“Nothing.” She shrugged. “I’m just staying single until I’m twenty-eight.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Because that’s when I need to meet my husband, date for like a year, and then get married to pop out those kids. Getting married any sooner is too premature, at least for me.” She drank from her tea again. “I want a more mature man. They tend to need to be older to get that aged effect that I like.”
“You could date an older man right now.”
She shrugged. “I haven’t met one I like.” She glanced at the man she had just checked out. “He looks like he might be like twenty-eight, which is a good age, but I’m not ready to settle down yet anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“You’re living the dream,” I said with a chuckle.
“It’s not for everybody. You got married young, and you were happy.”
“Yeah…and that blew up in my face.”
“But you were still happy,” she said. “It’s not like those years went to waste.”
I wasn’t so sure anymore. Sometimes I wished I could have met Damien sooner, because he seemed to be a better fit than Liam ever was.
“So, Damien tells me you’re his girlfriend.”
That didn’t sound like something he would say, so I was surprised. “Really?”
“Direct quote.”
He’d told me I was his, and that made me feel…a million emotions. He was loyal to me even though I had nothing to offer him right now. I wanted him and I missed him, but I was also overwhelmed with guilt, moving on from a marriage far too soon. The first time I got divorced, I waited months before I went on my first date. But now I was on the cusp of falling into a serious relationship, making love to a man who was already in love with me. It was so intense, it felt wrong.
“I’ve never seen my brother with a lady in my whole life, let alone living with one, so you must be the real deal.”
“I’m not living with him. Just staying there until—”
“Whatever. It’s still a big deal.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I drank from my glass of wine.
“That makes me happy, because I was afraid he would wait too long and end up alone. Then it would be totally up to me to carry the family lineage.”
“I’m not sure if he even wants to have children.”
“Don’t you?” she asked.
“Yes.” More than anything.
“Then he will.” She turned back to the guy she was eyeing. “I’m gonna give this hottie my number. I’ll be right back.” She pulled out a pen from her purse and scribbled on a napkin. In her feminine handwriting, she wrote the number in large characters so the digits would be unmistakable. “Wish me luck.” She left the table.
“I don’t think you need it…”
Just when we finished our lunch, I noticed a large man appear behind Catalina. With enormous shoulders, chiseled arms, and a pair of blue eyes that were brighter than a summer sky, he stared at me like a hunter that had just cornered his meal.
Oh shit.
“What?” Catalina signed the tab before she pushed it away. “You look sick.”
I couldn’t talk because I was in survival mode. My heart was pounding with adrenaline, my palms were so sweaty that I couldn’t grab a rope to climb to safety. Damien wasn’t there to protect me, and now that Liam had snapped, I wasn’t sure if I could do anything to stop this. I couldn’t reason with him. I wasn’t his wife anymore, so I had no power at all. I shouldn’t have come here. It was a mistake…a big one.
“Anna?” Catalina narrowed her eyes.
Liam came closer to our table and stared down at me, his eyes menacing. He ignored Catalina altogether, and the wedding ring on his left hand was terrifying rather than romantic. He stared at me like I was his property, like a cow that wandered past the boundary line. He’d come to retrieve me, to put a lasso around my neck and drag me home. “Get up.” He didn’t raise his voice because we were in public, but if I didn’t obey, there would be consequences.
“Liam—”
“Get. Up.” He leaned down so only I could hear. “Or I’ll make you get up.”
I breathed hard in my panic, unsure what to do.
Catalina raised both eyebrows and sized him up, looking from his head to his toes. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”
He ignored her. “Three seconds, Anna.”
“Three seconds until I kick your ass, bitch.” Catalina got to her feet, hands on her hips as she stood tall in her wedges.
“Catalina,” I said quietly. “Let it go.”
“Fuck no.” Catalina shoved him in the shoulder.
Liam moved slightly, probably because he wasn’t expecting a woman to actually attack him.
“Catalina.” I got to my feet quickly. “You don’t understand. He’s a fighter—”
She slapped him across the face, kneed him in the dick, and then kicked one of his knees with her massive shoe. It was like a Jackie Chan movie, hit after hit happening within seconds. “I’m a fighter too.”
Liam moved with all her hits, falling down because she’d struck him so quickly, hitting all his most vulnerable places.
Now everyone in the restaurant was staring.
“You’ve got three seconds to get out of this restaurant.” Catalina stood over him, victorious. “Or I’m gonna kick you in the face and knock out those two front teeth.”
He looked up at her, a scowl on his face and his expression full of the promise of retribution. “Fucking bitch.” He rose to his feet, staring at her with menace. “I don’t hit women, but I’m about to—”
She punched him so hard in the face, he fell back and fell on top of a table. The couple sitting there jumped out of their seats and backed away as the wooden table broke under his weight. Everyone gasped at the scene.
“Come near my girl again, and I’ll pluck your balls from your body like cherries off a tree. Bitch.” She flipped her hair then stormed off, strutting out of there like a queen who had just conquered a land.
I didn’t linger. I followed her and got the hell out of there.
When we were in the entryway of the house, I finally spoke. “Where did you learn to do that?” I was disturbed by what had just happened because I knew Liam had intended to whisk me away, to make me disappear so Damien would never be able to find me. I couldn’t believe we got away. The only reason we did was because Catalina surprised us both. I never would have moved against him that way because I knew I couldn’t win. He would have grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of there. But with Catalina…she knew how to kick ass.
She answered so nonchalantly, like it wasn’t a big deal. “This guy I was seeing taught me a few things.”
“Was he a professional fighter?”
“No. He was just really into martial arts.”
“Maybe I should learn some things…”
“It wouldn’t hurt.” She pulled her sunglasses off her face. “Big men like that fight like brutes. But martial arts are about striking quickly and using the least amount of energy. He may be bigger and stronger than you, but you’re much smaller and quicker. It’s not about always landing a knockout punch. It’s about wearing him down until he’s incapacitated.”