I didn’t want to waste any more. “Fine. Close ‘em.”

She obeyed my command, and I grasped her shoulders. From behind, I led her through the hall and down the steps. We continued through the house towards the back patio.

“Alright,” I told her as we passed through the french doors. “Open them.”

Her eyes flew open, and her jaw fell at the scene in front of her.

Flowers wrapped around the wooden rails. A wooden table from the storage room sat in the middle of the patio, decorated with a satin tablecloth and candles. Fine china plates were topped with seasoned red potatoes, broccoli and blackened salmon. Glasses filled with the red wine from the bottle sitting in the center of the table accompanied the food. Beside one of the plates was a bouquet of red, orange, and pink flowers.

“Oh, Mateo,” Simone gushed. “This is beautiful!” She turned on her heel to look up at me. “You did all this?”

I nodded. “The other day, you said our first date wasn’t actually our first date. So, I thought I could try again - do it right this time.”

She couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face. “Thank you. This was really sweet of you.”

I grabbed her hand and led her to the chair in front of the flowers.

Her cheeks darkened as I pulled her chair out for her and motioned for her to sit down. “Hm, this smells good,” she mused, glancing over the food. “You cooked this or did you order it?”

“Don’t disrespect me,” I told her, taking my own seat. “I know my way around the kitchen.”

“I don’t know. I might have to see you take a bite first. Make sure you didn’t accidentally poison me.”

Rolling my eyes, I stabbed one of the potatoes with my fork and stuck it in my mouth. “There,” I said between chews. “Happy?”

“I guess,” she replied with a shrug.

“Eat,” I commanded, jutting my chin towards her plate. “Before it gets cold.”

The clinking of our forks against the glass plates replaced conversation for a while. Simone moaned in delight with each first bite of food, her eyes closing as the flavor danced on her tastebuds. She’d barely eaten anything all day, so I knew she was hungry.

Between bites, she sipped on her wine and admired the view of the waves crashing a few feet away from us. Every now and then, I caught her gaze on me.

“What?” I asked after the third time I noticed her staring.

She shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just, I… I still can’t figure you out.”

“And what, exactly, still has you stumped?”

“I just don’t know who you really are. And I…I’d like to.” She slipped her hand across the table to gently grasp mine. “If you’ll let me.”

I looked from her fingers, intertwined with mine, to the genuine expression on her face. Warmth rose up in my stomach like heat from a furnace, spreading heat through nearly every inch of my abdomen. It wasn’t the type of fire you ran away from, rather, it was the one you curled up close to. There was no reason for me to be afraid of it, yet here I was, about to scramble as far as I could away from it.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to,” Simone spoke again, defeat clear in her voice. Her grip around my hand loosened, and she started to pull it back. “I understand if-”

“No,” I said, gripping her hand before it could slither away. I’d rather be scared shitless than be without her. So, that means I’d need to face that fire - no matter how uncomfortable it made me. “What, uh… what do you want to know?”

“What’s your name? Your real name?”