Sleeping with the Enemy (An Enemies to Lovers Collection)

“Sorry, I’m late.” Damon walked in peeling off his shades like some movie star. “But better late than never, right?” He grinned as he slid into the booth in front of me.

Okay, to be honest, the man could definitely pass as a movie star. He was undoubtedly handsome and charming when he wanted to be.

“I was hoping the never part would happen,” I gave Damon a sweet smile.

“Oh,” Damon gave me a cute pouty frown face, “I missed you too.”

“What are you going to start with?” Todd gave us the starter menu choices.

“The salmon and asparagus looks great,” Damon looked at me. “Should we start with that one?”

“I wanted to start with the fresh carpaccio salad,” I told him.

“Why don’t you order both and then share them?” Todd suggested, “That way, you can get through the menu choices a lot quicker.”

“Good idea,” Damon nodded and looked at me. “What do you think?”

“Sure,” I smiled up at Todd, “let’s do that.”

When the dishes arrived, Damon and I divided them so we each had a portion of the others’ food. We were about to start eating when Damon’s phone rang. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Sorry,” Damon pointed to his phone, “I have to take this.” He got up and walked outside the restaurant to take the call.

I knew it was from Celeste. Oh well, Damon had made his bed now, so he had to deal with it. I looked at the salt shaker Damon had put down when his phone rang. He really needed to cut down on his salt. I smiled and looked to see if he was still outside on the phone. He was, and by the looks of it, he was having a rather heated conversation.

I tried a bit of the carpaccio salad first. It was delicious and the one entrée that Hayley had ringed as a must. The dish had layers of wafer-thin carpaccio topped with pitted black olives and feta drizzled with balsamic vinegar. It was finished off with shaved Parmesan and garnished with fresh cut arugula.

I was taking a teaspoon of the sorbet when Damon walked back in. His cheeks looked a bit flushed and I noticed he’d turned off his phone as he slid back into the booth.

“Problems?” I asked him as I indulged in another spoon of the refreshing sorbet. They were both delicious and I ticked them off as a yes while waiting for Damon’s reply.

“Not anymore,” Damon told me and smiled. “Now, where were we?”

“Well, I’m about to order the next two entrées of the six we have to try,” I told him.

“Sure,” Damon picked up the salt and looked a little distracted. “I know you have other things you need to do today.”

Damon gave me a small smile. He looked so sad I almost felt bad for him when he shook the salt and the lid popped off, dumping a load of salt on his food. I pursed my lips and put my hand over my mouth to cover my smile. His salmon looked like a mini salt truck had unloaded on his fish.

“What the f–” Damon’s eyes narrowed as he glared at me. “Wasn’t the perfume enough of your sneaky tactics?” He scraped the salt off the salmon and then to my horror dipped his finger in my water glass and washed the rest of the salt off his salmon. “That should do it.” He gave me a smug smile and took a bite of the soaked fish.

“You shouldn’t eat as much salt as you do!” I said and then nearly drank the water he’d just swooshed his fingers in. “Shit,” I swore before putting the glass down and calling a waiter to order some fresh water.

“This salmon is delicious. I love this dill dressing; it pairs so nicely with the asparagus,” Damon munched on the food.

“Wait until you try the carpaccio salad,” I told him while really hoping he’d try the pepper pot.

“It looks awesome,” he said and polished off the fish.

“You mentioned something about perfume?” I suddenly remembered he’d just accused me of doing something to perfume!

“Oh, come on now, Carla,” Damon tucked into the salad. “It was a genius plan to give me the female gift perfume. Everyone had a laugh and sniffed me but the joke was really on you as you weren’t there to enjoy your handy work.”

“What?” I asked him, genuinely confused. “You wore women’s perfume and I’m somehow to blame for that?” I frowned at him.

“Oh, you’re good,” Damon wiped his mouth with a napkin. “You should take up acting because I almost believe you are genuinely confused about the perfume.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told him honestly. “For the bride and groom’s close entourage, I crafted each basket based on each person’s personal taste. For yours, I had to run through every shop in Napa trying to find your special cologne.” I informed him in a rather haughty voice as I don’t like being accused of something I didn’t do. “After visiting hours of hitting every store I could find, I eventually had to order it for special delivery.”