Escape With Me (Love With Me 1)

“Where is my wine?” Lorna demanded, interrupting the conversation.

“Lorna, it's been thirty seconds,” Cassie said without thinking.

Like something out of a horror movie, Lorna's head slowly turned and faced Cassie, her eyes mean and cruel.

“Excuse me?”

Cassie swallowed hard.

“I just meant that it's a busy room. He's probably making sure you get the best wine they have,” Cassie quickly stammered. Corporate rule number seven: always make a problem sound like a positive.

Lorna's lips narrowed, and she flipped her golden hair over her shoulder. The woman knew how to hair flip effectively. “It's lazy is what it is.”

She rolled her eyes dismissively at Cassie before turning away and starting a conversation with Kyle. Cassie let out a small sigh of relief. Being in Lorna's cross-hairs was never a pleasant experience.

“Don't aggravate her,” Brianna whispered. “You know the drill. Smile and nod. She'll get bored and go bother someone richer than us.”

Cassie took another sip of her wine. It had been a long day of travel, and she was tired. A good night's sleep would make it much easier to deal with Lorna. Lorna did have the ability to be funny and pleasant when she wanted to be. Maybe tomorrow would find her more agreeable.

At least, that's what Cassie hoped.

The food arrived shortly after Lorna's wine. Cassie had a delicious looking white fish with fresh mango salsa. It smelled wonderful and tasted even better. Cassie nearly moaned with the first bite. She couldn't remember the last time she had fresh fish that tasted this good. It probably was due to the fact the ocean was just steps away.

“I ordered my steak to be medium-well. This is medium.”

Cassie internally sighed as Lorna's shrill voice broke the once happy silence of people eating. This poor waiter, Cassie thought, looking over at Lorna's plate. The steak looked perfect to Cassie's eyes. Granted, it wasn't the way Cassie would order a steak, but it looked like a solid medium-well done steak. There was nothing wrong with the food. It was just Lorna being difficult because she could be.

“I'm so sorry, ma'am.” The waiter wiped his hands on his apron. “I can take it back to the kitchen for you.”

“Yes. You do that,” she told him, tossing down her fork and looking annoyed.

Cassie shook her head slightly and took another bite of her fish.

“Oh, you all go ahead and eat without me,” Lorna announced sadly. She sighed, looking like a true martyr. “I'll just sit here and wait.”

Janessa sighed this time.

They were now in the awkward position of eating and making Lorna look like an angel for letting them do so, or not eating and showing solidarity with her. Kyle set down his fork.

“We'll wait for you.” He smiled at his cousin and she, in turn, beamed at him. It was easy to see that Kyle didn't see Lorna's true nature.

“You've always been the best cousin,” she cooed.

Brianna made a slight gagging sound, and Cassie had to stifle a laugh.

Luckily, the waiter returned quickly with a fresh plate of food for Lorna. It was another perfect steak that looked nearly identical to the previous one.

“There. That's a medium-well steak,” Lorna said as he set it down. “That wasn't too hard, was it?”

“Anything else, ma'am?” the waiter asked, giving her a fake smile. It made Cassie wonder if maybe the chef had spit in Lorna's food. In fact, Cassie sort of secretly hoped he did.

“No. But your manager will hear about your poor service,” Lorna informed him. She looked pointedly at his name tag. “You'll be hearing about this, Fernando. If that's your real name. I'm going to have you fired.”

The poor man took a step back with a shocked look on his face.

“Seriously, Lorna?” Cassie couldn't help herself. Maybe it was the wine giving her liquid confidence. Maybe it was the new dress. Maybe it was just a death wish. “The guy didn't do anything wrong.”

Lorna's blue eyes flashed. “Excuse me?”