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“I wouldn’t know,” I said with a slight shrug.
His gaze continued to track my every movement. “Surely you benefit from your sister’s training?”
I let out a laugh and lifted my wine glass, glad to see it was already full and waiting for me. “I realized today she’s been cutting corners with me.”
“Is she your only sister?” He lifted his glass and tilted it slightly in my direction. “To second chances.”
“Is it a second chance if I’ve been kidnapped?” Despite my teasing words, I mirrored his gesture before taking a sip.
Oh my. Decent wine was entirely too modest of a description. This was heaven. The literal nectar of the gods. Maybe I could get a bottle to go. I wasn’t above stealing one either.
“Yes, my only sister. I’m not sure I could handle more than one like Marissa.”
His grin was contagious. “I don’t blame you.”
Although, Frankie was a bit like a sister. Which reminded me… “How did you get Frankie on board?”
“What did that fae woman do?”
“She locked me out of the gym when your driver arrived.”
His surprised laugh sent the butterflies in my stomach into a flurry. “I wish I could take credit for that ingenious move, but that was classic Frankie. As unpredictable as D.C. weather.”
Oh, she was definitely going to be in trouble now. I wasn’t so sure she thought I would win in a fight against the Red Dragon when she’d suggested it. Maybe she’d hoped I would lose and have to go on this date in the first place. Although, why she would care enough to lock me out was beyond me.
“What about you?” I asked, hoping to keep the conversation off my personal life as much as possible. “Any siblings?”
He shook his head. “Only child.”
“Ah, no wonder you’re spoiled rotten,” I said playfully.
A brief moment of pain or sadness crossed his face before he flashed his disarming grin again. “Guilty as charged.”
The momentary vulnerability was intriguing. I eyed him, trying to figure out why my comment had affected him that way. “Are your parents proud of all that you’ve accomplished in life?”
He swirled the wine in his glass and shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. They both died when I was young. My mother during childbirth.”
Crap on a sea biscuit. I’d completely forgotten reading about that during my internet stalking. Was it stalking, though, if it was public knowledge?
My heart ached for him. Without thinking, I reached across the table and placed my hand on his. “I’m so sorry if I’ve stirred up sad memories. I know what it’s like to lose a parent.”
As I started to slide my hand back, he captured my palm in his. He stroked the back of my hand with his thumb, sending wildfire racing through my body.
“It is what it is,” he said softly. “Tell me what happened to yours.”
Gulping down the immediate flood of shame and grief, I wrenched my hand free. I tried to cover up my discomfort by pretending to scratch my arm. “Just a wrong place, wrong time type of thing. But we were talking about you and your accomplishments. How’d you get into fighting?”
His gaze studied my face. “You’re very good at that.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Good at what?”
“Deflecting.”
My pulse sped up, and I smiled nervously, hoping it looked normal. Talking about my life meant lying outright or by omission, neither of which I wanted to do tonight. “I’m just polite, but should we get the elephant out of the room?”
“The elephant?”
I glanced over my shoulder to make sure the server was still behind the bar. “You know, what you saw during the fight.”
