As if she wasn’t even there.
The last few times they had eaten there they had had the same waitress. She seemed like a nice enough woman, and she was very friendly.
Too friendly.
She didn’t know what it was that set her on edge about the woman but as the waitress slid up to the table, a little closer to Mark’s side than her’s, the tendrils of something ugly started to coil around her.
He didn’t think that she knew just how expressive her face was.
It wasn’t the first time this particular waitress had served their table, and just like the other times, she was being overly friendly. He hadn’t put too much stock into it, after all he was so far gone for the woman sitting across from him that there was no way that anyone could ever measure up.
The problem was, that while Winter had spent the last year healing, and becoming whole again, he had spent it slowly falling in love with her.
He didn’t know what it was about her that called to him. He had never in his life felt any inclination toward a woman like he did her. But everything about her called to him. Right down to the cute little tilt of her nose when she scrunched it up when she was thinking too hard.
She didn’t know just how far gone he was for her, and he wasn’t about to tell her.
Not right now.
If she was ever ready to move on, then he would be there.
But he wasn’t going to push her.
She was more than worth the wait.
That didn’t mean that he was going to let some other woman cause any doubt about who he was there for. Because whether his little bird was ready for him or not, he wasn’t going to have a replacement in the meantime.
It was Winter or nothing.
“We need a few more minutes,” he said to the waitress, before she even had a chance to call out a greeting. Her smile slid off her face as she paused, before scurrying away.
He kept his eyes on Winter, watching her face over his menu as she tracked the waitress walking away from them, a small frown on her face.
She was just starting to work through her feelings for him. He could see the confusion she had, anytime he got too close or his body brushed against hers.
He didn’t even know the full extent of the damage that the fucker Ernesto had caused. He might be waiting years before she was ready.
But it would be worth it.
He hadn’t spent years of his life living among the deprived in the underworld, only to find her and rush them.
His phone ringing had both their eyes moving to where it was vibrating on the table.
“Just a sec.” He motioned to her. “Dominic,” he answered.
