Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“And he’s cute,” Nina prompted. “Did he ask you out?”
She felt a smile slide over her face. “He might have.”
Maybe she wouldn’t volunteer for an out-of-town assignment right away. She’d been out of the country for weeks, and her boss liked to spread those assignments out. Wade Rycroft ran the bodyguard unit, and if she asked to work in Dallas for a couple of months, he would likely honor her request.
It would be good to be home. She could spend some time with her mom, finally get around to decorating her apartment. All the boxes were unpacked, but the place still didn’t feel like home.
She could explore this thing with Professor Hottie.
He’d gotten hotter over the course of the night. He had a real Superman thing going. He seemed blandly handsome until he smiled and talked about things he was passionate about, and then he was flat-out sexy as hell.
And it was nice that his mom worked at Top. Tessa wondered if she was a server or one of the cooks. If she’d been the one to make that burger, then kudos to David’s mom because it had been excellent.
It had been better because he’d shared it with her.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so glowy,” Nina said with a smile. “I’m glad you came because I’m happy you met someone.”
“Well, I mean it was just a couple of hours in a bar.” She felt the need to tap the brakes a bit. At least with her friends. Nina had already seen one of her relationships fizzle and die.
“Did you say he’s a professor?” JT asked as he sped up to get on the freeway that would take her to her one-bedroom apartment.
It was in a nice part of town, but it was bland and colorless. She would bet the professor’s place was full of books. “Yes. He teaches history at UTD. David Hawthorne.”
Nina snapped her fingers. “I thought he looked vaguely familiar. Isn’t he a Taggart?”
“No. His last name is Hawthorne.” And her brain finally made the connection it should have hours and hours before. It wasn’t like Hawthorne was a common last name. She felt dumb she hadn’t put it together, especially since Kyle had been working the party. “He’s Kyle’s brother, and Kyle is Sean Taggart’s stepson. Kyle Hawthorne joined my unit a couple of months ago, but I haven’t worked with him. I’ve been out of the country most of the time since he hired on.”
“I’d heard he was back from his stint in the Navy,” JT said. “I’ve never met his brother though. So the two of you got along?”
David’s mom didn’t work in the kitchen. His mom owned the kitchen and the building, and at least four other restaurants in the DFW area, not to mention the fact that his stepdad regularly showed up on national cooking shows. And he had a connection to the big boss at McKay-Taggart.
JT had asked a question, and if she didn’t reply they would know something was wrong. “He seemed nice. Like I said, he knew my mom.”
“So you’re going to go out with him,” Nina prompted.
“I don’t know.” He hadn’t mentioned that his stepdad owned the place. That seemed odd. He definitely hadn’t mentioned his brother worked for McKay-Taggart. Kyle had been in the restaurant, and David had merely mentioned him in passing. “I’ve got a heavy workload for the next month or so. I’ll have to see if I have the time.”
The car went quiet, and she wished she’d grabbed a cab instead.
“Darling, he’s not really a Taggart, you know,” Nina began. “He’s a professor. I don’t think he runs in those circles if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
“I’m not afraid of anything.” It explained the Mustang. Even a shell of that car would be expensive. The full restoration would yield a car that was worth a small house. “It was a nice night, that’s all.”
The fact that he hadn’t mentioned his stepfather bugged her. Why was he trying to hide the connection? Had he known exactly who she was? Not that she thought he was targeting her for something. Why would he? But also, why wouldn’t he have mentioned that he was in a place his family owned?
JT started talking about something the kids had done and Tess sat back, all of the sparkle of the evening washed away. She knew it shouldn’t matter who the man’s family was, but it did. It mattered that he hadn’t mentioned them. It mattered that she worked with his brother.
It mattered that he lived in a world she didn’t belong in.
She was quiet the rest of the drive.
* * * *
David turned back to the bar. He’d watched Tessa until she’d disappeared from sight.
He would text her in the morning to thank her for tonight and ask if she had any time this weekend. He wanted to get at least one date in before he had to leave for South America. It wasn’t a long trip, but he also didn’t want a couple of weeks to go by without seeing her. He wasn’t going to be that asshole who went by some rule that it wasn’t masculine to contact a woman unless he’d left her hanging for a couple of days.