Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(70)

Drinks, one-night stands, even 0200 breakfasts at a diner after a booty call. Yeah, he’d done those. But this was dinner. He wanted Elisa to enjoy it, and he wanted this to be the first of many.

No pressure or anything.

“But you haven’t been here yet?” Elisa tipped her head sideways, and he wondered how he’d ever manage not to nibble at her neck in public.

It was a good thing the tables at this café had them sitting opposite each other. If they’d been in a booth, there’d have been some serious necking. “I figured we’d both have fun if it was a restaurant we’re both checking out for the first time.”

He was rewarded with one of her bright smiles. She’d started smiling for real after they’d included her in Sunday brunch. The small, polite smiles the day or two before had been nice but didn’t chase away the sadness in her eyes. Now when she smiled at him it took his breath away.

“New Hope is less crowded than I thought it’d be, the way Boom was talking about it.” Elisa sipped at her water.

“Yeah, well, Boom runs up and down the streets trying not to knock anybody over.” Rojas considered the menu. It was prix fixe so he could make his choices up front and not worry about it through the rest of the meal. “A ten-year-old takes up a lot of space.”

Elisa nodded in concession. “True. She was saying we should walk down to the end of the street and get cupcakes.”

Rojas grinned and leaned forward over the table. “Two reasons we’re not going to do that. First, I’m told there’s really good desserts here. I think you’ll want to try these. And second, the cupcake store Boom likes is around the corner and way down the end of the main strip of stores here in New Hope and it’ll be closed by the time we walk there. If she was hoping we’d bring her some cupcakes, she can hope for dessert on a different day. Sophie’s probably baking something full of sugar and bad for us for tomorrow’s brunch anyway.”

Elisa narrowed her eyes. “Ooh. Good points on all counts. Though I wouldn’t mind a walk through New Hope after dinner if you two are up for it.”

He glanced down at Souze, who looked back up at him with eyes half-lidded, and shrugged. “Could be. Let’s enjoy dinner first and play it by ear. Any idea of what you want?”

“I’m super hungry,” Elisa admitted. “The pickled beets and goat cheese look interesting, and the braised pork shank sounds amazing.”

“It does.” He put his menu down. “I’m thinking I want to try the fried risotto balls and don’t tell Gary or Greg.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Because of the innuendo they’d make?”

“Nah.” He shook his head. “Because there’s mushrooms in the risotto and they’d get on my case about eating fungus.”

“They don’t like mushrooms?” Her brows drew together in her puzzlement. She was extremely cute.

“It’s a long story involving Boom and this phase she went through where we had to justify to her why she needed to eat anything. We had protein and vegetables covered but fungus was a harder sell.”

Elisa laughed.

Dinner went faster than Rojas thought possible. Service was good. Souze was well behaved. Every table at the café was filled and it was a small space, but the outdoor seating had enough room for him to relax. He wouldn’t have chosen to sit outdoors if it hadn’t been for Sophie’s suggestion and the fact that Souze sat with him. Despite the GSD’s chill demeanor, his ears twitched back and forth with every sound. Watchful. Meaning Rojas could ease his watch a little. Enough to enjoy the evening.

Elisa had just tried one of a trio of mousses, and her eyes almost rolled into the back of her head, when a woman in a dress suit approached their table.

“Elisa! There you are!” The woman’s voice had been pitched to carry and everyone in the restaurant turned to look as she took the last few steps to their table.

Startled, Elisa blinked up at the woman. “Julie. What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, obviously.” As the woman waved her hand, a strong mix of cheap perfume and hairspray wafted over to Rojas. “Your mother is incredibly worried, so when Joseph contacted us to let us know he’d found you, I offered to fly over on the first available flight.”

He held his breath until he thought the evening breeze must have dissipated the pungent smell. “Did you fly in alone?”

Julie looked at him as if she’d only just noticed him. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business, whoever you are, but yes.”

Julie crossed her arms, forcing her low-cut shirt lower and showing off some very impressive cleavage. There was a calculating look in her eye for a split second and then it was gone. She was checking to see if he’d checked her out.

Rojas didn’t lean back or away from her, instead reaching forward to brush Elisa’s hand on the table with his fingertips. Hopefully, she’d take it as a comfort. Whoever this Julie was, she’d caught Elisa by surprise and the tension was becoming palpable.

“I’m sorry I’ve been out of touch with my mother.” Elisa didn’t take her hand away from his, but she didn’t look at him, either. “But I did share my reservations about checking in with her.”

Julie rolled her eyes. Hard. “Which is why we are all incredibly worried about you. Disappearing without any warning. Leaving your fiancé. Hopping all over the country over the last few months. You were under a lot of stress planning your wedding, and I really think taking all those pills was getting out of hand.”