Page 39 of A Matter of Fact

“Can I get you anything to drink?” he asked.

Rhys flicked a look away from the menu and up at him. “Not that dreadful champagne my brother ordered last time, that’s for sure.”

Beckett chuckled. “Do you want time to look over the menu?”

“I’ll have an Old Fashioned.”

“Anything else?”

Rhys shook his head. “Not right now.”

Beckett moved to the other tables, taking over from Seline, the waitress who was going off shift. He got up to speed, placed the drink orders and appetizers that he needed, then started the cycle over again. He set the Old Fashioned down in front of Rhys.

“What’s your drink of choice?” Rhys asked him.

“Water.”

“When you’re not counting your pennies.”

Beckett let out a groan and rolled his eyes. “I honestly enjoy drinking water. But I like gin and tonics. What about you?”

“I like whiskey and good champagne. Clearly not together.”

Beckett smiled. “Can I get you an appetizer to start?”

“What do you recommend?” Rhys set down the menu and pushed it to the other side of the table.

“The balsamic watermelon salad is good. So is the roast asparagus.”

“Does the salad have goat cheese in it?” Rhys asked.

“Feta.” Why did this conversation feel like foreplay?

“Good,” Rhys murmured, looking up at him. “Goats aren’t good for anything, least of all, cheese.”

“One watermelon salad,” he repeated.

Rhys nodded and swirled his straw around his drink. His phone was on the table, what looked like a spreadsheet on the screen, and Beckett was reminded of his earlier question.

“Do you have a job?” he asked.

Rhys made an amused sound in the back of his throat. “Doesn’t everyone?”

“Not really.”

“I have a job.”

“What do you do?”

“It’s boring and complicated,” Rhys answered and the screen on his phone went black. “My family owns a college, which I don’t have to deal with anymore, thankfully. But I manage one of our estates.”

“Estate like mansion?”

“Estate like assets,” Rhys corrected, and Beckett should have let him stop at boring and complicated.

“That does sound boring,” he teased.

Rhys’s mouth twitched. “Very.”