For some reason, telling Travis Katelyn’s name feels all wrong to me. I have no idea why.
“You want to trade tables?” Travis asks. “I’ll give you half the tip plus two of my tables.”
Right. I don’t think so. I’m not letting Travis anywhere near Katelyn. The man has one thing on his mind at all times, and it’s not usually his work. He’s a damned good waiter, but more often than not he goes home with one of his customers.
He’s not going home with Katelyn.
Neither am I, of course. I’m not there yet.
But no one else is going home with her either.
“No thanks,” I say, trying to sound jovial. “I’m not giving up a Wolfe tip.”
Travis nods. “Can’t blame you. Let’s hope they order the Beluga caviar, dude. Can’t beat starting with a five hundred dollar app.”
“Not likely. No cocktails. Just tap water. I doubt they’ll be running up a huge bill.”
“Ha! Glad you decided not to swap, then. Though I wouldn’t mind a shot at Ms. Wolfe’s friend.”
Warmth rises to my cheeks. Anger. I calm myself, using the techniques I learned in therapy. Anger doesn’t have to be completely negative. We can learn from it, as long as it isn’t misplaced.
This isn’t misplaced. I don’t want Travis humping this innocent young woman. And she is innocent. I can tell by her demeanor.
She’s frightened of something.
I nod and smile at Travis. “Guess I screwed up. See you, man.”
I whisk away to one of my other tables and take an order, glancing back at Zee Wolfe and Katelyn. Johnny just brought their tap water, and Katelyn takes a drink and then pats her lips with her pale yellow napkin.
And I want to be that napkin.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
No dates. No women. Not until I’m sure I can handle it.
I can still look, though.
And my God, she is beautiful.
3
Katelyn
“Penny for your thoughts,” Zee says.
I meet her gaze. I’m always amazed at how beautiful and put-together she is. After all, I know her history, and though it’s slightly better than mine, she should still be a mess.
“I’m not thinking about anything,” I tell her.
It’s a lie. I’m thinking about how handsome our waiter is. He has dark brown hair—nearly black—and even darker eyes. There’s something about them. They look almost…unnatural, but in a completely beautiful way. Black and red swirls of a tattoo crawl up his left hand and then disappear beneath the long sleeve of his white button-down. It’s impossible to tell what the complete picture is, and I find myself—surprisingly—itching to know.
“It’s okay,” she says. “He’s attractive.”
I pop my eyes open. “Are you a mind reader now?”
She smiles. “You blushed when he talked to you.”
True. My cheeks warmed, and frankly, they’re still warm.
“I know it seems strange to find a man attractive. Believe me, I felt the same way when I began to fall for Reid. When you’ve been though something so horrific, you wonder if you’ll ever feel normal again. But you will. And this is your first clue.”
“Because I think our waiter is hot?”
“Sure. It proves you’re still yourself. I assume you were attracted to men before…everything.”
“Yeah.”
“And now you’re still attracted to men.”
“That doesn’t mean I want to be with anyone.”
“Of course it doesn’t. But it should help you see that you will get through this. You did great at the center. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”
I nod. I know all this. Still, the force of my attraction to our server jolted me.
I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.
“Were you attracted to any of the men at the center?” Zee asks.
“There weren’t very many men at the center. And the ones who were… I guess I found some of them attractive, but I wasn’t thinking in those terms then.”
“Very normal. And now that you’re back in the real world, you’re beginning to think in those terms again.”
“Zee, our server is really good-looking. Any woman—and probably a lot of men—would find him handsome.”
“True.” Zee glances at the menu that’s open before her. “But it’s a step in the right direction that you do.”
Zee is studying psychology. She told me all about her original ambition—to go to college and medical school and become a physician. But after…everything, she decided to study psychology instead, to help others like herself. She still hasn’t ruled out med school, but she needs an undergraduate degree first, and for that, she’s studying psychology.
She finished one semester, but now she’s on maternity leave.
“I never asked,” I say. “Do you know the sex of your baby?”
“It’s a girl,” she says softly. “A little girl. She’s going to be spoiled rotten by her daddy.”
“Have you decided on a name?”
“No. Reid and I can’t seem to agree. Obviously, neither of us were close to our parents, and Reid loves his sister, but he doesn’t want to hijack her name. I wish there were someone we could honor.”
“How about that, then?”
“What?”
“Honor?”
“You mean as a name?”
“It’s a beautiful name. Honor Wolfe.”
A smile splits Zee’s pretty face. “I love it. I absolutely love it! I have to text Reid. I hope he loves it as much as I do.”
“What names were you considering?” I ask.
“Nothing we can agree on, like I said. He likes Isabella, and I like Morgan. Two totally different names. But Honor… I think we both may be able to get behind that one.” She taps a message into her phone.
“Are you ready to hear about the specials, ladies?”
I jerk toward Luke’s deep voice. And when I say deep, I mean really deep. Like James Earl Jones deep, only with a sexy rasp.
His dark hair is slightly wavy, and it’s cut short. Not normally my cup of tea, but he makes it sexy. I stare at his left hand again, but I still can’t tell what those black and red swirls lead to.
His eyes are so dark. Nearly black like the onyx-colored sea glass that washed up on the beach while I was on the island. I suppose not all of Treasure Island was bad. The color of Luke’s eyes exists in nature on that island. Not so unnatural after all. Perhaps what’s unnatural—and beautiful—is the way he’s looking at me. He seems kind. Not like the men on the island who used to look at me.
“Sure, Luke,” Zee says. “Please tell us about the specials.”
“We have a trimmed ribeye with horseradish hollandaise. Comes with a loaded baked potato and braised broccolini. And we have a broiled mahi mahi with port wine reduction and a really amazing mushroom risotto. I tried it myself. It’s delicious.”
“Any of that sound good to you, Katelyn?” Zee asks.
“I don’t eat red meat,” I say.