Falling for Mr. Wrong(2)
She slowly walked the path to the restaurant as if a pirate held a cutlass to her back to force her down the gangplank. To be truthful, she’d probably have been more enthusiastic about that. At least maybe the pirate would be personable, or—better yet—a little lustworthy if she were lucky.
Ugh. This place bore all the hallmarks of a strip club, which was why she was taken aback when she opened the door and was greeted by a tuxedo-clad ma?tred’. Okay…
“Um, I think I’m meeting my date here.” Harper tucked her hair behind her ear, a nervous habit that gave her something to do while she debated fleeing.
She scanned the restaurant and finally “got” the theme—it was some retro James Bondesque thing, and the place had all sorts of spy-type paraphernalia framed and mounted on the walls. Kind of like how Applebee’s might have antlers or old-timey pictures from the heartland or faux tin Pennzoil signs everywhere, only instead it was guns with silencers attached and pictures of James Bond’s getaway cars and an autographed picture of Roger Moore in his heyday. Weird.
“Miss?” The host lifted a questioning eyebrow.
“Landry. Harper Landry. I’m meeting Danny, um”—she pulled out her phone and opened her calendar to find the guy’s name again—“Greevy. That’s it, Danny Greevy.”
Harper heard the door open behind her.
“Danny Greevy at your service,” she heard a voice say behind her. She turned to see a man bent at the waist in a bow. He stood up and reached for her hand. “You must be the delightful Harper Landry I’ve heard so much about. And you’re even more beautiful than I was led to believe.”
Harper tried to suppress a grin. This guy had potential. First off, he appeared to have manners, which was nothing to shrug off. Especially considering one of her recent dates let the door slam on her face when they left a restaurant at the same time. The glass of the door literally hit her in the nose. Needless to say, they went in opposite directions once outside. Secondly, yowza. He was pretty damned hot. His dishwater-blond hair seemed to fall into place from its side part as if following orders. Warm brown eyes and a dimple in his left cheek completed the picture.
Wait a minute. She did a mental double-take. Something was awry here. The guy was cute and polite. There must be something wrong with him. Alas, she knew she’d have all evening to discern what his fatal flaw was. And she’d sure as hell figure it out.
Chapter Two
Twenty minutes into the date and no flaws were jumping out at her. Instead, he kept inching up the “potential” list. Go figure. Granted he was pretty much the only guy on it. Add to his attributes: an unexpectedly charming sense of humor. Turned out Danny had hoped that Harper would get a good laugh out of a restaurant named Octopussy. That was good news on two fronts: one, he actually had a sense of humor. And two, he obviously delighted in a woman who shared such with him.
“I figure if a date shows up here and storms off, she’s not for me,” he said as the waiter handed them each a menu. “It’s always the easiest way to weed out the stuck-up ones.”
“Stuck-up?” Harper lifted her eyebrow. “That’s not usually the ones I’m contending with. Instead most of my blind dates are developmentally stunted. Like they’ve spent the better part of the last five years hunkered down in their parents’ basement playing video games. They have that pasty-white flesh, they’re usually a bit out of shape, and most of the time they’re sorely lacking in basic social skills.”
Danny shook his head as he ordered a bottle of wine for them both. “I suppose the women I tend to end up with on first dates would be an upgrade from that. But not by much. Mostly they’re first and foremost after a ring and a lifetime commitment. Usually by the time dessert is served. They tend to laugh a little too hard at my jokes, fawn over me like a doting grandmother, and treat me like some delicate endangered species—a single male!—the dodo bird of this century.”
Harper held up her hands in surrender. “Trust me, there will be no pretense of that from me. I’m happy to go on a few dates, but I am decidedly not in search of some elusive ‘Mr. Right.’” She made air quotes. “After some of the dates I’ve been fixed up with, I’d be perfectly happy with Mr. Have Some Fun.” In hindsight, Harper thought perhaps that wasn’t the best way to phrase that, but she figured correcting herself would only draw attention to the wayward comment, so she let it go.
“Well then, we’ll get along just fine.” The corners of his mouth turned up, his perfectly straight white teeth bared in a smile.
He truly was such a handsome man.
*
“You up for some dancing?” Danny said as they chatted over coffee after dinner.
“Where?”
Danny pointed his thumb behind him. “There’s a whole other section of this place that’s more like a nightclub.”
Harper tipped her head in disbelief. “Here? On the sleepy North Carolina shoreline, there’s an actual nightclub I’ve never heard of?”
“Hard to imagine you’re a local and didn’t know of it.”
“Like I said, the extent of my social life has been going out to the Olive Garden with the godson of Aunt Gertrude or the nephew of Mabel, the church organist, so dancing hasn’t been high up on my, uh, dance card.” She grinned.