He parks the truck in the parking lot by the beach after I give him directions.
“You know I love the beach, Sloane, but I’m starving, and I spent most of the day here. So, it’s not really a surprise to take me to the beach.”
I shake my head. “You haven’t seen the surprise yet. Come on.”
I climb out of the truck and wait for him to savor the last few minutes of being inside the truck before climbing out. He finally does.
We automatically link our fingers together, and then I lead him down toward the beach.
When he sees it, he picks me up in his arms and starts kissing me. “Thank God you aren’t taking me to a fancy restaurant for dinner.”
I laugh. “I know you well enough to know that you don’t like eating at fancy restaurants.”
“I’m glad I stole you from Wes.”
“You didn’t steal me. I came willingly.”
“Whatever you say, sweetheart. You’re mine now. At least, you are tonight.”
He finally places me down in one of the chairs and then takes a seat opposite me. The table is simple. It’s a white table with white chairs. Nothing over the top. Nothing fancy. I knew he wouldn’t want fancy although I did have the chef fix fancy food. I know he isn’t opposed to fancy, good food.
The waiter brings over two beers, like I requested. “Would either of you like anything to drink other than beer?”
Asher grins. “Beer is perfect.”
“I’ll be right back with your first course,” the waiter says before disappearing back up to his station several feet away.
Asher cocks his head to one side as he looks at me. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“It’s your birthday. It’s, like, a law that you are nice to your husband on his birthday. You might even get lucky tonight,” I say, winking.
He takes a sip of his beer. “I know that most wives are nice to their husbands on their birthdays. But we aren’t really husband and wife. More like fake husband and wife. There is no requirement for fake husbands and wives to be nice. So, why are you?”
“Because I like you, and I want you to be happy. You are kind of growing on me, even if your heart is black.”
He chuckles. “You’re probably right about my heart, which is why you shouldn’t get too close to me. I might just break it.”
Too late, I think.
I suck in a breath. It can’t be too late. I just have to remind myself how much of a monster he really is. Then, I won’t care for him so much.
“Oysters, crab cakes, and calamari,” the waiter says, placing a large plate of food in front of us.
We both stare at the appetizer plate. It looks delicious.
“I’ll be back with more beers. Anything else you need?”
We both shake our heads.
The waiter leaves again, and we each dig into the food in front of us.
“This is amazing. Where did you order it from?”
I don’t answer. I just keep digging into the food and eventually mumble something between bites, a bit ashamed that I ordered it from the nicest and most expensive place on the island. All week, I’ve been telling him this place has the best food on the island to try and get him to go with me after work one night. But he disagreed. He said anything that cost this much was full of crap and couldn’t be the best food on the island. So, I don’t want him to find out it’s from this place until after dinner is over.
He grins. “It’s from Azure, isn’t it?”
My cheeks blush, and I nod as my mouth is still full of crab cake. I swallow slowly, waiting for him to argue with me about why I didn’t pick a place that I already knew he loved for his birthday.