Wicked Heart (Starcrossed #3)(43)

“Yeah, I’m not buying that. You’re beautiful, smart, amazing at your job. I bet you have men lining up around the block. Josh, back me up on this.”

Liam’s gaze intensifies as Josh says, “She gets lots of attention, yes.”

Angel looks at Josh quizzically. “Then why hasn’t she found Mr. Right yet?”

I grab a menu. “I’m sitting right here, you know? In case you’d forgotten.”

“There was one guy,” Josh says, like I haven’t spoken. He gives Liam a sideways glance. “Years ago. I thought he might have been the one.”

Angel leans forward. “Ooh! What happened?”

“He turned out to be an asshole. Dumped her for someone else.”

The menu slips from my fingers and hits the table with a thud. I look over at Liam. He’s staring down at his hands.

“Okay,” I say, and pick up the menu. “Let’s stop talking about me now, please. I’m starving. We should order.”

Angel flashes me a sympathetic smile. “Aw, honey. Don’t be ashamed about being dumped. We’ve all been there, done that. God knows, I have the therapist’s bills to prove it.” She studies her menu. “The one thing I’ve learned is to not take the blame for things beyond your control. None of us can help who we fall in love with. Or out of love with, for that matter. My therapist says love is like a lion in captivity—it can be embraced, but never tamed. Deep, right?”

She doesn’t notice that Liam and Josh are now having a glaring match. I dig my fingers into Josh’s thigh. He squirms and finally breaks eye contact to look at his menu.

Liam looks at me briefly before taking a sip of water and gazing across the room.

Okay, so this is going well.

The only person who seems oblivious to the tension is Angel.

“God, this food looks amazing,” she says. “My taste buds just squirted all over the place. I’ve heard the duck here is to die for.”

“Why aren’t there any prices?” Josh whispers to me.

I lean over to him. “Because if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.”

Angel waves her hand. “Order whatever you like. My treat. I just want us all to have a good time, okay?”

I feel bad about letting Angel pay, but I’m realistic enough to know Josh and I could never afford to eat here on our wages.

We spend the next few minutes looking through our menus and making small talk. All but Liam. He leans close to Angel as she reads him the menu. When she sees me watching, she says, “He never brings his reading glasses, and he’s useless without them. I don’t think he even knows where they are these days.”

“They give me a headache,” he says. “If I can get away with not wearing them, I will.”

“You near-sighted?” Josh asks. Liam nods. “Yeah, that sucks. Taking them on and off all the time would drive me nuts. I don’t blame you for ditching them.”

Liam smiles, and for some reason, that small exchange makes the whole mood lift. We order our food, Angel chooses the wine, and we fall into the kind of easy dinner conversation I wouldn’t have expected with this group of people. There’s still tension, especially between Liam and me, but not so much that I can’t enjoy myself. Of course, the wine also helps.

By the time we’re on our third bottle, we’re getting kind of loud. Liam and Josh have had a hardy debate about football versus baseball, Angel and I have discussed our families and current events, and Josh and Angel have fallen into a friendly but passionate argument about the various incarnations of Star Trek.

“You take that back,” Josh says as he narrows his eyes at her.

Angel lifts her chin. “Not going to happen. Picard is sexier than Kirk. It’s a fact.”

“Not in this universe, it fucking isn’t. Kirk is king, lady. Deal with it.”

Liam looks over at me and smiles. “We may have to step in soon. Or take away their cutlery.”

“Angel just dissed Josh’s hero and role model. I’m surprised he hasn’t flipped over the table in disgust and walked out.”

He links his fingers together in front of him. “I was always more of a Spock fan, myself.”

“Really? Why?”

He gives a small shrug. “He was always the voice of reason. Sometimes he had to use logic to make the hard decisions. That’s not easy to do.”

I smile. “ ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.’ ” It’s one of my favorite movie lines.

He stares at me with a strange expression before finishing the quote. “Or the one. Exactly.”

We’re quiet for a few seconds, and Liam startles a little when Angel puts her hand on his arm.

“Well,” she says, “as much as I’d like to continue kicking Josh’s ass about Starfleet captains, I think we should dance. This band is one of the main reasons I wanted to come here, and right now, they’re going to waste.”

Josh glances over at the dance floor. “I’d rather continue to have my ass kicked, thank you.”

Liam holds up his hand. “Me, too.”

“Tough,” Angel says, smiling as she drags Liam to his feet. “I’ve spent thousands of dollars on dance classes for Liam and me for the wedding, and I aim to get my money’s worth. So, everyone up.”