Page 22 of On Her Terms

We set our bikes in the rack with the others and make our way into the restaurant. We’re seated by the window, where we can see out into the mountains, and the hostess hands us our menus.

“How was the sunrise?” she asks and then narrows her eyes. “Wait, Luca, I didn’t realize that was you. What are you doing here?”

“Hey, Jess. How are you? We’re here for Tate’s wedding. This is his cousin, Brianna.”

Jess flicks a glance at Brianna, barely acknowledging her. “How long are you here?” she puts the end of her pen in her mouth and grins. “We should get together for a drink.”

“Pretty busy week,” I say.

“Here.” She scribbles her number on a pad of paper and hands it to me. “I’m still in staff-housing, building number four, in case you forgot.”

“Okay,” I say and put the number in my pocket.

“See you soon. I hope,” she says when our server comes to the table to get our drink orders.

“Coffee?” I ask Brianna, who is staring at me. She nods and I order two. When the server leaves, I turn back to Brianna. “What?”

“Old girlfriend?”

“Old friend.”

“She was rather friendly.”

I set my menu down and lean toward her. “Jealous, Brianna?”

She huffs. “No, of course not. You can date whoever you want.”

“Why would I want anyone else in my bed when I only want to fuck you?”

Pink crawls up her neck. “You took her number.”

“I didn’t want to be rude. When I get back to the chalet, I’ll toss it. I didn’t want to do it in front of her. I’m not a stronzo.”

“Stronzo?”

“Asshole.”

She makes a strange sound and turns her attention to her menu. As she studies it, I think about calling her out, asking her why she’s pretending not to know me. The words sit on my tongue, but I bite them back. I’ll eventually get to the bottom of things, but right now I don’t want to wreck what started as the perfect day by pissing her off and ruining my chance of getting to the bottom of other things later on.

The server comes back with our coffee, and I drink mine black as Brianna pours a dab of milk into hers. She takes a big sip and leans back to look out over the mountains.

“I haven’t been up here since I was a teen.”

“Did you bike it?”

She nods and lifts her cup. “Yeah. I was a bit on the plump side, needed the exercise.” She stares at me over the rim of her cup, like she’s waiting for me to comment on that. I’m not sure what she considers plump, but in college she had curves that drove me insane.

“Tate said you guys all spent a lot of time here when you were young.”

“We did.” She gives me a wobbly smile. “Granddad was very good to us.”

I take a sip of coffee and set it on the saucer. “I’m glad to hear that. Every girl needs a male influence in her life.”

She looks out the window, her gaze misty. She’s obviously worried about her grandfather’s health. “After Dad left us for a much younger woman, Granddad really stepped up, for all his grandchildren.” She puts on a smile but there is pain behind it.

“A much younger woman?”

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “Early twenties. Like I said, the guys in our family do that. Which is why Tate thought Granddad had fallen for Summer.”