Page 10 of Such a Feisty Omega (His Alpha Desires #6)
Julian
It had been three days since I saw Andreas in person, but I had seen him plenty in my mind. He played a starring role in my fantasies and had since that night at Cuffed. Dreaming of all kinds of things he would do to me and vice versa.
His broad hand slapping my ass hard.
The sting of a crop whipping against my bare skin.
But first, dinner.
I didn’t dress for the club. Instead, I wore a button-down dark-navy shirt along with some dark-gray pants that fit me well. Not too dressed up but not completely casual either. The night I’d met Andreas, he was wearing all black, which the employees tended to do, but black looked so much better on him than most. Perhaps it was the way the inky shirt set off his green eyes or maybe it fit so well with his demeanor. Either way, I hoped he’d wear black again tonight.
We agreed to meet at the restaurant because I wanted to drive myself. I had a feeling the date with Andreas would go well, but I’d been wrong before.
Then again, my wolf was giving me signals. Signals I didn’t want to face yet. It seemed soon for that kind of talk he was pushing at me but then again, every sign was proving him right.
Andreas might just be my mate.
According to my wolf, he was.
Tonight was the night I would hopefully find out.
I arrived at the restaurant right on time, and Andreas stood outside, looking in the opposite direction from where I came. He had his arms crossed over his tight chest and one of his feet tapped against the sidewalk. He had glasses on tonight which, although it seemed impossible, made him appear even sexier.
“Looking for someone?” I asked as I approached him. He turned and I got the best gift, a genuine smile, though it disappeared as soon as it came. He seemed determined not to be happy. I would’ve loved to get to the bottom of that.
“I was, but I found him, or he found me. Good evening, Julian. You look lovely.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks and to other parts of my body. “Thank you. You look devilishly handsome.”
He chuckled low and deep, tugging on my heartstrings. “Devilishly, huh? We’ll see how naughty we can get later on, but let’s go eat. You’ll need your strength.”
Goddess, that promise sent shivers down my spine.
We went in and, to my surprise, Andreas had made a reservation. It wasn’t a fancy place, but it had soft lighting and private tables spaced out enough so that no one felt crowded. I hadn’t dined there before, but I had passed it several times driving around the city.
The waiter went over the specials, and we decided to start with the bruschetta. Andreas ordered a glass of wine but I asked for water.
“Should I change my order of wine?” he asked. “The last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable if it’s an issue.”
“I don’t personally have an issue with drinking. I’ve seen the repercussions of alcoholism in my life and in my work. It’s a choice I made a long time ago. Please, enjoy your wine.”
He flagged down the waiter and asked for water instead before returning his attention to me. “You said in your work. What do you do for a living?”
I was nervous, but Andreas seemed completely cool and confident. He looked me in the eye. Really listened to me as I told him about my work as a nurse, but I left out the specifics. My work was heavy, and sometimes I waited until I knew people a bit more before sharing all of that.
“That’s admirable, but I bet there’s a lot of heartache that goes along with it. I imagine you get attached sometimes.”
No one else got that. They thought there was no way I could get attached to a child who wasn’t mine or was only in the NICU for a few weeks or days, but my heart got invested as soon as I laid eyes on the little ones. Being brought into this world and in a new place was hard enough without adding medical issues or feeding or breathing problems.
Then again, he simply meant patients. He didn’t know he was speaking of the precious babies.
“My patients mean a lot to me.”
He nodded. “Oh, I wanted to let you know that Rhys reported back once he got home. He told Jabez he’s okay.”
I had to admit, it was the update I wanted. I’d let go, thinking I would never know unless I saw him at the club again, but I was happy to hear it. “That’s great. He was with someone not kind. He deserves better.” I paused. “Tell me about yourself, Andreas. You work at Cuffed, that I know. What else?”
“I more than work there, actually. I’m an owner. There are several of us.”
“Oh.” I reflected back to the conversation from the break room and how the guys were talking about the elusive owners. And here I was, sitting across from one of them. “But you were monitoring, right?”
“No. I just happened to be on the floor. I didn’t see the abuse your friend endured or I would’ve stopped it. We try but we can’t see everything.”
“I’m sure you would’ve stopped it.” Those weren’t just words; I felt like he would. He might be strong and had a powerful presence, but it was in a way where he was a protector, not an abuser.
We ordered steaks and talked more about his work at the club and my nursing, but I felt like we were only scraping the surface. Like there was a big part of Andreas that he was purposefully holding back. I respected it, of course. I wouldn’t pressure him. Some people were more private than others. He would tell me in time.
At least, I hoped we’d reached that level of trust because as the night went on, I was falling for Andreas. Hard.
We planned to go to the club in a few days, when we were both free. And this time, I agreed to let him pick me up.