Trusting You (Second Chances #2)(46)
I rolled my eyes at him, but then headlights beaming in through the glass in the front door caught my attention. “He’s here, Mase. I’ll see you in a couple of hours. I’ll text if anything happens.”
Turning on the television, he leaned his head back and winked at me. “Just be careful and don’t do anything stupid with him. You got it? Brett already warned me that if you let Daniel touch you he was going to kick my ass. Even though I know I could take him.”
Shaking my head, I laughed as I made my way through the door. Mason wasn’t just a cousin to me, he was more like a big brother and best friend. I tried setting him up with some of my girlfriends, but he never seemed to get into them. He said they were too fake. One of these days he would find someone and I prayed that it was soon. He had the same look in his eyes that I had when Daniel and I divorced … loneliness.
As I walked out the front door, Daniel was already striding up to me. “Oh, wow, you look amazing tonight.” He beamed and leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. Since the weather started getting chillier, I had opted for a light cream colored sweater and brown slacks. I kept my hair simple, just letting it fall in waves down my back. I didn’t want to wear anything too revealing around him.
I gave a small smile and nodded. “Thank you. You look amazing as well.” Daniel always had a sense of style and was always impeccably dressed. Even I couldn’t deny that he looked smashing in his fitted black sweater and dark denim jeans. He also wore the silver watch I got him on our first Christmas together.
He opened my car door and shut it once I got inside. He chose to drive his own Lexus LFA tonight except his was black whereas mine was red. He had bought them together so we would have matching cars. Now that I thought about it … I really needed to sell mine.
When we headed on our way, Daniel glanced over at me and smiled. “So was that Mason’s car sitting in your driveway?” he asked curiously.
Sitting back in the seat, I chuckled and put my purse in the floorboard. “Yeah, it’s him. The well in his neighborhood had some issues so the houses on his street had to have their water shut off for the day. I told him he could stay at the house until it got fixed.”
“Ah, I see,” Daniel muttered, sounding disappointed. “Hopefully, it’ll get fixed soon.”
I guess I knew where his thoughts were for the rest of the evening. When I reached to adjust the thermostat in the car for a little heat, Daniel snagged my hand before I could place it in my lap. I swallowed hard when he slowly brought my hand up to his lips and kissed my knuckles. It was the same hand that still hurt from hitting him the other day, except his kiss didn’t make it feel better … it made the pain worse.
The hostess from that dreaded dinner a few weeks ago was the same one at Marion’s tonight. When I walked in she immediately scowled at me, but then smiled at Daniel.
“Mr. O’Briene, it’s good to see you. Do you want the usual table for tonight?” the hostess asked sweetly.
“That would be great, Savannah. Thank you,” Daniel replied, wrapping his arm around my waist. Inwardly I groaned and wanted to move away from him, but I gritted my teeth and went with it.
When we got to the table, he pulled out my seat and waited for me to sit before he took his to the right of me. The waiter who I recognized from the many times I’d come before with Daniel brought me a glass of my favorite white wine as soon as I sat down. He was very tall with blond hair and glasses, giving him a very sophisticated look. He also had a very sweet smile that instantly made me like him.
Glancing up at his tall frame from my seated position, I smiled warmly at him. “Thank you, Eric. I see you remembered,” I said sweetly, picking up the glass of wine.
He blushed and nodded gracefully. “Of course. How could I forget?”
He set down Daniel’s gin and tonic and scurried off to give us our time. Daniel grinned at me, amused. “You sure get everyone wrapped around that finger of yours don’t you?”
My smile grew wider. “I try, although, it doesn’t work on everyone as you can see.”
His brown gaze bore into mine and his smile faded. “It worked on me,” he admitted.
I scoffed and almost choked on my wine. “Are you kidding? You wouldn’t have cheated on me if it worked on you. You changed so quick and fast back then, Daniel. I didn’t even know who you were anymore.”
He nodded hastily. “I know, and I made horrible mistakes. That’s why I want to make things right with you if you’ll let me.”
The way Daniel looked at me made me uncomfortable. It was as if nothing had changed and I was still the only person in his life that he cared for. We had some good times together, but those times were long gone and never coming back. It felt wrong pretending with him when my heart belonged to Brett.
In all seriousness, I said, “I don’t know, Daniel. I think I might swear off men and turn into a lesbian.”
Daniel almost choked on his drink and bellowed, “Oh wow, now that would be a sight. Can I come and watch?”
Rolling my eyes, I let a smile flitter across my face. “No, you can’t. I don’t think you deserve it after all the shit you put me through here recently. Especially with threatening to spread lies about me and a student to the school board.” I raised my brows and gazed at him incredulously. “That wasn’t very nice, Daniel. Your lies could’ve gotten me thrown in jail and ruined my whole life.”