Page 42 of Legally Mine

I giggled, swiping again with my napkin at the tear stains that had likely ruined my makeup. Brandon shook his head sheepishly as he stood up.

"I think we'll take it to go," he said with a wry smile. "Charge it to my account, and have it sent up front, will you?"

The waiter nodded, his nervous face darting back and forth between Brandon and me before he left to box up our food. I finished dabbing my face with the napkin, while Brandon watched with a kind, yet guarded expression.

"Sorry," he said. "Do you, ah, want to continue this elsewhere?"

I glanced around the restaurant. People were no longer even trying to hide the fact that they were staring at us.

"Yeah," I admitted. "I definitely think that would be best."

~

We left the restaurant with a veritable picnic basket in hand, as the staff had been kind enough to box up our food and even what remained of the bottle of wine I'd barely drunk, all packed neatly into a silver paper bag.

"That's good stuff," Brandon said when I'd expressed my surprise at the wine-to-go. "You don't want to waste it."

It wasn't until much later that I discovered it was a five-hundred-dollar bottle. Waste not, want not, I suppose.

David pulled up in the Mercedes, but instead of leading us to it, Brandon turned to me with a somewhat shameful expression.

"This is embarrassing," he admitted. "But I have to ask you to take a different car."

I bit my lip. Apparently, this evening hadn't ended the way I thought it had.

"Oh," I said. "Okay, then."

Brandon quickly reached out to grip my hand. "No, no, it's not like that, Red. I-–do you mind if I come over?"

I brightened. "Sure."

He delivered an ear-splitting grin that practically lifted my heart out of my chest.

"Great," he said. Then he shifted uneasily. "But we'll have to travel separately. I already had the concierge here call you a separate town car just after mine. Miranda...well, Kieran thinks there's a good chance she put a P.I. on me. It wouldn't be good for you or me if she saw pictures of us together."

There was an awkward pause at the mention of Brandon's still-pending divorce, a long process that his ex-wife had been stringing out for years, but which was undoubtedly taking even longer now that she had discovered my presence in his life. Part of me didn't completely blame her; Brandon Sterling was a hard man to get rid of once you'd let him in.

I looked back at the restaurant with sudden clarity. The Martin, aside from being expensive and impressive, also had excellent security. No wonder Brandon had wanted to meet here.

"I'd like to say that if it's too much for you, you can leave," Brandon said quietly as he reached out to stroke my hand shyly. "But I'm just too selfish for that, I guess. Or else not strong enough."

I said nothing. I couldn't promise that I would forget everything that had happened between us, or even that I would be okay with the fact that he wasn't yet divorced. But I wasn't going anywhere again.

Brandon pulled me to him and tipped my head up.

"Are you really here?" he asked as he brushed a thumb across the outer edge of my jaw and then toyed with the strand of my hair that kept falling out.

Behind us, the maître 'd studiously turned around.

My mouth quirked. "I am," I said. "But these things...we do have stuff to work out." My stomach clenched. I hated to admit it, but there were things I would have to tell him too.

"We can work it out, Skylar," Brandon said vehemently. The arm around my waist squeezed, like he was afraid I'd bolt.

"I want to," I said softly.

I placed my own hand on his cheek, tracing my fingers across the stubble covering the strong bones of his cheeks and jaw. My thumb brushed over his full mouth, and he bit it lightly before letting go. Something else tightened deep in my belly.

"We will," he stated firmly.

Brandon kissed me again, more softly than before, but no less potent. It was the kind of kiss that tasted of love, not lust, the kind that could last for hours. The kind I could completely lose myself in.

Much to my regret, however, Brandon broke away. "Wait five minutes, then go out to take the next town car that pulls up. I'll see you at your place. Wait in the lobby for me, will you?"

I nodded, and he strode through the doors out to his car. I looked out the window for any signs of a flash or even the reflection of a lens. If there was someone watching Brandon, they did a good job staying invisible.

My heart sunk a little as I watched the Mercedes drive off. We weren't doing anything wrong, and yet...some part of me felt like a dirty secret. Which in a way, I realized with a cringe, I had been all the time.

~